If your parcel is lost or damaged in the post

01

Who carries the risk, in the words of the terms

Before posting anything valuable, the question is simple: if this goes missing, who loses? On postage Assaypost arranges, the answer is written into the contract, and it is worth reading in the original. When you are ready to post, we arrange the postage with you and confirm the service and its cover in writing before anything is sent.

Three details matter most. The risk starts when the carrier accepts the parcel, so a parcel lost on its first night in the network is not your loss. It runs until a return is delivered to you, not merely sent, so a parcel lost on its way home is not your loss either. And the claim is ours because the contract with the carrier is ours: under clause 3.2 we choose the carrier, the service and the cover, and you are not a party to that contract.

The full wording is in clause 7.2 of the terms, with clause 12 beside it. If this guide ever reads differently from the terms, the terms are what counts.

02

We make the claim, and what you are owed

If a parcel on postage we arranged is lost, you do not fill in a claim form, telephone the carrier or pay for a valuation. We deal with the carrier and, whatever the carrier decides, we owe you under clause 12 of the terms.

• What you are owed is your loss. Clause 12.2 measures it by what the items were worth, not by what we would have paid for them. Where a piece was worth more whole than as metal, the whole-piece value is the one that counts.
• The carrier's compensation is not your ceiling. Under clause 12.4 the cover we buy from the carrier is not a limit on what you are owed. If the carrier pays us less, or nothing, the difference is ours to find.
• A disagreement about value goes to an independent valuer, at our cost. Under clause 12.3 either side may ask for one. If we cannot agree on a valuer within fourteen days, the clause says how one is nominated. We pay the fee whatever the valuation says, and we are bound by the figure.
• Say roughly what you are sending before you post. Clause 7.4 asks for this so that the right service is used. Getting the value wrong in good faith is never held against you. Only knowingly sending far more than you said can reduce what is paid on a lost parcel, and then only so far as the loss was caused by our not being told.

Your own record still matters, even though you never deal with the carrier. If a parcel does not arrive, the question becomes what was in it. Clause 8.4 names the evidence each side produces, and from you that is what you sent, your posting receipt and, if you took one, a photograph of the items laid out before you sealed the parcel.

03

Keep the posting receipt, but losing it costs you nothing

The posting receipt carries the tracking number, which is how a parcel is found. Clause 7.3 asks you to keep it for that reason, because it helps us trace the parcel and prove the claim quickly. The same clause is plain about what the receipt is not: “It is not a condition of anything you are owed: if you lose it, clause 7.2 still applies.”

A simple habit is to photograph the receipt as soon as you are given it, so the tracking number is on your phone as well as in a coat pocket. It speeds up any trace, and it is not an obligation.

On your own postage it matters more. Royal Mail's retail compensation policy lists a certificate of posting among the evidence a claim for a lost valuable item needs, and says one is provided automatically with Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm. When the claim is yours, the receipt is part of your case.

04

If the tracking stops moving

Tracking that has not updated for a while is not the same as a lost parcel. A tracking page shows only the scans that have happened, and a gap between them does not tell you where the parcel is. Who carries the risk does not change, and the first step is simply to ask.

1. Look it up with the number on your receiptUse the tracking number from your posting receipt, or from the written confirmation of your postage, and note the last place and time the parcel was scanned.
2. Tell Assaypost, not the carrierSend your reference and the tracking number on WhatsApp or by text to 07369 296063, or ring the same number (6am to 10pm, seven days). Email works too; the address is on the contact page. Add a photograph of the receipt if you have one. On postage we arranged, the enquiry with the carrier is ours to open, because the contract is ours.
3. Keep anything else at home for nowIf you split a lot across two parcels, hold the second back until the first is accounted for. There is no reason to put more into the network while a question is open about the first.
4. Keep your list and photographs where you can find themThey are what shows what was in the parcel if it does not turn up. Do not tidy them away until the matter is closed.
5. Then leave the carrier to usIf the parcel reappears, it is booked in the ordinary way. If it does not, what you are owed is settled under clause 12, whatever the carrier decides to pay.

The same applies to a return. If the parcel coming back to you has stalled, tell us the same way. Clause 7.2 keeps the risk with us until the return is delivered, so a return that never arrives is our loss, not yours.

