EBAY BUSINESS

[amsutt98]

HI

CAN ANYONE HELP ME I SELL ON EBAY AND I POST 6 PARCELS A DAY AND DON'T DRIVE AND SPEND ALOT ON POSTAGE ABOUT £217.56 IM DOING THIS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY TAKING THEM TO THE POST OFFICE EVERY DAY WHICH IS HARD WORK WITH NOT DRIVING. IS THERE A CHEAPER AND QUICKER WAY I COULD BE DOING THIS?

BE GRAETFUL OF ANY HELP REGARDING SELLING ON EBAY AND POSTAGE

THANKS
XXX

 

[RockLinks]

What about looking at some local delivery services that collect and deliver, although this may cost you more money.

 

[BMS]

Hi Mandi

Is the problem the cost of postage ?

Going to the PO every day, is the one parcel at at time or will a sackfull ?

Sorry to say but I cant think of a cheaper way than good old fashion post office ie stamps.

You will be looking at considerable more money to use a courier especially as I would imagine that you are posting items to different parts of the country.

Don't you charge postage to your customers?

My experience of EBay is that potage is always charged to the customer, usually with the customer deciding on the posatge method ie 1st Class, next day or recorded.

Option B, contact the PO and find out how much it would cost you for a collect service.

Not much help I know but maybe someone else will come up with something better.

 

[Toon]

What do you sell? Are they heavy or bulky?

 

[Ozzy]

I have looked at postage quite a lot in my business, and I have to agree with BMS that the post office is the cheapest option when sending lots of small parcels.

If the going to the post office daily is a problem then you can arrange for them to collect from your home or office on a daily basis, and they only charge £260 plus VAT a year for that! (pre 3pm collection)

 

[ian69]

As well as other stuff I'm also a subpostmaster so if you have any specific issues please ask. Basically you need a good idea where the inconsistencies in postal pricing are so you can keep your weights as close to the maximum advantage as possible. In particular:

Second class (the absolute cheapest) ends at 750g.

From 750g to about 900g 1st is cheaper than standard parcel (but a big jump from 749g 2nd).

At about 1900g, special delivery is cheaper than 1st and much cheaper than 1st recorded, even though it has 500 pounds cover instead of 30 and is far safer and gets there the next day.

Special delivery cost triples (!) at 2kg.

Basically check out the various prices at RoyalMail.com and take advantage. It is always cheaper to use the post than a courier except at a few weights around 7kg.

Lastly I read today there is some kind of legal, valid stamp you can print off your home computer so combined with what Ozzy said you may not need to visit the PO at all. Don't know anymore than that about it though - it's a new thing.

Anyway, the Post Office in general is a good resource - the HomePhone service should save anyone a packet (keep your BT line and number but pay for what you use rather than a minimum 5 minute call), then there are insurance products, v competitive personal loans etc. as well as excellent foreign exchange rates, travel insurance etc.

If you do go for any of it and are asked for a reference number, please quote 253 432 0

 

[SillyJokes]

If you are doing 5,000+ parcels a year (about 15 a day average I think) you can do Royal Mail packet post - this is around 15% cheaper than regular mail and they pick up.

Also you are billed later, well after you have collected the money so it helps cash flow.

You can also send Special Deliveries and recorded mail by this method, not to mention overseas.

It's not too hard to set up and just requires you to buy a weighing machine (£100+?)- they provide the paperwork and hand stamps.

You'll need to contact Royal Mail Sales Centre to ask about this option.

Something to plan for in the future. Meanwhile, I remember the days of trudging down to the PO with sacks of post - nightmare.

 

[ian69]

Go to a small PO with not much business and they'll normally be happy for you to just drop stuff off and the following day come in and pay when you drop off the next lot. Saves a lot of time and they'll stamp everything up for you.

Unlikely to work in a big town branch though.

 

[autolycus]

Lastly I read today there is some kind of legal, valid stamp you can print off your home computer so combined with what Ozzy said you may not need to visit the PO at all. Don't know anymore than that about it though - it's a new thing.

Yes there is. It's called SmartStamp. Works really well. You just put money in your account via the Royal Mail website (by credit card or DD) and then use a bit of software on your PC to print postage onto either envelopes or sticky labels.

It is automatically updated with all the prices so you just tell it what weight you have and what service you want and it picks the right price for you.

For details see http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/onlinepostage?campaignid=smartstampbanner&catId=600023

Dave.

 

[BMS]

Sounds like a franking machine without the machine and no rental to pay...

Sounds good might check it out myself.

 

[woopi]

rental for smartstamp is 4.99/mo + the cost of all your printed stamps.

 

[BMS]

A lot cheaper than a franking machine too........

Does any of this help mandi, or we barking up the wrong tree thinking that this is helping.

Still not too sure what the actuall problem is.

 

[mdarwish01]

I know there are some machines which are used by big copmanies. They are basically stamp machines, I know that they save them money in the long run.

Maybe if you also used that in conjunction with a courier system that can solve your problems

I hope this helps

 

[GamesMission]

Smartstamp is the best solution for your needs

 

[amsutt98]

Hiya yeah this is all very helpful i have been looking on the royal mail site there is quite alot of solutions on there.

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[Ozzy]

Another thing you may want to consider if you start spending around £100+ a day in postage is Royal Mail's PPI service.
They give you a licence number which allows you to have your own envelopes printed with 1st and 2nd stamps already printed on them, or you can print your own stamps on whatever you want.
Then you maintain a log of all the post you send and Royal Mail invoice you each month for your pastage.