How to Ship High-Value Items Safely in the UK

InPost's network maximum is £500, but the figure that matters to resellers is £50: the most it pays for a second-hand item, based on its pre-owned value, or for materials on a handmade one. Glass, ceramics, collectables, trading cards, electronics without batteries and documents are non-compensatory, and there is no way to buy extra cover. Evri includes £20 and lets you raise it to £999 when booking directly, with exclusions. Royal Mail includes £20 on 1st and 2nd Class, £75 on Tracked 24 and 48, and £750 on Special Delivery, which can be raised to £1,000 or £2,500 for a small fee. Those four numbers decide the courier for anything worth more than £50.

Vinted covers orders sent with its own label up to £500, whichever carrier the buyer chose, provided you used the Vinted label and got the parcel scanned in time. eBay's Simple Delivery protection covers loss and damage from the first carrier scan if you posted inside your handling time. Both are far more than the couriers' own cover, which is why an InPost locker is acceptable for a £300 jacket on Vinted and not for the same jacket sold on Facebook Marketplace. Above the marketplace limits, or outside a marketplace, the courier's cover is all there is.

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm is the service for anything over about £100 sent outside a marketplace, and for marketplace sales above the platform's cover. Since 5 October 2026 it costs £9.85 online for up to 100 g and £16.05 for up to 2 kg, with £750 of compensation included; the £1,000 and £2,500 levels cost a few pounds more. It must be handed over at a Post Office counter (not a locker, Collect+ shop or postbox) and the recipient signs for it, which is the strongest evidence you can have against a false 'not received' claim.

Between £750 and £2,500, raise the Special Delivery compensation when you buy the label; it costs a few pounds. Above £2,500 no consumer courier service covers the item, so arrange separate parcel insurance from a specialist insurer before you post, and check the policy's excluded categories (jewellery, watches and cash are often excluded or capped). Marketplace dispute processes such as eBay's Money Back Guarantee are separate from loss-in-transit cover and do not replace it.

Photograph the item from every angle before packing, including brand labels, serial numbers and authentication tags, then the item inside the open packaging, then the sealed parcel with the label on. Keep the proof of postage or locker confirmation and the tracking number until the buyer confirms receipt, and add the tracking to the marketplace order immediately. Pack valuable items in a box with padding, double-boxed if fragile, rather than a mailing bag. Without photographs and proof of postage, couriers decline most claims and marketplaces side with the buyer.

A designer handbag sold for £420 on Vinted, buyer chose InPost. Vinted's protection covers the order up to £500, so a locker is acceptable: the seller photographs the bag, its serial tag and the packing, boxes it inside a mailing bag and keeps the locker confirmation. The same bag sold for £420 through a Facebook Marketplace message is a different job: no platform cover, InPost would pay £50 at most, so it goes by Royal Mail Special Delivery at £16.05 with £750 of cover and a signature, handed over at the Post Office counter.