Posting RIFs via Royal Mail/ Parcelforce - experience?

[straffham]

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere?

Thinking of selling some RIFs in the appropriate section on here, but before I do I wondered how to go about posting them? Last time I posted one (several years ago) I was told by my local Post Office that with it being a RIF it required some sort of Special tracking as normal Registered postage with Insurance wouldn't cover it if it got lost, and it would cost £20 plus.

Would appreciate feedback from people who have posted RIFs, who they used, what service to ask for, what it cost etc, any problems encountered, that sort of thing?

Cheers all,

Martyn.

 

[Happy]

I've never had issues posting rifs through parcelforce - as long as you declare it as airsoft equipment and don't include batteries. Guess it depends on who serves you on the counter though.

 

[jcheeseright]

I always post RIFs with parcelforce, declare what it is and apply the appropriate insurance (e.g. Tell them the correct value) and you'll be fine.

 

[TacMaster]

There's a few airsofters who live within a 2 mile radius of the post office on my street (the next one's a town away) so the clerk's used to us- he applies the insurance and correct delivery type as soon as he sees a massive rectangular parcel come through the door

 

[straffham]

Cheers guys, very helpful - what sort of cost are you looking at to send say an M4 within the UK?

 

[jcheeseright]

depends on the value of it, when I posted my hk416 to firesupport it was about £36, but I did insure it for £500.

 

[Mack]

I sent a gun today (m4 cqb), parcel force 48 for £12.98

Thats only insured up to £100

 

[Happy]

Only problem with express48 is how bad they are at tracking said item - ittz_noob can back me up on this when I sent him a RIF with this service. It arrived late aswell despite being sent on a Wednesday (to arrive Friday) it arrived the following Monday.

I've found their next day before 1pm service to be a lot more reliable and sometimes significantly cheaper for pistols and smaller rifs. They also track it better. Not sure how expensive it would be for a bigger item though.

 

[Lambster]

I've just sent my GR16 to the buyer via ParcelForce 24. It only costs £5 through work. I completely forgot to add extra insurance though :/

Things have been going too well this week, it's bound to back fire on me.

The last one I sent arrived without a problem though

 

[straffham]

Cheers again guys. So in the main consensus seems to be use Parcelforce 24 or 48, though costs seem to vary a lot judging from the above posts depending if you declare it for what it is (and pay the extra) which looks to be the only way for peace of mind.

Lambster, yes thats a good idea, I used to work for a firm which had a parcel collection twice a week by Parcelforce where each parcel was charged an average price (total weight cost divided by number of parcels) so was cheap to use, though as said no insurance or tracking unless added as an extra.

 

[joshcowin]

i know royal mail has just accepted that they will post rifs no problem at all

 

[straffham]

i know royal mail has just accepted that they will post rifs no problem at all

Nice one - Do they require any special service to be used?

 

[CON]

When I posted through royal mail....

Was posting a 226, didnt really wanna say I was posting a rif, the bloke asked what it was, I said sporting goods product return , he said again "but what is it" ,(note, you do not have to say what it is), so I just said its aerobic weights....then realising how gay that sounded (at the time I didnt know about the rm posting rifs, and there was sighn with a handgun with a big cross through it), anyway the bloke laughed, asked me te value, and did a special, insured delivery, guaranteed to arrive next day lunchtime, with tracking and a sighned for recorded delivery, cost 11 quid.

Needlesss to say I keep getting the same bloke so im now a aerobic addict of some sort.