Send a registered letter in France online

You can send a registered letter in France without going to a post office. But “registered letter online” covers two quite different things: a paper registered letter that a service prints and posts for you, and the electronic registered letter, which stays digital from end to end. Which one to pick depends mostly on who is going to receive it.

The paper registered letter, posted for you

You write the letter on a website, or upload a PDF. The service prints it, puts it in an envelope and hands it to La Poste, the French postal service. For the recipient, nothing changes: the postman presents an ordinary lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception (registered letter with proof of delivery, often shortened to “recommandé AR”), the recipient signs for it, and the signed delivery receipt, the avis de réception, goes back to the sender.

It's the safest option when you don't know how the recipient will react to an electronic delivery: a landlord, a gym, a builder. Nobody has to agree to anything in advance.

The electronic registered letter

The electronic registered letter (lettre recommandée électronique, or LRE) is sent by a qualified provider, which checks the sender's identity and notifies the recipient by email. It has the same legal value as a paper registered letter with proof of delivery.

It has one limit: when the recipient is a private individual, they must have agreed beforehand to receive registered letters electronically. And once the email arrives, they have fifteen days to accept or refuse the letter. Between two companies used to it, the LRE works well. To write to an individual, or to a company that doesn't offer it, paper is still simpler.

What a registered letter proves

• The proof of posting (preuve de dépôt) dates the sending. It carries a number, which you'll find in La Poste's tracking.
• The delivery receipt (avis de réception) gives the date the letter was handed over, and the signature of the person who received it. That date is often what starts a deadline running: a notice period, a payment deadline.
• The contents are not proved by the registered letter. Always keep a dated copy of the letter you sent.

If the recipient doesn't collect the letter, it waits fifteen days at the post office, then goes back to the sender. That case has its own guide.

When do you need a registered letter?

French law requires it for some letters, such as a tenant's notice to leave a rented home: the tenant can give it by registered letter with proof of delivery, through a commissaire de justice (the French court officer, formerly called huissier), or by hand against a signature. Many contracts also require it for cancellation.

Elsewhere it isn't mandatory, but it's the simplest way to prove that a letter left and that it arrived. People use it for a mise en demeure (formal notice), a dispute, or a reminder that has to leave a trace. For a letter where proof doesn't matter, an ordinary or tracked letter is enough: see ordinary, tracked or registered letter.

Worth knowing: since 1 June 2023, a contract taken out online in France must be cancellable online, in a few clicks. For a subscription you signed up to on the internet, check your customer account first.

How much it costs

At the counter, you pay the postage for the registered letter and the delivery receipt, plus paper, printing and the trip. Online, the price also covers printing and enveloping. With Cachet, a registered letter with proof of delivery costs €9.99 for one page and €10.84 for 3 pages, stamp, envelope and printing included, anywhere in France, overseas territories included. The exact price is shown before you pay, and there's no subscription.

Sending a registered letter with Cachet

There are two ways to do it.

1. Without an agent, for a cancellation. The free cancellation letter tool (in French) writes the letter as you fill in the fields (subscription, insurance or lease). A button then sends it by registered letter with proof of delivery.
2. With your AI assistant, for everything else. Once Cachet is connected to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Le Chat, you explain the situation and the assistant writes the letter, in French. It shows you the preview and the price, then a payment link. The details are in the guide send a letter with ChatGPT or Claude.

Paid before 5 pm on a working day, the letter is printed and handed to La Poste the same day by Merci Facteur, a French mailing service. A tracking page shows each step, then the proof of posting and the scanned, signed delivery receipt.

Frequently asked questions