Cheap Parcel Delivery - official discussion

huggermugger

Hoping someone here can help...
I have bought an electric sewing machine on ebay and I need to have it collected & delivered, both mainland UK. I am paying the buyer to pack it well for me, under instruction, - they don't like being dropped/thrown around. Allowing for packaging, it weighs 13.5kg & measures 55 x 45 x 25. Although I don't want to pay silly money (probably a max of about £20, ideally), I am really looking for a firm that won't throw it around too much - am I asking the impossible?? Don't mind how long it takes.

lukington

huggermugger wrote: »

Hoping someone here can help...
I have bought an electric sewing machine on ebay and I need to have it collected & delivered, both mainland UK. I am paying the buyer to pack it well for me, under instruction, - they don't like being dropped/thrown around. Allowing for packaging, it weighs 13.5kg & measures 55 x 45 x 25. Although I don't want to pay silly money (probably a max of about £20, ideally), I am really looking for a firm that won't throw it around too much - am I asking the impossible?? Don't mind how long it takes.

In my experience UPS is the most careful carrier. The cheapest price for your shipment with UPS is £7.99+VAT through interparcel.com

You can find the best price for any shipment through comparcel.com - it's a parcel comparison site

Kayster

lukington wrote: »

In my experience UPS is the most careful carrier. The cheapest price for your shipment with UPS is £7.99+VAT through interparcel.com

You can find the best price for any shipment through comparcel.com - it's a parcel comparison site

I agree you stand the best chance of a happy outcome with UPS but you must pack it properly as anyone can drop a parcel. You package must be capable of being dropped from waist height onto a concrete floor more than once. Double boxing is always advisable.

The cheapest price for UPS is not with Interparcel but with https://www.clickandsendparcel.com at £7.49p plus vat for a next day service.

APennySaved

lukington wrote: »

In my experience UPS is the most careful carrier.

Hi

The last time I looked into UPS/FedEx/etc. they were ONLY available to BUSINESS users. Not much use then if you're just trying to send a present to a relative!

Admittedly, that was a couple of years ago , so things might have changed by now, with the surge in 'small' sellers at eBay etc.

So CAN non-business peeps use UPS etc.??

If so, as £7.99 is the cost of such a heavy! plus large item, I too :T shall start using them!

lukington

APennySaved wrote: »

Hi

The last time I looked into UPS/FedEx/etc. they were ONLY available to BUSINESS users. Not much use then if you're just trying to send a present to a relative!

Admittedly, that was a couple of years ago , so things might have changed by now, with the surge in 'small' sellers at eBay etc.

So CAN non-business peeps use UPS etc.??

If so, as £7.99 is the cost of such a heavy! plus large item, I too :T shall start using them!

Hi,

Anyone can get an account directly with the major carriers (e.g. FedEx, UPS), though unless you send large quantities they will offer you very poor rates. However, there are now brokers who negotiate large accounts with the carriers, and then resell individual shipments to low volume users at decent rates.

Watch this video for more info - vimeo.com/62697837

mgdavid

Tara100 wrote: »

.........
So, if I take the parcel to the drop off point, this will mean booking the parcel in again and paying again. ........Tara

who told you that? My understanding is once you have a Hermes booked label on the parcel it makes no difference if collected or you drop it in to a pickup point.

APennySaved

lukington wrote: »

the major carriers (e.g. FedEx, UPS), [...]unless you send large quantities they will offer you very poor rates. However, there are now brokers who negotiate large accounts with the carriers, and then resell individual shipments to low volume users at decent rates.

Watch this video for more info - vimeo.com/62697837

Much thanks! for that explanation & video re how Comparcel works. :T

I wondered how the 'big' courier companies could have afforded to drop their prices so dramatically.

sailorchief

I have just bought an item from an eBay seller and his postage costs are only £1.95 for up to 500g. This is far cheaper than I can find with any carrier. Anyone know how he does this or what carrier he may use as I can't find any as cheap for my little parcels. Thanks

lukington

sailorchief wrote: »

I have just bought an item from an eBay seller and his postage costs are only £1.95 for up to 500g. This is far cheaper than I can find with any carrier. Anyone know how he does this or what carrier he may use as I can't find any as cheap for my little parcels. Thanks

Hi there,

For those without a business account, a Royal Mail 2nd Class small parcel is £2.60 for up to 1kg.
For business senders, this drops to £2.25, and if you send volumes of over 1000 parcels per year it's possible to use a service called Royal Mail 48 for as little as £1.73.

Have a look at this PDF for further info:
http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RoyalMail_BusinessContractServices_April2013d.pdf

Also, remember it's always possible that your seller is subsidising his own postage costs in order to win more customers.

Geoffrey_Coan

MSE's recommendation for up to 30Kg parcels recommends Interparcel with a quoted £12.59 price or P4D for £13.19.

When I tried just now to organise collection of a 25Kg parcel, Interparcel wanted a horrific £26 + VAT and P4D were even worse, wanting £40 !

MyHermes don't offer a service for parcels greater than 15Kg so I looked through the rest of the recommendations and tried PharosParcel which was listed as a recommended European courier option. I've just booked their service for £11+VAT, £13.20 all-in.

They're using UPS to do the actual work.

Excellent saving