royal mail postage help

[whitedoorbrands]

Hi,

I need some help.

We sell through eBay and Amazon and send between 30-40 packages (letters/large letters) per day. At the moment we print out pur postage labels through eBay/Amazon/royal mail online, cut them out and stick them on, which takes quite a bit of times.

Besides changing to OBA (which is not an option at the moment), are there any options to print royal mail postage labels with a label printer (brother, dynamo, zebra etc)??

Thank you

 

[kulture]

Why is OBA not an option? Your mail volumes are certainly sufficient.

Some retailers use special paper which include a removable label for the address. Some suppliers of such labels will suggest software that will print invoices suitable for the paper. I use Linnworks which interfaces direct to the Royal Mail and prints the labels direct using a Zebra. This is the best solution for me as it means no cut and paste, and just seconds to process each order. The saving in man hours more than pays the fee.

 

[whitedoorbrands]

The would not be able to give me a proper OBA account, only a pre-paid account one which i have to put money in the account phone up give Royal Mail the amount of packages/letters etc I will be posting for the day and wait for authorization and on top, send an email with the same information (all between 9-5). Which is not an issue, except this is a part-time business so trying to do this at the full time job is a no.

The reason why, is because I failed a credit check, although i checked my credit report and it was 999. I also sent that over to Royal Mail and the guy on the phone really could not give an answer, and when escalated no one called back. Rant over. It is what it is.

I have seen that label paper and software, at the moment we print direct from eBay/Amazon Royal Mail Label or from the Royal Mail website and will come to specialist software later down the line (planning for a website) But I am more interested in these label printers (Brother QL, Zebra etc).

Million dollar question is, can you print from either Royal Mail's website/eBay's postage page/Amazon's postage direct onto these labels being printed by for example a Brother QL570?

 

[Raw Rob]

If you can't get an OBA account, have you tried other companies who offer postal services, TNT being the most well known but there are also some smaller companies. They inject the mail into the Royal Mail system for last mile delivery by Royal Mail. Only downside is that you can only get 2nd class post with these services (as far as I know).

 

[silvermusic]

Sorry if it's blindingly obvious but why not do what I do, use good old-fashioned stamps. Can be bought online and delivered to your door. 95% of my post goes this way, OK so it's not the cheapest method, but I've had zero complaints. If it's over Large Letter size just pay/print it online. Ready to go tomorrow I have 52 large letters and 2 small parcels, wish I could get them under 25mm, but unless I put them under a road roller it won't happen.

It may not be to everyone's taste or way of working but it's dead easy and stress free, just pop the post in the local post box each day.

 

[DavidJohn]

Sorry (as above) if this is obvious too - if your sending letters, can you not send emails instead? If not can you re create the process so you can?

 

[14Steve14]

I sell similar volumes through eBay and my own website. I am too lazy to sort out an OBA and take all my post to the post office. It gets me out the house as I work from home, and gets me that little bit of exercise that is supposed to keep me fit.

I copy and paste all my address information into a pre created template address label that has my business name and return address on it, then print the labels out using a standard printer onto self adhesive labels. It takes no time to do each label, and its generally printed by the time I have checked the PayPal payment with the actual invoice, just to ensure all is ok.

I need no special equipment or training and supplies are easily obtained. There is nothing like keeping it simple.