Posting a saddle?

Scunny

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 October 2005
Messages
103
Location
North Lincolnshire
www.ponydaze.com
I sold my daughter's synthetic saddle on ebay last night, only a few hours after listing it, so I'm made up
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Now I have a dilemma, I have a week to post the saddle as the buyer has paid by Paypal echeque and I'm being cautious and waiting for it to clear first but I'm not sure how people pack and send big items like saddles?

Would I be best sending it from the Post office or a private courier?

Thanks for any advice,

Angela
 
I posted a saddle recently and used Parcelforce. You can have before noon next day, 24 and 48 hour delivery and I found the price was quite reasonable - I paid £17 to post mine on the 24 hour service. The recipient also has to sign for it, so that's added security for you. You can get a price off the Parcelforce website. I packed it in a huge box with plenty of bubble wrap round it and stuffed the space with newspaper.
 
Echeques are a complete pain in the arse and I refuse to take them now as they take so long to clear
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Anyway I also agree with parcelforce as I sold my western saddle recently
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and used them to deliver because they offered a good service for the price and due to the saddle being valuable I wanted to make sure it arrived safe and sound. Also you can give the buyer a tracker number which is useful and check online to see when it has been delivered.
We took ours to the depot though as it was hard to preweigh exactly with the packaging etc.
We did weigh it beforehand though ( before bubble wrap and a very big box) by getting my partner to hold the saddle whilst standing on bathroom scales and then subtracting his weight from the total.
We could not do this afterwards though because the box was too big and bulky and I couldn't get an accurate weight.
If you can weigh the saddle yourself ok before sending then get them to come and collect it for you as it would be easier.
 
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I second the above recommendation, parcelforce are really good and will pick it up from you so you don't have to drag a heavy bulky box to the post office!

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Thanks for that Bex, we must have cross posted there
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Angela
 
Yes the recipient does have to sign for it and you can even view the signature online afterwards via the parcelforce website and print out for your own records if you so wish.
Cazx
 
[ QUOTE ]
Echeques are a complete pain in the arse and I refuse to take them now as they take so long to clear
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

I have to admit even though the buyer seems a nice decent person I'm a bit nervous about the echeque, never having one before I read up on them last night and it seems that it is easier for people to put in a claim that they didn't authorise them, a bit of a loophole with paypal
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Best advice I could find was to only send the goods once the money has been safely transferred into your bank account, but taking that amount of time I can understand the buyer getting pretty fed up!

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway I also agree with parcelforce as I sold my western saddle recently
frown.gif
and used them to deliver because they offered a good service for the price and due to the saddle being valuable I wanted to make sure it arrived safe and sound. Also you can give the buyer a tracker number which is useful and check online to see when it has been delivered.
We took ours to the depot though as it was hard to preweigh exactly with the packaging etc.
We did weigh it beforehand though ( before bubble wrap and a very big box) by getting my partner to hold the saddle whilst standing on bathroom scales and then subtracting his weight from the total.
We could not do this afterwards though because the box was too big and bulky and I couldn't get an accurate weight.
If you can weigh the saddle yourself ok before sending then get them to come and collect it for you as it would be easier.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I'll check our depot to see if they will let me post from there as I don't fancy having to wait in for the collection. My daughter is going abroad to a family wedding next week and I've still got loads of last minute shopping to get in for her, she's grown 3 inches and lost tons of weight since the summer so none of her stuff fits..... Teenagers
grin.gif


Thanks, Angela
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yes the recipient does have to sign for it and you can even view the signature online afterwards via the parcelforce website and print out for your own records if you so wish.
Cazx

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That's really great news, we're really strapped at the moment with daughter's holiday and the wedding, and I need the cash from this sale and two others I have to sell to buy a new saddle for our barrel shaped munching machine
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Angela
 
I took mine to the post office to post. Some smaller post offices don't offer the whole range - my village one only did 48 hour and my buyer wanted it next day as she was going away. If you go to a town post office you should be ok.
 
Lol at teenagers Angela my daughter is not even one until December but that doesn't mean to say she doesn't act like one lol.
If you go to the parcelforce website and type in your postcode it will tell you the nearest depot or post office that does parcelforce collections.
We didn't have any po's that did them so had to go to Stoke depot with the saddle.
Also without being nosey but if the saddle sold for more than £150 then I would take out the next level of compensation which goes up to £500 and there is more you can take out as well ( gives details on the website)
I'm only saying that because the person we dealt with never asked us how much cover we wanted just gave us a price according to weight and delivery time ( we had 48 hour as it was more reasonable than 24). It was not until I said what level of compensation is that he said £150 and I said sorry but I need more, so just check at the time to be on the safe side.
So far as echeques go I have no idea how people arrange to pay with them because I would certainly not pay that way because they take so long to clear and it is not fair on the seller imo.
It should give you a clearance date on the details section on paypal if you click on it next to the payment details from the buyer. To be perfectly honest no matter how trustworthy a buyer may seem I would also recommend as ebay/paypal says to wait for the funds to clear before sending because otherwise should something go wrong you would not have a leg to stand on.
Good luck
smile.gif

Cazx
 
Yoy may want to try Interparcel you may find they are a lot easier than parcelforce as they give a selection of couriers and that way you can get it picked up and insured. (Think the prices start around £7 with DHL, can't remember as its been ages since we've used them)
Please make sure you wait until the echeque clears, it may take up to 10 days (although the person paying by it may not realise this and may start nagging you) we have known them to bounce

ETS just google interparcel to find their site
 
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