FAQ

• What packaging should I use?

  Use sturdy packaging/boxes for your parcels. If you do not have any, please request our packaging from your post office or your post point or order it from our e-shop.

• What’s the allowed weight and size?

  A parcel can weigh up to a maximum of 30kg (any parcel heavier than 30kg will be refused).

  The following sizes are allowed:

  Via pick-up points or to the address of your choice:

  • The minimum size is 145 mm x 112 mm;
  • The longest side cannot exceed 1.5 m;
  • A parcel's total surface cannot exceed 3 metres (1 x length + 2 x width + 2 x height = a maximum of 3m).

  Anything you send will be automatically considered as a parcel if it exceeds at least one of the following dimensions: width of 230mm, length of 350mm, height of 30mm, or weight of 2kg.

  Via Parcel Lockers:

  • The minimum size is 145mm x 112mm;
  • The maximum size is 420mm x 310mm x 580mm.
• What can I send via the online shipping service?

  You can use the shipping service to send your commercial goods, gifts, documents and returns.

  In order to ensure your safety, and that of our employees, legal restrictions do apply to the kinds of items you can send. You will find below a list of many items (but not all) that are hazardous and therefore prohibited; in other words, items that you cannot send via bpack..

  • Hazardous materials, chemicals, explosives, inflammable or radioactive materials, perishable biological substances, etc. All of these exceptions and restrictions are laid down in the postal act.,
  • Drugs, narcotics and psychotropic substances,
  • Matches, hair dyeing products, nail varnish, sprays and disinfectant solutions,
  • Weapons, including knives, daggers, switchblades and other sharp or cutting items,
  • Live animals and parasites, according to the exceptions and restrictions laid down by the postal act,
  • Bearer securities, coins, bank notes, jewellery (except costume jewellery worth 500 EUR maximum), or other valuable materials, unless they are dispatched in closed, ensured shipments, or as closed, recorded items,
  • Items which fall within the scope of legal cooperation or under criminal penalties that may be incurred because the content of these items violates the law.

1. Good to know

2. Delivery methods

3. Delivery times

4. Options

5. Payment

6. Printing shipping labels

bpost offers you home delivery to 27 destinations via the online shipping service (our prices). You also have the option of asking your recipient to enter his/her address so as to avoid any errors.

You can also send your parcels to other international destinations via bpost's standard parcel delivery service.

• Which documents should be sent together with EU shipments?

  In the European Union in general, you do not need to have customs documents.

  However, some areas require specific documents (namely: a CN23 customs form in 2 copies and a pro forma or commercial invoice in 4 copies). These must be placed on the outside of the package.

  The list of the exception zones is below:

  • Denmark: Faroe Islands, Greenland
  • Deutschland: Helgoland, Büsingen
  • Spain: Ceuta, Melilla, Canary Islands, Gibraltar, Andorra
  • France: Overseas territory known as DOM, COM and TAAF
  • DOM - "Overseas department": Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte
  • COM - "Overseas collectivity": French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna
  • TAAF - "French Southern and Antarctic Lands": Kerguelen Islands, St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands, Crozet Islands, Adélie Land, Scattered Islands
  • Italy: Livigno, Campione d'Italia, Lake Lugano, San Marino (Sovereign state), Vatican city
  • United Kingdom: Channel Islands
  • Finland: Aland Islands
  • Greece: Mount Athos (Sovereign state)
  • Cyprus: Turkish side

  If you would like more information, click here.

Our network includes over 1250 post offices and post points throughout Belgium where you can drop off your parcels (for information, you can find our post points everywhere, whether it is at your local bookstore, in both large and small supermarkets, at petrol stations, in the town hall or at a railway station, etc.)

• Their advantages:
  • Numerous points of service, available near your home or your workplace, with extended opening hours.
  • Qualified staff, specially trained by bpost, to guarantee impeccable service as well as professional advice.
• · Drop off limit:
  • 1 to 20 parcels.

Click here to find your nearest post office or post point.

