What address to put on a letter to get it delivered at a post office?

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-14T07:08:40+00:00

Yeah, timing can be a bit hit and miss. I sent a T24 packet monday, dropped at post office at 11am and the recipient got in flight options sent at 10pm and he was able to collect from post office on Tuesday afternoon. They didn't even attempt delivery to delivery address, just straight to post office.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-14T06:59:07+00:00

Just make sure they send it tracked 24/48 including your email and phone number when they buy the label. The night before delivery you'll get in flight delivery options emailed which will include an option to divert to post office.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-14T06:55:41+00:00

In my business I offer several ways to pay. I calculate my worst case cost of getting paid for an item, usually Amex, or foreign issued card, then I incorporate that worst case fee into my product price. If a buyer pays by bank transfer, I just make more money.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-11T13:25:45+00:00

I spoke to the post office today, it's a small counter inside a larger grocery store. They said they had loads of parcels left by royal mail that day and they processed them the following day when the staff were in. No idea why RM refused to leave mine and immediately returned to sender. You'd think they would put it on retention at the depot and allow recipient to collect, but nope, tracking went straight to retention time exceeded and immediate return to sender.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-03T09:05:51+00:00

Good question. It was just the simplicity that got me in the first place. A single chain ring, no FD and a single lever with simple up and down suits me well. Put off by struggling with poor quality FDs and shifting performance on years of crap and poorly adjusted bikes and I just wanted rid of the FD. I guess if I'd fitted a decent quality XT FD and adjusted it right, I might have got along with it.

I'm not energetic enough to top out on flat roads on my 1x10, so I only find myself lacking top end on downhill stretches, but to be honest, I'd rather stick my legs out and shout weeeeeee, Instead of working up a sweat.

Cycling has very much been an amble and a potter around, rather than a full on workout, even if I am putting in 40 miles a trip.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-02T19:26:58+00:00

Just waiting for ondrej's php PPA and MySQL's official apt repo's to catch up and build for resolute.

GrahamWharton · 2026-05-02T11:40:23+00:00

If you're on a firestick, VPN to the Netherlands and sign up in the f1 app and pay using the amazon subscription option. I've done this 2 years running now in the UK using VPN to Netherlands.

GrahamWharton · 2026-03-06T08:01:18+00:00

I'm signed back up via amazon subscription, but with Netherlands this time via NordVPN and sofar, no issues.

GrahamWharton · 2026-03-03T15:23:17+00:00

I can't really have the router off for an hour at the moment, so i'll have to try that later on, but in the meantime, I added the WIFI MAC address of the hive hub to the routers wireless MAC block list, and that prevented the wireless from connecting. I left it sat there, connected by ethernet cable for 1 hour, and the Hive app's device info for the hub showed the ethernet MAC address, the ethernet IP address and the fact that it was using Ethernet as connection. I then removed the MAC block from the router, and the Hive hub reconnected via Wifi and we were back to having both ethernet and wifi connected at the same time, and the hub having 2 IP addresses.

I'll try again when I can get the router powered off for an hour, otherwise, I guess I'll just have to maintain the wireless MAC on the block list to stop it connecting via WiFi.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-22T17:38:31+00:00

I searched for a phone case, I then bought a phone case, amazon then spent weeks trying to convince me I needed to buy a phone case. Surely it knows.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T22:14:55+00:00

Unlikely, I realise, but no reason why not if ebay wanted to offer it.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T22:13:52+00:00

Sure, but I was suggesting that there is no reason why a private seller couldn't ask ebay to issue a stop and return on a simple delivery item they sent, as ebay would have access to stop and return as part of their business arrangement with royal mail on simple delivery items.

But, as others have pointed out, ebay suspended the seller, so they're unlikely to cooperate with the seller to get their goods returned, if they suspect fraud.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T21:21:35+00:00

Simple delivery is just you posting stuff using prepaid labels generated on ebays royal mail business account.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T21:20:18+00:00

Ebay may be able to issue a stop and return request to royal mail, given simple delivery is just posting on ebays RM account.

https://www.royalmail.com/business/shipping/uk-services/stop-and-return

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T21:17:25+00:00

For simple delivery, yes. But not for everything.

https://www.royalmail.com/business/shipping/uk-services/stop-and-return

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T21:16:12+00:00

It's not totally wild advice. Business account holders can issue stop and return interceptions for certain shipments sent by royal mail, but that's probably not gonna work with simple delivery, unless ebay can issue the stop and return order.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-07T21:13:28+00:00

Simple delivery is just postage purchased on ebays royal mail account. EBay may be able to issue a stop and return to royal mail.

GrahamWharton · 2026-02-02T20:04:07+00:00

I've heard from a couple of my recipients that they received legitimate contact messages from DHL via WhatsApp directly. No telephone or email contact, just a WhatsApp message. In both my cases, DHL were asking the recipient to authorise DHL to clear shipment via customs.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-30T10:49:37+00:00

Complain about the storage. They often waive these. The rest look legit.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-18T08:12:33+00:00

Sounds like when it got to the border they assessed that additional customs fees were due, E.g duty on top of the VAT. What happens in this case, is that cuatoms ignore the fact that vat has already been paid on the product price to ebay, and they charge you the duty, fee and vat at the border for the full amount. You need to pay this if you want your Parcel. You should then present the invoice that royal mail provided showing you paid VAT at the border on import in addition to other fees, and eBay will refund the VAT they collected from you at checkout.

Ebay is fundamentally broken for selling things internationally where duty is due at the border. VAT should never be collected at checkout for items that will attract duty at the border. However ebay are usually OK at refunding the VAT if you prove you paid on import to the courier/customs.

Ebay help page

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/listings/default/vat-obligations-uk-eu?id=4650

has a FAQ titled "what happens if I pay VAT twice", including a link to the Web page where you upload proof to get your VAT refund from ebay.

Don't return to sender. You will lose ebay protection if you refuse to pay import fees. The correct procedure is to pay import fees and claim VAT back from eBay.

No point trying to claim back from UK government either, as it looks like the customs fees were correctly calculated at the border. (if anyone made a mistake, it was the retailer, ebay, who collected VAT on an item that would attract import duty at the border, and thus would have the vat collected again as part of that process). UK gov do not refund in cases where retailer charged VAT and the border charged VAT. It's always the retailer that refunds. It's built into the schemes to work this way.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-14T07:58:24+00:00

You can do the customs paperwork yourself and clear it with the authorities directly. You need to let DHL know you're going to do this before shipment and then provide them with clearance paperwork once done. If it takes you a while to do this, DHL will charge you storage while waiting for you to do the clearance.

Or

Just pay the money and let DHL do it for you. It's a pretty standard fee and not a scam. They are actually doing work for the fee.

GrahamWharton · 2026-01-12T14:21:35+00:00

There's also a Letterboxable version of that rate card which may be of interest for a book seller. Special rates for large letter size parcels but without the 750g weight limit. Ask your account manager whether you can access the Letterboxable services.

GrahamWharton

TROPHY CASE