Safe Place, Neighbour or Signature: When the Risk in a Parcel Passes to You

For a consumer buying from a trader in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 answers the question directly: goods stay at the trader's risk until they come into the physical possession of the consumer or of a person the consumer has identified to take possession of them. The exception is where the consumer commissions a carrier the trader did not offer, in which case risk passes on delivery to that carrier. A parcel left somewhere the consumer never asked for, and then lost, is therefore ordinarily the trader's loss, not the consumer's.

For a business buyer, including a university, a company and a sole trader buying for their work, the 2015 Act does not apply and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does, where the starting position is very different. This article sets out both, what "delivered" means to a carrier, and which delivery option suits a temperature-sensitive item. It describes the law as published; it is not legal advice on any particular loss.

Consumers: the section 29 rule

Section 29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats every consumer sales contract as including a term on risk. The goods remain at the trader's risk until they come into the physical possession of the consumer or a person identified by the consumer to take possession of them. That rule does not apply where the goods are delivered to a carrier who was commissioned by the consumer and was not a carrier the trader named as an option; in that case the goods are at the consumer's risk from delivery to the carrier, without affecting any liability the carrier has to the consumer ^[1].

Three consequences follow for ordinary online orders. When the trader chooses or offers the carrier, which is almost always the case, the carrier is the trader's carrier for this purpose and the risk stays with the trader during transit. When a parcel is left on a doorstep the consumer never nominated and disappears, the consumer never had physical possession. And when a parcel is handed to a neighbour the consumer did not identify, the same applies.

Where the consumer did nominate something, the wording matters. The section speaks of a person identified by the consumer, so a neighbour the consumer named to the carrier fits it closely. A nominated safe place is not a person, and the section's text does not say whether leaving goods in a place the consumer chose amounts to the consumer taking possession. Traders' terms and carriers' terms often address that case, and a buyer who nominates a Safeplace should read them with that in mind.

Who counts as a consumer

The Act defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession, and a trader as a person acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, craft or profession. "Business" includes the activities of any government department or local or public authority ^[2].

Research buyers fall on the business side more often than they assume. A university, an NHS trust, a company and a contract research organisation are not individuals and cannot be consumers. A sole trader or a self-employed scientist buying for their work is an individual acting for business purposes, and is not a consumer for that purchase either. Section 29 is, in practice, a rule for private individuals.

Business buyers: the Sale of Goods Act position

Between businesses, section 20 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 sets the default: unless otherwise agreed, the goods remain at the seller's risk until property in them passes to the buyer, and then they are at the buyer's risk whether or not delivery has happened. Where delivery is delayed through one party's fault, that party carries any loss that would not otherwise have occurred ^[3].

Section 32 adds the rule that matters for parcels. Where the seller is authorised or required to send the goods, delivery to a carrier, whether named by the buyer or not, is prima facie deemed to be delivery to the buyer. The seller must, unless the buyer authorises otherwise, make a contract with the carrier that is reasonable having regard to the nature of the goods and the circumstances; if the seller does not, and the goods are lost or damaged in transit, the buyer may decline to treat delivery to the carrier as delivery to itself, or hold the seller responsible in damages ^[4]. Both sections expressly do not apply to consumer contracts under the 2015 Act ^{[3] [4]}.

The phrase "unless otherwise agreed" does a lot of work. Most business supply is on the seller's written terms, which usually state when risk passes, and those terms displace the default. A business buyer who wants the seller to carry transit risk needs to find that in the terms or negotiate it, not assume it. And the reasonable-contract duty in section 32 is worth noticing for temperature-sensitive goods: a carriage arrangement that ignores the nature of the goods is the kind the section addresses.

What "delivered" means to a carrier

A carrier's delivery event records that it has finished its job under its own contract, which is with the sender. On Royal Mail's Tracked 24 and 48 services, recipients can nominate a Safeplace, which may be a location or a neighbour, at no extra charge; Special Delivery Guaranteed and tracked items bought with a signature are not eligible for Safeplace ^[5]. When Royal Mail leaves an item with a neighbour it leaves a card saying which one, offers an opt-out sticker for addresses that do not want neighbour delivery, and states that a compensation claim can still be made in the normal way if the item is then lost or damaged ^[6].

A signature is also less precise than it looks. Royal Mail notes that the name and signature it captures belong to whoever accepted the parcel, which may not match the name on the label and could be a neighbour or someone else at the address ^[7]. Couriers record delivery in similar ways, often with a photograph of the parcel at a door. None of these records settles who carries the risk under the sale contract. They are evidence of where the parcel went.

Choosing the option for a temperature-sensitive item

A doorstep in July or a porch in January is the wrong place for anything cold-packed, and loss is not the only risk. A parcel that is not stolen can still sit for hours in conditions its packaging was not designed for; the plain explanation of what a few warm hours can do to a peptide is a useful reminder of why.

1. Ask for a signature service. On Royal Mail that means tracked with signature or Special Delivery Guaranteed, both of which are excluded from Safeplace.
2. Do not nominate a Safeplace for these orders. If you nominate anything, nominate a person who will be in and knows to expect it.
3. Institutional buyers should deliver to goods-in during its hours, where a storekeeper signs, rather than to a home address.
4. Record the handover when it happens: time, who received it and the condition of the box, in the same place as a laboratory's receipt log and acceptance criteria.
5. Read the seller's terms on risk before ordering if you are buying as a business.

When a parcel goes missing

The route depends on who you are. A consumer's claim is against the trader where risk had not passed, and the trader deals with its own carrier. A business buyer's position turns on the seller's terms and on section 32. In either case the carrier's contract is with the sender, so the carrier usually deals with the sender rather than the recipient.

• Tell the seller promptly and in writing, with the order number and tracking number.
• Report what actually happened, including where you looked and who you asked. Accuracy is what makes a claim straightforward to settle.
• Keep the proof-of-delivery record, any photograph and any card left.
• Keep your own record of the day: when you were in, and any neighbour enquiries.

Most missing parcels are found with a neighbour or in a place nobody thought to check. The ones that are not become questions about the contract, and a clear written record made at the time is what settles them without argument.