05

Damaged, opened or light: why the parcel is photographed sealed

A parcel can arrive looking intact and still have been interfered with, and the only moment its condition can be recorded reliably is before anyone opens it. So clause 8.1 requires every parcel to be photographed on arrival, unopened: the outer packaging, any damage, and the seal and bag number where a sealed pack was used. What happened in the post is then on record, separately from anything that happens on the bench.

If the seal or packaging shows any sign of having been opened, if the parcel is damaged, or if it is lighter than the weight the carrier recorded, clause 8.2 says we stop. We photograph the parcel as it is, go no further with the contents, and tell you before anything else is done, reporting it to the carrier at the same time. While that question is open, nothing in the parcel is melted, refined, sold on or otherwise put beyond recall (clause 8.6).

Tamper-evident packing is what makes that check mean something. If a numbered tamper-evident bag is sent to you with your postage, seal your items in it and write the number down; it cannot be opened and closed again without showing it. If you pack in your own box, photograph the items laid out, then the box packed, before the tape goes on. Clause 8.5 says your photograph counts, weighed alongside our own record.

If a return reaches you damaged, keep everything as it arrived: the outer box, the inner packing and the items. Photograph it and tell us. Royal Mail's retail policy requires anyone claiming for damage to keep all the packaging and contents, because it may need to inspect them, and says compensation may not be paid if they are thrown away.

06

Postage we arrange, or postage you buy yourself

Everything above applies to postage Assaypost arranges. Clause 7.2, and the part of clause 12.2 that covers the post, are written for that postage, and do not cover a parcel while it travels on postage you bought yourself. Once it is in our hands, clause 12.2 applies to it like any other. On your own postage you are the carrier's customer, and the carrier's terms decide what you can claim, how and by when.

Who deals with a loss, by how the parcel was posted. The right-hand column is Royal Mail's published retail policy for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm posted over the counter, read 1 October 2026.

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Royal Mail's conditions change, so read its own pages before you rely on them; the sources below give the addresses and the date they were read. Royal Mail publishes a standard compensation level for the service and sells higher ones, and those amounts belong on its pages rather than here. Nothing in the right-hand column describes the carrier, service or cover we use, which are confirmed to you in writing before you post.

If you have the choice, post on the buyer's postage rather than your own, where the buyer's terms put the risk on the buyer. Postage we arrange costs you nothing and takes the risk in the post off you. Tell us roughly what you are sending first, so the right service is used (clause 7.4).

07

Seller risks and exceptions

• Posting on your own postage. The terms that put the risk on us are written for postage we arrange. On postage you bought, the loss is yours to claim from the carrier, on its terms and within its time limits.
• Sending far more than you said. Clause 7.4 allows what is paid on a lost parcel to be reduced if you knowingly sent much more than you described, so far as the loss was caused by that. Describe the lot as best you can, even roughly.
• Using a service that excludes jewellery. On your own postage, Royal Mail's retail policy excludes jewellery from compensation unless it travels by an appropriate Special Delivery Guaranteed service.
• No record of what went in. A lost parcel turns into a question about its contents. Without a list and a photograph taken before sealing, the answer rests on memory.
• Throwing away damaged packaging. A carrier may need to see it. Keep it until you are told it is no longer needed.
• Splitting a lot without saying so. Clause 3.3 of the terms asks you to send a lot together where you can. If it must go in two parcels, ask in writing for them to be priced together, or each gets its own offer. If the lot will not fit one sturdy box, say so before you pack and we will tell you how to split it.
• Posting when the confirmation does not match. If the service or cover in your confirmation is not what you expected, or does not look enough for what you are sending, say so before you post. Leave the items at home until that is settled.

08

When not to use this route

Some things should not go in the post until somebody has seen photographs. That includes a lot bigger than one parcel ought to carry, heavy silver that will not fit a sensible box, and anything that may be worth more whole than as metal. The posting guide covers packing and splitting a lot. The posting safely and cover page follows a parcel from posting to opening, and how to check a postal gold buyer sets out what to ask any buyer before you post. Selling gold and silver online explains each step, from photographs to payment.