I’m selling some bits on ebay and have been asked if i’ll mail abroad.

Anyone on here sent anything abroad themselves, is it worth the hassle?

My only advice would be not to do it. Too many opportunities for things to go “missing in transit” with no comeback.

I have. The buyer contacted me first, seemed genuine, history in buying similar things, insured postage wasn’t that much more. All went smoothly.

Few words – avoid it at all costs based on my experience. Can’t get an insured service or signed for service from the UK to most of Europe, unless you go down the courier route which is very expensive.

I had a bike sent by courier from UK to Spain for 30 quid (took 3 days)

http://www.parcel2go.com

I’ve sent stuff abroad with Royal Mail – it seems compensation is available – http://www.royalmail.com/customer-service/personal-customers/refunds-and-compensation/claims-process. I’d never send anything without some insurance. However I hear some countries can be a nightmare – Italy springs to mind.

Thanks for the advice, if I do decide to send abroad parcel2go provide insured delivery.

Insurance is easily available – just check out how much it costs.

I wouldn’t be arsed tho, unless I was getting paid a lot more for it.

‘We cannot accept a claim for loss unless at least 20 working days (for items posted to Europe) or 25 working days (for items to the rest of the world) have passed since the item was posted. All claims must be submitted by the sender within 6 months of posting the item.’

‘Once we receive your claim we may contact the Foreign Postal Administration as part of our investigation, so please allow up to 90 days for us to investigate and respond fully before contacting us again.’

Sounds like a ball-ache

I post a lot to Europe for work and its a bit of a gamble when it goes wrong. RM are totally useless overseas – declining responsibility etc.

However – I honestly think very little actually goes missing – but sellers overseas are almost never asked for a sign for a RM “signed for” item – so they have a world of options for messing about.

I believe a lot of it is down to the customer – what are they like, history etc etc.

And sadly some countries are way worse than others. Way way worse. IME – France, Germany, Holland, all nordic countries dont have common issues. I know thats a generalisation. Everywhere else from me is DHL or similar (parcel2go is good usually).