Putting a saddle on ebay - what postage?

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Annagain

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I'm selling my lovely Ideal Jessica dressage saddle as my backside's too big for it *gently weeps into sleeve*. I'm about to put it on e-bay but I'm not sure how much to put for postage. Does anybody have any experience of sending saddles and know roughly how much it costs?

I'd also be grateful for any recommendations for any decent parcel services. I was thinking Royal Mail as it's just convenient but happy to look into other companies if it's simple!
 
Parcel force is about £13 for a saddle sized box, plus the cost of the box if you're having to buy one. There are maybe other couriers that do it cheaper but I hardly ever used them because most state "collection is between 6am and 8pm" or something equally ridiculous and I've got better things to do than wait in all day. It's worse with dressage saddles because the box will be bigger due to the longer saddle flaps so you end up with the large/heavy parcel rate regardless of actual weight.
 
I'm selling a couple of Saddle Company saddles at the moment and have said £15 postage - they are half synthetic so quite light. I hope my guess is not too far out!

I would say £20-£25 for a leather saddle - maybe it's worth checking listings on Ebay to get an idea of what "average" postage seems to be?

Alternatively, weigh it and see what RM/Parcelforce quote on their website :)
 
I normally ask £20 postage and send with a courier via www.interparcel.com.

Source a big box and plenty of packing materials such as bubble wrap, packing noodles etc if you can. I normally wrap the saddle in bubble wrap and put it in the box then use scrunched up newspaper to completely fill all the gaps. I've sold about 5 saddles that way and never had any complaints (one even went to Chile!)
 
I just paid £20 for Parcel Force 24hour service for a 17" leather saddle.

If i wanted the 48hour service, it would have been around £15
 
I sent a Western at the end of last year through the post office and that was 25 and I just bought a GP from someone on Facebook and that was 20 though ParcelForce
 
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Thanks. OH is a serial packaging hoarder (we have a cupboard full of bubble wrap) so that's ok. Will ask work if they can keep me any big square boxes.
 
Pack the saddle in a strong box with bubble wrap, double wrap the pommel and cantle. I used balloons left over from a birthday party to fill the spaces so it doesn't move about.
Make sure you put your address and the destination INSIDE as well as on the outside of the box.
Measure and weigh the box. You can weigh it at a Post Office if you want to be accurate.
Go online and do a 'guesstimate' for your parcel. Try any carrier or Royal Mail // Parcelforce.
Any automatic insurance may be too little so increasing that may put the price up a lot.

Don't forget the ebay commission you have to pay will seem huge on a saddle and they take commission on postage too. Perhaps try Preloved and deal direct with your buyer. I always phone the prospective buyer, then you get a feel if they might be iffy.

Or you could try 'collection only' with ebay or Preloved. That way you get cash, not paypal or cheque, without paying any commission.
Hope it's sold safely soon.
 
Meredith said:
Pack the saddle in a strong box with bubble wrap, double wrap the pommel and cantle. I used balloons left over from a birthday party to fill the spaces so it doesn't move about.
Make sure you put your address and the destination INSIDE as well as on the outside of the box.
Measure and weigh the box. You can weigh it at a Post Office if you want to be accurate.
Go online and do a 'guesstimate' for your parcel. Try any carrier or Royal Mail // Parcelforce.
Any automatic insurance may be too little so increasing that may put the price up a lot.

Don't forget the ebay commission you have to pay will seem huge on a saddle and they take commission on postage too. Perhaps try Preloved and deal direct with your buyer. I always phone the prospective buyer, then you get a feel if they might be iffy.

Or you could try 'collection only' with ebay or Preloved. That way you get cash, not paypal or cheque, without paying any commission.
Hope it's sold safely soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I've advertised it locally and not had any luck so I think I'm going to have to post it to find a buyer who will pay what it's worth. Everybody on the local Facebook groups wants it for £50 even though it's worth £600.
 
I'm paying £20 to have one sent to me

I specifically looked at the advert to see if the service was detailed in the text as the 'other courier' option is not very reassuring to me, I like to see something that says 'will be sent with x company tracked and insured'

I lost count of the number of people who I contacted for clarification only to get no reply
 
WelshD said:
I'm paying £20 to have one sent to me

I specifically looked at the advert to see if the service was detailed in the text as the 'other courier' option is not very reassuring to me, I like to see something that says 'will be sent with x company tracked and insured'

I lost count of the number of people who I contacted for clarification only to get no reply
Click to expand...

Now thats interesting to know because I always select the 'other courier' option as once the saddle is packed and weighed then I choose the courier who is offering the best price for the service I need (sometimes 24hr, sometimes 48hr depending). I specifically dont select a specific company option on the listing as if I then chose to send with someone else i dont want the buyer saying i had misled them, if you get what I mean.
 
The courier I use depends on how much I need to insure the saddle for. ipostparcels offer the highest level of parcel insurance on the market so they're my go-to for anything over £600 - I think with an insured value of £1000 the last saddle I posted was only £16.

I wouldn't bank on having any more luck selling your saddle on eBay though. I've been trying to sell my dressage saddle (one that is pretty much impossible to find second hand) for 2 months now, at a fraction of its value, and had no interest at all.
 
I just purchased a saddle from ebay last week and postage was £15. I was very surprised to get the saddle for the price I did and I was the only bid
 
I've recently posted a saddle by parcel force 48 hour. It cost me £21 as I wanted insurance up to the value of the saddle (£300) just in case it got damaged in transit. Service and tracking were great and it was worth paying extra for - compared to myhermes who I used a few months ago and were dreadful. Took them a week to deliver the parcel and for most of that time they had no idea where it was!
 
Just be careful as if you search on this forum, you will see a litany of woes from sellers who sold saddles on ebay. Saddles sent off then seem to have miraculously arrived damaged/broken tree etc etc. Buyers often end up having money taken back through paypal and no saddle. Hermes has equally had bad press. So perhaps in the ad, say that saddle will be inspected by a saddler before posting to ensure the saddle is undamaged and make sure you have adequate insurance. I took my saddle off ebay after reading these posts!
 
Do do do research thoroughly before you commit to sending a saddle through a courier service as what might appear to be cheap and cheerful might not be so good if they manage to "lose" and/or damage your lovely saddle.

It is important to check what level of compensation you are covered for: make sure it is adequate for the value of the saddle and it is far better to pay a few extra £££'s to insure for the full value than for it to go missing or be damaged and you have an e-bay ruling made against you........

I personally would not recommend Hermes or Parcel Monkey (read their own customer reviews, truly shocking).

From memory, I think I paid about £17'ish to send a 17" treed saddle from Devon to the Scottish Highlands, with Parcelforce 48.
 
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