Royal Mail Insured Compensation For Loss

CinemaProjectror · 15 January 2018 at 1:23PM

As a small business online owner selling my items through online auction sites i was really disappointed to learn the hard way of the Royal mail Insured / tracked loss policy. I have been using Royal mail for a while now , sell my items online, happy to pay more with Royal mail Postage for their speed, reliability and cover insurance, so giving me and the buyer piece of mind if loss has occurred during transit. Recently i sold an item , a book that i found at secondhand store, costing me £5, a little rare and was lucky to sell on auction online for £35. great , in that £30 profit is my wage and progression of my business, and these days greatly welcomed as sales have dropped by 60% on last year for me. I sent it Royal mail sign for 1st class and insured for £35 costing £4.40. After a week it failed to arrive to it's destination with no movement details on the tracking website, i had to wait 10 working days before i could do an online claim, which was hard to find on their website, so i did submit, with all receipts of my online sale and posting, tracking no., then it took almost 30 days to get a response, which they emailed me that i had to submit the receipt of 'MY' purchase, not the online receipt that i had sold it for, so disappointed, i checked and yes it is in their policy, to pay the actual loss or the lowest of the two prices. Of course i emailed back stating that i had received no receipt at the time of buying, it has passed another 10 days without word, and seems i've lost the item, i had to refund the money to the customer in full of £35, i lost the £5 i paid for the item, also £4.40 for the postage has not been refunded, i feel the Royal Mail has mislead me by selling me 'Compensation' , and seems they are getting less reliable and more headaches for me as i have had to put two more claims in - time to shop around - i urge all small business owners please be aware when paying extra for insurance as what you may think you will be compensated for is very unlikely!

theonlywayisup · 15 January 2018 at 2:11PM

If you have told RM the actual loss (the amount it cost you to acquire) is £5 then that is what they will pay, if you can prove the cost. Otherwise with no evidence of actual loss they will give you half a dozen stamps.

At the very least you should be getting your postage refunded.

https://www.royalmail.com/retail-compensation-policy-loss

CinemaProjectror · 15 January 2018 at 2:25PM

.... i have complained that i should get at least the postage cost, which i'm still waiting to hear back, it's just a big let down for small business owners, the compensation should cover what i sold the item for because that is the 'now' value, Royal mail say actual loss meaning the price i paid for, but actual loss is what i have to pay the customer back, and also the Royal mail have that covered too, if the book i bought cost me £10 and i sold it at a loss at £5, then the Royal mail will pay the £5 as it's the lowest amount, so it contradicts their own policy of 'Actual Loss' - i'm currently asking the Royal mail if there is a service that they can provide that i can choose the insurance amount to cover my 'sale' price ( with evidence of course of my sale ), doubt if i get a positive response.

molerat · 15 January 2018 at 4:56PM

If you wanted full compo then SD would have been the service to use. But the cost is double what you paid and if you sent every parcel that way the costs would far outweigh what you ever lost. That is how it works, you figure out your probable losses against the additional cost of insuring and absorb that cost into your business plan thus self insuring. Standard proof of postage would have covered your actual cost loss with no additional fee.

martindow · 15 January 2018 at 6:48PM

Do you send everything signed for? Is that is costing you about a pound more on every item and you need to ask yourself if this is worthwhile.

As a business you should get your cost price assuming it is lower than the sales price plus the cost of the stamp.

Under £20 a free certificate of posting will cover its value, between £20 and £50 signed for increases the cover but there is an extra expense. Over £50 only Special Delivery gives full cover.

This issue is regularly discussed on the Ebay board. My opinion (shared with many but by no means all!) is that as my losses are less than one in a thousand, it is not worth spending any extra on lower value items but I do use SD on really expensive sales. My savings in postage costs more than outweigh the occasional refund I need to make.

Parcels sent first or second class, but not large letters, now have a code printed on them if you pay at the post office which should show proof of delivery. This gives some extra reassurance and is free of charge and included in the service.

