I always get a proof of posting, and Friday was no exception. So, I go to the local p.o. which I don’t go to much for various reasons, and was told after asked what was in the package, that jewellery is not covered, I explained it was costume jewellery and was told it will only be compensated if it was signed for because its jewellery! Anyone else been told this, I am lucky nothing has ever been misplaced but I was a bit worried after, and not normally.
1 Like
I have never had that and my local Post Office know what I am sending. Rachel
There was a thread about this last week.
You may glean some more info .
My post office have always said jewellery is not covered , but others have claimed and been paid.
I have had this problem. And had things go missing.
That’s why I send all my jewellery signed for.
Beads buttons ect that are as are. Are covered with proof of postage as soon as it is made into something not covered.
To me it’s abit silly
I’ve been told by royal mail (customer services department via email) that jewellery is only covered if it is sent special delivery regardless of the value. They consider jewellery to be anything made from precious metal (not sure if that includes silver/ gold plated), diamonds and precious stones or where the consituent parts have intrinsic value (eg murano glass beads, pearls, semi precious stones, swarovski crystals). If the jewellery was made from items where there was minimal value in the bits eg buttons, plastic or wooden beads, felt, braided cord etc then you MIGHT be able to claim if it goes missing. If you use a signed for service then you are covered by paypal’s insurance (which doesn’t have a value limit) but only if it goes missing not if it is damaged (it also covers against fraud).
But what one branch of RM says and what a different one says and what the head office says are probably never going to be the same.
1 Like
Ok, thats interesting to know. I have been lucky, but, to get a signature is all well and good, but people work, very annoying to have to go to the post office or sorting office to claim your parcel or letter. But, oh well, will look in to the signed for price and go from there. Thanks all, am grateful. 
this was discussed i think during last week’s folksyhour on twitter when the royal mail talked about this - if you go to #folksyhour on twitter you can se the diuscussion on the thread. this may help.
Signed for items can be redelivered on a date specified by you and I’m not sure enough people realise this is an option - no need to go and queue at the sorting office. When you get the card, you just have to go online, enter the number and select a date. OK you have to wait in on that day but you can combine waiting in for the postie with waiting for the supermarket delivery (whilst doing the laundry/ ironing. oh what an exciting life I lead).
Large letter first class signed for is £2.05, most jewellery fits within the 25mm thickness specification even when boxed up, rings and cuffs are the only things I’ve found that have to go small packet.
Im not an expensive shop and £2.00 seems a lot, but may have to do this?
I agree with your assessment of the position, Sasha! In respect of button jewellery, it would be a bit crazy if a packet of buttons was covered but by stringing them on cord they were suddenly not covered, so that is probably the grey area that has allowed some people to recover some money…
Love Sam x
Some food for thought, for 2011/2012 of the 15 billion items royal mail handled almost 400,000 were reported as missing, which is 0.0025% of the total (I can’t find any more recent data). If you were to ‘self insure’ ie add a little bit on to each P&P charge to cover the occasional losses how much would your postage charge end up being? So if we say that your earrings contain 50p of materials (number from thin air there to make the maths easier later on) plus 50p of other costs (listing fees, gift bag, wear and tear of tools, etc) total manufacturing cost is £1. Even if 10% of items went missing you would only need to add ~10p to each P&P charge to cover the direct out of pocket losses. So, £1 for first class large letter + 25p for other packaging (all my jiffy bags are recycled so I have no idea how much they cost) + 10p ‘insurance’ is £1.35 rather than £2.30 (£2.05 signed for + 25p packaging). Would your customers find £1.35 more reasonable than £2.30 given the cost of your items? I don’t know the answer to that (and if you figure it out please let me know). Given these hypotheticals would you be happy with the risk of posting items without any cover?
Yes this is worth considering @SashaGarrett as i don’t even charge for the packaging, missed it, I need a re-calculaion of my postage. Need to sort this out. thanks for this.
When you’re calculating your postage charge don’t forget that Paypal takes its percentage from that too. I use a self-insurance system for all but the most expensive of my orders; over the years only a handful out of many hundreds of parcels have gone missing so I’ve definitely come out ahead on it!
I’m.the same as you. I only charge for postage.
But I think as I do send signed for.it’s high enough for just the postage.
I have had to rethink my overseas postage as I went to the post office with a bracelet and it cost me over 3.80 to send it and it was only.to my mum in Spain.
Wow…I find this forum very confusing…hope this gets read, as do not know where I have posted it…sorry…my name is Sandy and I am a newbie…had a message from a potential buyer asking a question…and I only knew this by my emails…but when i signed on here…there was nothing to say that I had a message…so my question is…where are ones messages from potential buyers…thanks
Will go to your designated email which you use to log in. And welcome to Folksy, we are a friendly bunch. @pottypots x
@pottypots All messages via Folksy are forwarded straight to your email address , at this point the customer does not have your email address , but as soon as you reply they do.
Worth remenbering - do not reply to any messages that look dodgy.
There is no record of messages on your folksy dashboard.
Thanks Amberlilly
that is a shame…as I have a load of rubbish on my email and could easily miss an important message…I only, by chance, that I saw this one…thank you for your welcome…
@pottypots If you are missing messages because your email is clogged with spam/ special offers etc then you might want to set up a new email for all your folksy dealings - you could try for sandieart@gmail.com or similar. I got a new gmail one when I set up my folksy shop and after 2 years it is still pretty much spam free (and touch wood it will stay that way) so its obvious if I have new messages. A ‘work’ email also looks good on business cards if you get any of those. You can change the email that is used via your dashboard.
Interesting thread, and thanks for raising this. I’m always told that jewellery is not covered. There are many good points in the replies about ‘self-insuring’, checking other postal services etc.
One thing I’ve found when I had another query about post and the Post Office contradicted the Royal Mail website so checked again with PO and they said they are separate now and don’t have to give same conditions!! Sorry, that doesn’t make life simpler but worth being aware of.
It really is worth considering covering fees and packing in postage costs, otherwise you are paying these out of the sale price of each item, eating into your earnings. Most of my trade has been on Etsy and I have never got the impression that customers expect postage at cost price.
Offering postage upgrades is another possibility so customer can choose if they want faster / safer / have to sign for it. Anyway good luck and safe deliveries.