Parcel and pocket scales ranked by how often they save a UK home seller from a postage surcharge, with the reason for each pick.
Weigh a parcel too light and you or the buyer can face a surcharge. Weigh it too heavy and you overpay for postage.
Two scales cover most of what you post: a platform scale for parcels and a pocket scale for letters and card mailers. The pocket scale costs about £8 to £14 and the 40 kg platform scale £15 to £25.
The criteria that set the order. Commission plays no part.
Weighs everything from a letter to a boxed pair of boots, with a display you can read under a box.
Typical price
£15to £25
For cards and small items that sit within a few grams of a postage limit.
Typical price
£8to £14
A cheaper platform scale for lighter parcels. Choose it if you want to spend less or the 40 kg one is out of stock. Stay with the 40 kg model if you post heavy boxes.
Typical price
£12to £20
Each step in the order you'll need it.
A platform scale handles boxed trainers, bundles of clothes and anything up to its limit. A pocket scale reads to a tenth of a gram, so you can tell whether a card mailer sits a gram or two under a weight band.
Keep both if you post both: the pocket scale for Large Letters and the platform for parcels.
Weigh the packed parcel, with the label and tape on, before you buy postage. Boxes and bubble wrap add more weight than the item alone suggests.
Check the weight bands on the carrier’s current price guide. Royal Mail’s Large Letter limit is 750 g, for example.
Tare the scale on a flat surface and check it now and then with something of known weight, like an unopened bag of sugar.
Replace the batteries when the display dims, because the reading drifts on a weak battery.
If you buy postage by weight, yes. If you guess, you risk paying too much or the carrier holding your parcel for underpaid postage.
For small items, often. A platform scale takes parcels too big for a kitchen scale's bowl, and you can still read its display beside the box.
Check your heaviest parcel. A 30 or 40 kg scale covers more than most parcels you post from home.
Yes. The label and tape add weight too.
If you post lots of card mailers near a weight band, it helps. Otherwise the platform scale will do.
Weigh something with a known weight, like a sealed 1 kg bag of sugar, and compare.
