What Items Can't You Send via InPost UK?

InPost's list is published on its website and the lockers and InPost Shops apply the same rules. The categories resellers run into are batteries (loose, in a power bank, or inside a phone, laptop, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or vape), liquids of any kind including perfume, aftershave, gels, creams and e-liquid, aerosols and other pressurised containers, alcohol and tobacco, and anything flammable, corrosive, toxic or magnetised. Weapons, counterfeit goods, live animals and plants, cash and valuables such as precious metals and jewellery above the cover limit are also excluded, as they are with every courier.

The battery rule surprises people because older guides said a battery built into a device was fine. It is not: InPost's wording is batteries 'loose or inside a device', which rules out every phone, laptop and vape.

• Batteries: phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, e-readers, power banks, vapes, battery-powered toys
• Liquids: perfume, aftershave, nail varnish, creams, gels, e-liquid, drinks
• Aerosols and pressurised containers: deodorant sprays, hairspray, dry shampoo, spray paint
• Alcohol, tobacco and age-restricted goods
• Flammable, corrosive, toxic or magnetised items; weapons; counterfeit goods; live animals

A second list matters just as much for a seller. InPost will carry glass, ceramics, electronics without batteries, collectables and trading cards, handmade and personalised items, documents and anything worth more than £500, but lists them as non-compensatory: if they are lost or arrive broken, nothing is paid. For everything else the network maximum is £500, and second-hand goods are covered only up to £50 based on their pre-owned value (handmade items up to £50 for materials). On Vinted and eBay the marketplace's own protection fills that gap for integrated-label orders; sending direct, a vase or a signed first edition should go by Royal Mail.

Every InPost compartment takes up to 15 kg, and the same limit applies to parcels handed in at an InPost Shop and to door-to-door collection through InPost Direct; shop-to-shop InPost Direct bookings are capped at 10 kg. The largest parcel is 41 × 38 × 64 cm, the Large compartment. Anything over either limit cannot go by InPost at all; Evri takes up to 15 kg and 120 cm long and Royal Mail's Medium Parcel up to 20 kg and 61 × 46 × 46 cm.

Phones, laptops and anything with a battery: Royal Mail or Evri, both of which accept devices with the battery installed when switched off and packed to their rules; for value, Royal Mail Special Delivery (£750 of cover, signature). Perfume and aftershave: Royal Mail, which accepts them in small quantities as restricted dangerous goods, with a per-bottle volume limit and packaging and marking rules set out on its dangerous goods page; Evri refuses them too. Nail varnish: Royal Mail only, within its limits. Vapes and e-liquid: no mainstream UK courier accepts them; they need a specialist dangerous goods carrier. Aerosols: Royal Mail accepts toiletry and medicinal aerosols in limited quantities, packed to its rules. Alcohol: Evri and Royal Mail in limited quantities with the required packaging; Royal Mail caps it at 70% ABV.

eBay uses the category you list in to decide which Simple Delivery couriers to offer, so a phone or a fragrance will not be assigned to InPost; it will go by Royal Mail, Evri or DHL. On Vinted the buyer picks the carrier, so a seller of perfume or electronics should turn InPost off in Settings, then Shipping, or state the courier in the listing, rather than hope the buyer chooses correctly. If a prohibited item is sent anyway, InPost can hold, return or dispose of the parcel, the label is not refunded and nothing is compensated.

Three items sold in one evening. A hoodie: fine for InPost. A bottle of aftershave, half used: not InPost (liquid) and not Evri (flammable), so the seller lists it as Royal Mail only and packs it to Royal Mail's dangerous goods rules. A used smartphone sold for £180: not InPost (battery), and worth far more than InPost's £50 second-hand cover anyway, so it goes by Royal Mail Special Delivery at £9.85 with £750 of cover and a signature.