Our Parcel Lockers can be used to send or receive parcels, whenever and wherever you want, throughout Belgium. They are available up to 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Find a Parcel Locker in your neighbourhood by checking our website.

To drop off a parcel, go to the Parcel Locker of your choice, choose the “send” option on the Parcel Locker screen, scan the bpost barcode on the shipping label of your parcel (or enter it manually, being sure to check it starts with 3232), and put your parcel in the locker that automatically opens. You will receive a confirmation mail once you have closed the locker door properly again. Quick and easy!

If your email address is not yet known at bpost, simply enter it on the locker screen so that we can let you know when your parcel was picked up by our services.

Additionally, all parcels must be franked before sending. For this, you can use a label (which you can get online or at your post office/post point).

Click here to find out more.

• Parcel limit:

  depends on the space available. If all Parcel Lockers are full at the same time, you can drop off your parcel the next day or go to another Parcel Locker.

• Defined address.
• Possible to schedule a pickup for one or several parcels: maximum of 1,5 m³ and 500kg per pickup (30kg per parcel).
• Collections take place from Monday to Friday between 12:00 and 17:00 or on a set day. If you send your request for collection before 11:30, our driver can drop by the same day.
• Prices vary between 8,05 EUR and 20,11 EUR, depending on where the parcel is being picked from. Which area are you in?

Request a pickup

• Available in more dans 100 post offices.
• This is the quickest way to drop off your franked parcels in a secure manner.
• Avoid queues, and use our services outside standard opening hours.

MassPost centre is a point for mass parcel drop-offs. Click here to see the list of centres.

• Parcel limit:
  • 20 to 500 parcels.

• Via our Track & Trace page

  The online tracking of your parcel (Track & Trace) provides information about the status of your shipment. This service is also available for your receiver.
  To track your shipment, introduce all numbers, without spaces, indicated below the barcode. You will find this on the mailing label (as shown below), proof of payment, proof of deposit or on notice of offer.

  
• Via our “My shipments” page

  This "My shipments" page provides you with a direct link for every reference (barcode) to your parcels status.

• Via our mobile app

  You can enter your references in the bpost mobile app and thus receive updates on your parcel, free of charge, via our push messages on your smartphone. Download the app for iPhone or android (Samsung, Nexus, one plus, etc.).

Feel free to send the reference (barcode) to your recipient, for your convenience.

You do not receive any proof unless you have selected this option (see headings "How do I send a parcel online?" / "Creating my shipping label" / "Options"). However, your parcel is scanned by the postman upon delivery, which allows you to track it via your "My Shipments" page or via our service and get confirmation that your parcel has been delivered to its recipient.

In case of damage or loss, you will receive compensation amounting to the value of your franking costs, except if your parcel weighs more than 10kg or if you have subscribed to the additional warranty policy.

You can choose to have additional warranty cover, for 1 EUR , depending on the value of the parcel (15 EUR for documents and a maximum of 500 EUR for goods). Please note that if you have opted for payment upon delivery or if your parcel weighs more than 10kg (bpack Maxi), warranty and the recipient’s signature are automatically included (you will find full details in our general terms & conditions).

Click on the "Create an account" button in the top right corner of your screen to register. Enter your personal details on this page or use your Google account data. In order to finalise your registration, you must then confirm your registration by clicking on the link which we will have sent to you by email (you will have 2 days to activate your account). You can then handle your shipments in a secure, password-protected environment.

Registering is very easy and provides a series of additional options, which are listed below. In order to make the most of the benefits that creating a personal account gives you, we suggest that you register before you create your first shipping labels with bpost:

• Address book:

  In the address book you can easily save your personal data and all your recipients.

• Automatic recognition of recipients:

  Our website uses automatic entry (like Google) and as soon as you start entering the recipient’s name, it will suggest corresponding names from your address book.

• Access to your shipping history:

  Via "My shipments" you can easily track your sent items, (regardless of their status, such as pending, delivered, etc.) as well as find the recipient’s details.

