Most UK WooCommerce stores buy Royal Mail postage online through Click & Drop, but many still charge customers Post Office counter prices at checkout. On a Tracked 48 small parcel, that gap is almost £1 per order. Customers pay more than they need to, and some of them leave at the shipping step.
This guide shows the 2026 difference between Royal Mail online and Post Office prices, how to check which one your store uses, and how to switch your WooCommerce checkout to the prices you actually pay.
Royal Mail has two price lists
Royal Mail charges different prices depending on where you buy postage:
- Post Office (counter) prices: what you pay when you take a parcel to a Post Office branch and buy postage over the counter.
- Online prices: what you pay when you buy postage online, for example through Royal Mail Click & Drop, then drop the parcel off or book a collection.
For letters and standard First and Second Class parcels, the gap is small. For tracked parcels, which most online shops use, online prices are much lower.
Online vs Post Office prices for common services (2026)
The table below compares the prices bundled with WooCommerce Royal Mail Shipping Calculator Pro (version 5.3.1, November 2026). Always confirm current prices with Royal Mail before you set margins.
| Service | Weight | Online | Post Office | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracked 48 Small Parcel | up to 2kg | £3.75 | £4.70 | £0.95 |
| Tracked 24 Small Parcel | up to 2kg | £4.80 | £6.05 | £1.25 |
| Tracked 48 Medium Parcel | up to 2kg | £5.70 | £7.60 | £1.90 |
| Tracked 48 Medium Parcel | 2kg to 10kg | £7.55 | £9.60 | £2.05 |
| Tracked 24 Medium Parcel | 2kg to 10kg | £8.80 | £11.05 | £2.25 |
| Second Class Small Parcel | up to 2kg | £4.40 | £4.60 | £0.20 |
| First Class Small Parcel | up to 2kg | £5.70 | £5.90 | £0.20 |
| Special Delivery by 1pm | 101g to 500g | £10.85 | £11.35 | £0.50 |
Two things stand out:
- Online, Tracked 48 is cheaper than Second Class for a small parcel (£3.75 vs £4.40). If you buy online and still offer untracked Second Class as your cheapest option, you could offer tracking for less.
- The heavier the parcel, the bigger the gap. A 5kg Tracked 24 parcel costs £2.25 more at the counter.
What this costs a typical store
Say you send 300 Tracked 48 small parcels a month, buy postage in Click & Drop, and charge customers Post Office prices at checkout:
- You charge £4.70 per order, but pay £3.75.
- Your customers pay £285 a month (£3,420 a year) more for shipping than it costs you.
That might look like extra margin, but shipping cost is one of the most common reasons shoppers abandon checkout. If you want margin, add it as a clear handling fee you control. Don’t let it come from charging the wrong price list.
The opposite mistake also happens. If you take parcels to the Post Office but your checkout uses online prices, you lose up to £2.25 on every medium parcel.
How to check which prices your WooCommerce store charges
- Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping and open the zone that covers the United Kingdom.
- Edit the Royal Mail shipping method.
- Find the Pricing Source setting. It has two options: Post Office and Online.
- Choose the one that matches how you buy postage. If you use Click & Drop, choose Online.
- Save, then add a test product to the cart and check the rates.
For stores upgrading from older versions, the default is Post Office. If you have never changed this setting and you buy postage online, your checkout is probably charging counter prices.
Add your margin on purpose
Once your checkout uses the right price list, you can adjust it on purpose instead of by accident. The plugin lets you:
- Add a handling fee as a fixed amount or a percentage, to cover packaging and labour. Negative values work too, if you want to subsidise shipping.
- Rename services so customers see clear labels such as “Tracked delivery (2–3 days)” instead of internal Royal Mail names.
- Adjust individual service prices, for example to subsidise Tracked 24 and push customers toward faster delivery.
- Turn on insurance above a cart value threshold, so high-value orders use a service with enough compensation cover.
Keeping prices current when Royal Mail changes them
Royal Mail changes prices at least once a year, sometimes more often. A hand-made flat rate table drifts out of date after each one, and most stores only notice when their margin drops.
WooCommerce Royal Mail Shipping Calculator Pro includes the current Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Evri and DPD price tables, and we update them in plugin releases when prices change. Version 5.3.0 included the October 2026 Royal Mail prices. With an active licence, you get each price update the same way as any other plugin update.
Pair online prices with Click & Drop
If you switch to online prices, you are probably already using Click & Drop, or should be. The plugin can send WooCommerce orders to Click & Drop automatically, with weights, dimensions and customs data, so you don’t retype addresses. See how to connect Royal Mail Click & Drop to WooCommerce for setup steps.
Summary
- Royal Mail online prices are lower than Post Office prices, by up to £2.25 per parcel for tracked services.
- If you buy postage online, your checkout should use online prices.
- Check the Pricing Source setting in your Royal Mail shipping method. It takes a minute.
- Add margin with a handling fee you control, not by charging the wrong price list.
Get WooCommerce Royal Mail Shipping Calculator Pro to show accurate Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Evri and DPD rates at checkout, using the price list that matches how you ship. For a full walkthrough, read our complete guide to WooCommerce Royal Mail shipping.