I thought Sheffield would be the easiest place in the UK to sell bike parts but all of my queries are from far afield.

I need to box up some Hope Hoops and get a price for shipping. Does anyone have any experience with any of the new courier companies? Do they collect from home or do you drop the item off somewhere? Looking to avoid a major ball ache if possible.

Sorry, I haven’t sold anything for years. I’ve heard that just walking into the Post Office with a massive box like I used to is now the most expensive option.

UPS for me. There’s a drop off point opposite my place and they are generally cheaper than Royalmail.

Hermes are the cheapest.

ParcelForce will be around £15 but I use it because it is very easy with PO just down the road and because I don’t pay the postage cost, the buyer does so I use what is easiest for me.

I recently used UPS, cheaper than Royal Mail and collected from work.

I’m getting quotes of over £40 from UPS with one option for £131!

Hermes is showing £5.99. I haven’t gone all the way through the process yet so there might be some small print.

I’ve heard all the Hermes horror stories. I hope they don’t frisbee the box over a garden fence or something.

I used Parcel Force a few times, pay online, print the label at home and drop off at the post office.

There’s also a code here for 14% off
https://www.parcelforce.com/promotional-code

Wheel boxes are usually to big for a Hermes unless it’s a single wheel box.

Thanks for that, those Parcel Force prices aren’t bad either and they’ll collect from home.

I run a distribution business and we still use parcel2go.com which anyone can use. Prices are very good and it’s easy to use.

I sent some road bike wheels worth £130 via Myhermes fully tracked and insured for £9 (includes 3 delivery attempts and a signature required)

Drop off was at a local drop off shop (inside a newsagents) or they can collect from your door for a fee

Wheels arrived at the buyers house 3 days later, no problems whatsoever, just make sure you use a good strong box

I’ve sold and posted three sets during lockdown, they have been boxed up in wheel boxes that I had saved in the loft from past purchases, each wheel has been wrapped in bubble wrap and then extra padding around the hubs. In the last one, boxed separate but within the wheel box were a set of cranks.
Posted last set on Monday at the local post office via Parcel Force Express 48. the cost was £11.17 after my discount.
I always send the recipient the tracking number and also track it myself.
In addition I always take numerous photos of whats in the box and how its packaged and also the box once ready for posting.
If payed by paypal I will only post to the paypal address no matter what excuse. I always post the next working day from receiving payment.
I wont allow collection from home and over the last few weeks have met men in various carparks to sell stuff but only accepted cash transactions

Hermes are the cheapest.

Cheap for a reason.
Horror story –
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=412858

And if you start on page 8 you’ll never use herpes again.

Thanks for all the suggestions, it looks like there’s plenty of options. And only one horror story! I notice that’s set in Sheffield and I’ve had a lot of stuff go missing in the post since I moved here. It can take 2 or 3 attempts to get a new bank card and birthday cards have about a 50% arrival rate.

Oh, and my buyer has dropped me in it! He’s bought something else so they’re staying put for now.

I’m getting quotes of over £40 from UPS with one option for £131!

Hermes is showing £5.99. I haven’t gone all the way through the process yet so there might be some small print.

I’ve heard all the Hermes horror stories. I hope they don’t frisbee the box over a garden fence or something.

The horror stories apply to all couriers, I’d suggest you hear more about hermes as they’re the cheapest so are used more frequently.

Parcel force damaged a pair of wheels I’d shipped and refused to cover the damage stating the box wasn’t suitable, the box was a proper wheel shipping box as I’d just had a brand new set delivered a couple of weeks before so used the box.
Royal mail and Parcel force are the only couriers who’ve lost or damaged items if shipped.

I’ve used Hermes tons (like, literally thousands of times, though mostly for low value items) including bike wheels, I like the local dropoffs. And the price! Most individual wheels will go under 2kg in a wheel box which keeps it nice and cheap.

Bear in mind the insurance limit is £300. Also bear in mind as per dyna-ti’s link, if you don’t pay for the insurance cover, and it gets lost, then you get what you paid for. (as with every courier). I skimp on insurance a lot, because with teh volume of items I send I can basically hedge it better myself by saving the insurance cost and offsetting that against the very occasional losses… But for £300? Riskier call.

I think with higher value items, the cost of insurance makes parcelforce via a 3rd party (parcel2go or parcelmonkey) better value most times.

Parcel Force via Parcels2Go with insurance was £15 for a set of wheels. Drop off at certain Post Offices, not all, was the only restriction.

The only thing was I paid for 48 hour delivery, dropped off at 12:00 on Monday, Parcel Force had already collected for that day, eventually arrived on Friday. That’s not 48 hours unless you are Parcel Force and can’t tell time.

I’ve sent several wheelsets with parcelforce without incident, proper wheel boxes with the cardboard sleeves to keep them steady, extra layer of cardboard taped inside the boxes were the hubs endcaps are, scrunched up newspaper for padding, tape two boxes together for the same price as sending one box.

The only thing was I paid for 48 hour delivery, dropped off at 12:00 on Monday, Parcel Force had already collected for that day, eventually arrived on Friday. That’s not 48 hours unless you are Parcel Force and can’t tell time.

Put a claim in and you will get some money back. It will unfortunately only be £2 and not the total cost of delivery.

i used hermes to ship a pair of wheels in hope boxes and they exceeded max size limit and i got fined. fine for single wheels and good value.

The wheels have just sold, so I’ll definitely be using one of the above services tomorrow morning. I’ll let you all know if there’s any disasters.

Hermes usual max parcel size is really quite small. Also be sure you understand how they work out the size. Add width and height together, double that, then add length, got to be less that 245cm. Next to no chance of sending a 29 wheelset with them.

I ordered some rims from chainreaction recently, delivered by hermes in just a plastic bag, I was about to go apeshit, but they were miraculously unharmed, not a scratch, perfectly round and straight.
Pretty poor of chainreaction though, what were they thinking.

Ohh, pro tip for Hermes- when they invoice you for an overweight/oversize item, don’t pay it. They deliver anyway and then forget about the invoice. Don’t arsk me how I knows.

Hermes here too, booked through parceltogo.com and dropped in at local shop. I think Parceltogo.com compares the dimensions of the item against the carrier’s restrictions automatically and flags up any issues, I know the last wheels I sent were too big for some couriers but Hermes were showing as ok. The posts above have me a bit worried now though, perhaps an invoice is on the way..