• Alerts/notifications:

  Our website will display a lozenge in the menu, indicating that you have finalised but unpaid labels in your basket.

• Overview of your demands to recipients:

  You will find your demands to recipients in your overview, under the ‘Unfinished shipments’ tab of your ‘My Shipments’ page, which provides a summary of all your current and outstanding demands.

• Your printing preferences:

  Go to ‘My Profile’, where you can easily set your printing preferences in the screen showing the content of your basket.

You can change all your data, at any point. In order to do so, you have to connect you and go to your profile page and select the option for updating your personal details. Everything can be changed, except for the country of dispatch, which must be Belgium.

If you have accidentally entered the wrong email address, you can create a new account with the correct email address.

You can create several accounts with the online shipping service; only the email address for each must be different. However, please bear in mind that you won’t be able to merge accounts later on. Shipments, invoices etc. will remain separate.

You do not need an address to create an account. However, you do need a Belgian address to be able to send a parcel, request a pickup or ask for an invoice.

The email may have gone straight into your “spam” folder. We recommend that you add the email address info@bpost.be to your address book (Outlook, Gmail…) so as to ensure that you receive our emails.

If, however, this is not the case, you can ask us to re-send an activation email by logging in on our website. As your account won’t have been activated yet, our website will offer to send you an activation email within 48 hours.

You will have 48 hours, following the creation of your account, to click on the activation link. If the link no longer works, this means one of two things:

• Your account has already been activated;
• The 48 hour deadline has expired (in which case, you will have to create your account again).

Please note, you can send your parcels without creating an account.

You can change your password by clicking on "Forgotten password". An email will then be sent to your email address with a link to reset your password. You must click on the link to create a new password.

You can deactivate your account at any time. All you have to do is log in, go to your profile and choose the option “Deactivate my account”.

bpost issues either a purchase invoice or proof of payment to professional buyers (professional purchases) according to whether the products and services bought are subject or not to VAT.

Bpost does not deliver invoices to consumers (for private purchases).

So please note that if you are a freelancer and you want acknowledgement of your purchase as "professional expenses", the email confirming your order or the proof of payment, together with a proof of debit (bank statement) should in principle suffice for your purchase to be considered “professional”.

• Two options:
  • Your basket only contains products and services without VAT. In this case, you may ask bpost for an official document by ticking the box ‘Please send me proof of payment’. This proof of payment is sufficient to be deductible and there is no need for an invoice as there is no VAT to be recovered on your purchase. You will receive this document in pdf format by email.
  • Your basket contains at least one product or service subject to VAT. In this case, you can ask bpost for an official invoice by ticking the box ‘Please send me an invoice’. The invoice will be sent to you by post the following month.

In both cases, you have to explicitly make your request before each payment and these documents will only cover those parcels/options for which you made the request, even if you made separate purchases.

In principle, it takes 2 to 4 weeks (following the end of the month) for an invoice to be issued, but this can sometimes take longer at certain specific times such as the Christmas or holiday periods. If you ticked the box “I would like to receive an invoice”, then your request has been recorded.

The monthly invoice includes your labels and monthly services for which you requested an invoice when making your payment.

In the interests of safety and to save you experiencing any login problems, we recommend using a password which includes both upper and lower case characters and to make sure you are careful with the cases each time you enter this password.

It is very important that you fill in the fields for your personal details and those of your recipient completely and correctly. These fields greatly increase the chances of successful delivery, both in Belgium and abroad.

• Comply with the weights and measurements recognised by bpost.Respecter les poids et mesures reconnus par bpost.
• Make sure your parcel is packaged well, using sturdy packaging which is not likely to come undone or get damaged.
• Stick your label on properly:
  • Make sure your label is clearly visible/legible and has been stuck on a plain, flat side of the parcel.
  • Protect the label from moisture by covering it with transparent film.
  • Note: for parcels sent in tubes, please stick the barcode on the parcel lengthwise.