Posted earlier now (7)
I believe the answer is:
present
'now' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'posted earlier' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'posted' could be 'sent' ('send' can be a synonym of 'post') and 'sent' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pre' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for present that I've seen before include "Reveal < a gift" , "Christmas hand-out" , "in a particular place" , "able to be registered" , "Introduce < and compere < tense" .)