revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Sold an MTB frame and thought I'd split delivery with buyer at about £15 each.

To have it sent to insured value of £1700 was £80!

Wtf

Who did you send it with?

I didn't.

All were roughly the same, DHL, parcelforce, DPD etc.

The postage itself is reasonably priced, it’s the insurance for higher value items that’s ridiculous.

If you were to post something Special Delivery you could insure it for a couple of thousand pounds value for only two or three pounds more but with a larger parcel it costs four or five times as much. It doesn’t make sense.

I just posted a hardtail frame with Parcel Force and it was only about £22 or so. Thankfully I paid for the extra cover for it as they’ve lost it and are next to impossible to contact about it.

Pretty shocking. Was it to do with value or just that it's an awkward size/shape?

I guess we get used to 'free' postage - until we have to send something.

Count Steer wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 7:52 am Pretty shocking. Was it to do with value or just that it's an awkward size/shape?

I guess we get used to 'free' postage - until we have to send something.

As above, it was a slight combination of both, but mostly the value that was the issue. If i left it at £50 it was about £20-25 to post it... but i'm not prepared to send a £2000 frame not insured value.

We'll see today if the buyer comes back to me and wants to cover the extra £50 on top of what the price was we agreed on.

Why is anyone surprised about the cost of insurance? Look at any number of complaints about couriers.

cheb wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:51 am Why is anyone surprised about the cost of insurance? Look at any number of complaints about couriers.

I wasn't surprised that there's an associated cost... more the cost was so large !

About 4 years ago
There is anomalies … small parcels seem to be really cheap. Anything bigger that that becomes really expensive

You just have to shop around couriers - but there are some real rogues out there (as i found out)

Mr Moofo wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 9:03 am About 4 years ago
There is anomalies … small parcels seem to be really cheap. Anything bigger that that becomes really expensive

You just have to shop around couriers - but there are some real rogues out there (as i found out)

I'm inclined that within reason i'll end up driving/meeting instead rather than posting it... Posting just seems a massive hassle and it's not like i'm desperate to shift it.

weeksy wrote: Mon Sep 15, 2025 9:48 pm Sold an MTB frame and thought I'd split delivery with buyer at about £15 each.

To have it sent to insured value of £1700 was £80!

Wtf

We regularly send heavy-ish boxes to Australia for less than that. P&P prices can be really random at times. Fuckers like Demon Tweeks lump on the postage to N.I. I make a point of not using places like that.

weeksy wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:57 am

cheb wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:51 am Why is anyone surprised about the cost of insurance? Look at any number of complaints about couriers.

I wasn't surprised that there's an associated cost... more the cost was so large !

Insurance companies have to keep the shareholders happy.....

I've not used them, so do your own due diligence, but this service was recommended by a website for buying/selling watches. Seems good and prices are way, way lower.

Basically they just cover the insurance separately, you post using the basic PO (or whatever) service.

Do not use Parcels Compare

weeksy wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:57 am

cheb wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 8:51 am Why is anyone surprised about the cost of insurance? Look at any number of complaints about couriers.

I wasn't surprised that there's an associated cost... more the cost was so large !

See my comment about couriers