For Sale Royal Mail Age Verified - 'How to' guide

[Chris]

Royal Mail only allow the posting of legal bladed objects via their Age Verified service. You cannot just take your item to a Post Office and ask for this, you must pay for it in advance via the Royal Mail website.

How to organise Age Verified postage:

1. Go to https://send.royalmail.com/

2. Click on 'Send an item now'




3. Select the type of parcel you are sending and its weight. For most standard bladed items (knives, carving tools etc) this will be 'Small Parcel'.




4. Under 'Delivery options' there is a link titled 'Show 8 more services' which you need to click.




5. Towards the bottom of the list, there are the Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 with Age Verification services. Choose one of these and enter the buyer's email address and mobile number, or your own if you do not have their details.




6. Choose the address where the package is being sent to. You can do this by typing the postcode, or just the first line of the address - select the address when it appears in the dropdown menu.




7. Enter the recipient name




8. Go through the same process for Sender. You can arrange a FREE collection of the item by your local postie, and can select the option to have them bring the postage label with them so you don't need to print anything off.




9. You will then be taken through to the basket page where you enter your payment details and confirm the purchase.


Mark the outside of the package with a warning, the advice below is from the Royal Mail website:

• The outer packaging must be clearly marked to indicate a bladed item is enclosed and that it must not be handed to someone aged under 18.

Be aware that you must pack any pointed or bladed items safely. The recommendation is to have them wrapped up with the item inserted into its sheath and in a box with suitable padding to prevent it coming unsheathed at any point. This is your responsibility though and it's better to be safe than sorry, as irresponsible packaging of items may cause injury and ultimately lead to Royal Mail withdrawing this service.

 

[Dan1982]

Very useful. I did exactly this last week. Post office refused to send a uk legal non locking folder. So I used the online age verified tracked 48 service with no issues. Item arrived safely and relatively promptly to the buyer.

 

[Teddysknives]

Thanks for this guide,
One question.
When you arrange for royal mail to collect the knife from you do they give you any kind of time slot for collection or is it just any time on a given day? I only ask as I would potentially use this service as it's significantly cheaper than ups but not ideal if you have to wait in all day for the collection.

Thanks in advance and for the great guide

 

[Chris]

Thanks for this guide,
One question.
When you arrange for royal mail to collect the knife from you do they give you any kind of time slot for collection or is it just any time on a given day? I only ask as I would potentially use this service as it's significantly cheaper than ups but not ideal if you have to wait in all day for the collection.

Thanks in advance and for the great guide

When I have used it, it has just been collected with the usual post delivery. So they didn’t give me a specific time slot.

They do give the option of dropping the knife off as well though if you prefer.

 

[hudd4444]

Don't forget to mark the outside of the package with a warning, the advice below is from the Royal Mail website:

• The outer packaging must be clearly marked to indicate a bladed item is enclosed and that it must not be handed to someone aged under 18.

 

[hughtrimble]

Don't forget to mark the outside of the package with a warning, the advice below is from the Royal Mail website:

• The outer packaging must be clearly marked to indicate a bladed item is enclosed and that it must not be handed to someone aged under 18.

This. Heinnie's use a black and white outline of a Swiss Army Knife with the tools deployed and this looks nice and friendly, compared to say a silhouette of a kitchen knife.

 

[Chris]

I'll add it to the first post, thanks @hudd4444

 

[Teddysknives]

Lovely , cheers everyone !! Really appreciate it

 

[Tony]

Great post, thanks Chris

 

[Teddysknives]

Thanks

 

[Teddysknives]

So to confirm..... And I'm sorry about this...... Basically you can organise everything print a label and then select the option of dropping it off somewhere BUT ..... You can't take it into the post office and organise the shipping like you would for any other item.

Are the drop off points actually post offices out of interest or do they need to go direct to a depot or something?

Thanks for the patience and time

 

[Tony]

that's correct, you organise/arrange it and pay for it online. During that process you can print the label so that you can post it or arrange for free collection, in which case you can select for you to print the label or the post man/woman bring it with them so you don't have to.

 

[Teddysknives]

Are the drop offs standard post offices ?

 

[hudd4444]

Are the drop offs standard post offices ?

I normally take it to my local post office, they scan the pre-paid label that I have printed out and put on the package myself and give me a receipt like normal.

I'm guessing it's the same with any post office.