International Flats

Before sending Flats overseas you should consider the following:

• What is a ‘Flat’?
• What mailing service options do I need?
• How fast does it need to get there?
• How do I correctly address my mail?
• How should I present my mail?
• How will my mail be collected?
• What can and can’t be sent?

What are ‘Flats’?

A Flat is:

• over the size of 245mm x 165mm
• under 381mm x 305mm
• no more than 20mm thick
• less than 500g.

If your mail is smaller or larger than the dimensions above, you may need to refer to our letter service user guide or packet service user guide.

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What mailing service options do I need?

You have three different options to choose from:

• Unsorted (just hand your Flats over to us and we’ll do the rest)
• Zone Sort (zone meaning either EU or Rest of World)
• Country Sort (sorting and presenting your mail in country order).

* Unless combined with a UK pre-sorted service when the minimum quantity is 10.

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How fast does it need to get there?

There are two options available for Flats: Priority or Economy. You will need to segregate your Flats by service speed. To find out more about delivery speeds, see our International Flats user guide.

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How do I correctly address my mail?

Make sure you address your mail correctly. Find examples in our International Flats user guide

Using a return address
Include a return address to ensure undeliverable items can be returned to you free of charge. You’ll need to put your UK return address on each item ideally at the edge at right angles to the delivery address and ensure there is a company identifier such as your logo or company name. We recommend that you put a UK return address on every item and you must use a UK return address if you’re sending more than 1,500 items to one country over a two-week period.

Customs labels

If you are sending an item to a destination outside the European Union, it will need a customs label if it is:

• an item of commercial value
• an item containing goods or gifts
• printed paper (advisable but not mandatory).

Find out more about Customs

Prepaid Postage Impression (PPI) & Airmail Indicators
Every item must have a Royal Mail approved PPI in the top right hand corner.
The design you choose must be one of those available on our PPI page. It must include the words: POSTAGE PAID, your licence number and GB.

If you are sending an item through the Priority service it must have either:

• an Airmail indicator, or
• an Airmail sticker.

You may also create your own indicator with the words Airmail, Par Avion or Prioritaire. This should be positioned as closely as possible to the top left hand corner of the front of the item.

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How should I present my mail?

Traying your Flats or using bags
The standard method of despatching Flats is to use trays. However, some items can be too big for our trays, in which case standard mailbags should be used.

For further details refer to the International Flats user guide

Paperwork
Once you have prepared and labelled your packets, you’ll create and print out a sales order from the Online Business Account (OBA) system. There are specific instructions, so for their details, refer to the International Flats user guide

In addition to the sales order from OBA, there a few more pieces of paperwork required for High Volume mailings. They are a computer planning report and a line listing. Production of these can be easily facilitated by the OBA Data Generator so for further information, refer to the International Flats user guide

How will my mail be collected?

Unsorted, Zone Sort and Country Sort Low Volume postings can be collected at the same time as your normal mail collection and are taken to your local mail centre.

High Volume postings are initially handled by our Regional Distribution Centres before being routed to Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre.

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What can and can’t be sent?

What you are prohibited from sending varies from country to country and can sometimes include apparently ordinary things. If you are unsure about anything, please visit our Countries A to Z (see bottom of this page) or call us on 08457 950 950

To qualify for all of our International Flats services you will need to spend in excess of £5,000 per annum across the International Contract Services portfolio.

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