What Happens When You Order From The Old Kitbag?

Ever wondered what happens between clicking “Place Order” and your parcel arriving at the door?

The Old Kitbag is a small independent military surplus business, which means your order doesn’t disappear into a huge automated warehouse. Every item is picked, checked and packed individually before it heads your way.

Here’s what happens behind the scenes.

1. Your Order Comes Through

As soon as your order is placed, we receive the details of the items you’ve chosen, including the size, condition and any specific variant selected.

From there, we locate your stock and begin preparing the order.

Because military surplus can vary considerably from item to item, this is a little different from picking a brand-new T-shirt from a conventional retailer.

2. Your Item Gets Checked Again

We grade our surplus before it goes on sale, but every item gets another check while your order is being prepared.

We check that:

• The item matches the size and product ordered

• The condition is consistent with the grade advertised

• There are no major defects that have been missed

• Zips, buttons, fastenings and other key components are present where applicable

Military surplus has lived a life before reaching us, so signs of storage, previous issue or service use are completely normal depending on the grade.

Our grading system runs from New / Unissued, through Like New, Grade 1 and Grade 2, with heavily damaged stock separated as Unserviceable rather than quietly passed off as normal saleable kit.

In the unlikely event anything has been missed/something is picked up at this Quality Control stage, we will immediately email you with options; this usually may be a refund, or an offer of a different size if stock supports it. either way, we endeavour to ensure you're happy with our service; even if the inventory may have fallen over.

3. Your Order Is Packed

With the order confirmed to be materially as described; it is washed and fully dried. this may cause a slight delay to your order, but we believe that its better to miss postage for a day and improve the opening experience.

Once everything passes its final check, it’s time to pack it.

We try to keep packaging practical rather than excessive. Military kit was designed to survive considerably worse than a journey through the postal system, but we still make sure everything is properly protected and securely packaged.

You may also find a few Old Kitbag extras inside your parcel from time to time.

More importantly, every order is handled by a real person rather than being pulled from a fulfilment centre containing thousands of identical products.

4. Your Shipping Label Is Created

Once packed, your parcel is weighed and the appropriate shipping service is arranged.

You'll receive the relevant dispatch or tracking information where the selected service provides it.

For international orders, we also complete the necessary customs information describing the contents and their value before the parcel leaves the UK.

5. Your Parcel Heads Out

Once dispatched, your order is handed over to the carrier and begins its journey to you.

From British Army MTP and Royal Navy clothing to berets, insignia and unusual pieces of surplus, it's always satisfying seeing another piece of kit leave our stock and find a new home, and potentially a new purpose!

And Then We Start Again

Behind almost every product on The Old Kitbag is considerably more work than simply putting something in a box.

Stock has to be sourced, transported, sorted, identified, sized, graded, photographed, listed, stored and eventually picked and packed.

Sometimes that means working through boxes containing dozens, hundreds even THOUSANDS of pieces of military kit before they ever appear on the website.

That's part of what makes surplus interesting.

Two deliveries are rarely identical, unusual pieces regularly turn up unexpectedly, and once certain items or sizes have gone, there is no guarantee we'll be able to get them again.

Thank You for Supporting The Old Kitbag

Every order helps us continue sourcing more surplus, expanding the range and building The Old Kitbag into a trusted place to find properly described military kit.

Whether you're buying something for cadets, collecting militaria, replacing old service kit, putting together outdoor equipment or simply like military clothing, we appreciate every order.

Proven. Genuine. Trusted.

Keep an eye on the website and our social channels for new arrivals, restocks and the occasional mystery find from the latest batch of surplus.