Delivery to the Highlands and Islands: how to avoid surcharges

If you live in the Highlands or on an island, you’ve probably found a great deal, then watched the delivery charge eat it at checkout. Here’s why it happens, what the law says, and how to pay less.

Updated 26 October 2026 · 6 minute read

Who’s affected

There’s no official list. Each shop and courier draws its own lines. These postcodes are the ones most often treated as “Highlands and Islands”:

Some shops apply the same charges to Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the Isles of Scilly.

How much more people pay

• Citizens Advice Scotland found delivery to these areas costs at least 30% more on average than elsewhere on mainland Britain, and around 50% more for islanders. It affects up to a million people in Scotland.
• When the Scottish Government compared prices across all 1,029 Scottish postcode sectors in 2020, Highlands and Islands residents faced 21% higher charges than the south-west of Scotland. It also found surcharges of at least 25% for the Outer Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney compared with Glasgow.
• Real examples included a £230 delivery charge for a TV to Mull, and an extra £50 to deliver a mobility scooter to Moray from a site that advertised free UK delivery.

Your rights

• Charges must be clear before you buy. Delivery costs and any restrictions should be shown before you commit, not sprung on you at the last step.
• “Free UK delivery” should mean the whole UK. Highland Council Trading Standards warns that advertising free UK delivery and then adding a Highlands surcharge may be illegal under consumer protection law.
• Hidden fees are now a bigger risk for shops. Since April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority can fine businesses directly for charges that only appear at checkout.

How to avoid surcharges

1. Put your postcode in first. Check the shop’s delivery page, or start checkout with your postcode, before you compare prices. Then compare the total.
2. Look for Royal Mail. Royal Mail charges the same across the UK, while most other couriers add surcharges in parts of the Highlands and Islands. Small items sent by Royal Mail rarely cost more. Some sellers will switch to Royal Mail if you ask.
3. Use click and collect. Collecting from a local store, locker or pick-up point often avoids the surcharge completely.
4. On marketplaces, check the seller. On Amazon, eBay and others, delivery depends on who sends it. Items sold and sent by the marketplace itself often have different delivery terms from those sent by independent sellers.
5. Split big and small items. Surcharges usually hit large or heavy items hardest. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy the big item locally and the small bits online.

If you’re charged unfairly

1. Complain to the shop. Quote the advert, for example “free UK delivery”, and ask for the surcharge back.
2. Report it to Consumer Advice Scotland. Reports go to Trading Standards and help build cases against repeat offenders.
3. Get advice from Delivery Law UK, which helps consumers challenge unfair delivery practices.

Common questions

Why do couriers charge more?

Ferries, long distances and fewer deliveries per route all cost couriers more. But research has found that some shops charge customers more than the courier charges them, and some refuse to deliver at all, which is harder to justify.

Is my postcode wrongly classed as remote?

It happens. Some postcodes on the mainland get caught by island surcharges. If a shop treats your postcode as remote and you think it isn’t, tell them and report it.

Sources

• Scottish Government: Tackling unfair delivery charges (August 2020)
• Citizens Advice Scotland: Fair delivery charges campaign
• Highland Council Trading Standards: Buying goods online
• Scottish Government: Review of the Statement of Principles for Parcel Deliveries
• UK delivery surcharges: Highlands, Islands and Northern Ireland (postcode areas)