CinemaProjectror · 15 January 2018 at 8:03PM

... some very good advice coming through, thank you ... i was under the impression that Royal Mail Special Delivery still falls into the same bracket with 'actual loss', i believe that they will still pay out the price i paid not the price i sold it for if lost. I have been looking around other options and surprisingly it seems that 'Hermes' do actually offer compensation for the value of the sold price if lost, may be well worth considering.

theonlywayisup · 16 January 2018 at 8:12AM

CinemaProjectror wrote: »

... some very good advice coming through, thank you ... i was under the impression that Royal Mail Special Delivery still falls into the same bracket with 'actual loss', i believe that they will still pay out the price i paid not the price i sold it for if lost. I have been looking around other options and surprisingly it seems that 'Hermes' do actually offer compensation for the value of the sold price if lost, may be well worth considering.

There are lots of other carriers that will give compensation values, you have to read their T&C as with any company to be clear what you are sending is covered (if that's what you want).

Another option may be Click and Drop. You can apply for a business account with Royal Mail to get even cheaper prices, but most services on a business account have NO compensation. That may sound mad but if your losses/damages are low then paying less for a service which seldom goes wrong may be better for you financially.

Carriers and compensation, loss and damage are part of business and need a factor of risk assessment. Only you can decide if the extra cost or less/more compensation is worth it.

CinemaProjectror · 22 January 2018 at 9:59AM

... just a follow up on a previous statement saying that if i used Royal Mail Special Delivery i would have been covered totally, i have today received in writing from the Royal Mail that they offer 'NO' services that would cover the business seller at sold price, every service from Royal mail including Special Delivery only covers your cost price ( price you paid for the item ) not for what you have sold it for or the lesser amount, they made it very clear.

soolin · 22 January 2018 at 5:13PM

CinemaProjectror wrote: »

... just a follow up on a previous statement saying that if i used Royal Mail Special Delivery i would have been covered totally, i have today received in writing from the Royal Mail that they offer 'NO' services that would cover the business seller at sold price, every service from Royal mail including Special Delivery only covers your cost price ( price you paid for the item ) not for what you have sold it for or the lesser amount, they made it very clear.

That is correct. RM do not repay the profit element of a lost business item, only the cost to the business.

A great many couriers are the same .

CinemaProjectror · 2 February 2018 at 2:56PM

soolin wrote: »

That is correct. RM do not repay the profit element of a lost business item, only the cost to the business.

A great many couriers are the same .

... i believe 'Hermes' have introduced full cover for sold items, also just want to add with the Royal mail, in their policy they go to long lengths to ensure the business customer understands that the compensation is for actual loss not what is sold for, must be actual loss indicating what i paid for and not what i sold it for, then right at the end of the policy it states that if the actual cost is higher than the sold price they will pay the lower!!!!! Total turn around to what they say about actual loss, so if i bought something at 100 pounds and sold it at a loss say £80, which does happen, Royal mail still benefit by picking the lower price, so the 'Actual Loss' goes out the window.... i've already moved most my business away from the Royal mail.

martindow · 3 February 2018 at 11:29AM

CinemaProjectror wrote: »

... i believe 'Hermes' have introduced full cover for sold items, also just want to add with the Royal mail, in their policy they go to long lengths to ensure the business customer understands that the compensation is for actual loss not what is sold for, must be actual loss indicating what i paid for and not what i sold it for, then right at the end of the policy it states that if the actual cost is higher than the sold price they will pay the lower!!!!! Total turn around to what they say about actual loss, so if i bought something at 100 pounds and sold it at a loss say £80, which does happen, Royal mail still benefit by picking the lower price, so the 'Actual Loss' goes out the window.... i've already moved most my business away from the Royal mail.

Are you sure Hermes would pay £100 in that situation? It seems totally correct that RM would pay £80. If you have sold it for that figure that is it's value.

In my experience getting carriers to pay any compensation is much harder than claiming from RM - good luck!

Royal Mail Insured Compensation For Loss

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