Franking Account/Machine

Rolandtheroadie

Tried a quick search on here, but no luck so here goes.
Does anyone have a franking account?
Is it leased/paid monthly or did you buy outright?
Costs involved and costs of consumables?
Basically had a look a few months ago and got a quote of £4.99 per week but a 5 year contract. Just starting out really, thinking a franking account is the way to go but just not over 5 years though incase it doesnt work out)
Any info on franking appreciated.

patman99

You will save 4p on 1st class postage. So you would need to send 100 items a week to cover the hire of the machine.
The savings are greater when posting parcels. Check the Royal Mail website as they have a business post cost chart.

I know it is un-ethical, but you could always split the differance and offer 1st Class postage to your friends/family at a price halfway between what it costs you, and what the P.O charge.
Don't forget, you need to buy the ink and stickers though.

Rolandtheroadie

patman99 wrote: »

You will save 4p on 1st class postage. So you would need to send 100 items a week to cover the hire of the machine.
The savings are greater when posting parcels. Check the Royal Mail website as they have a business post cost chart.

I know it is un-ethical, but you could always split the differance and offer 1st Class postage to your friends/family at a price halfway between what it costs you, and what the P.O charge.
Don't forget, you need to buy the ink and stickers though.

Thank you for your reply. I lumped the ink and stickers under consumables and it would be large letters and packets. Savings seem to be around 16% before the consumables are factored in.

martindow

I had a trial with Pitney Bowes and cancelled after a month. There seemed to be endless additional charges for loading credit for example. I had quite a fight in the end to get charges that I had not been told about refunded.

The savings were balanced by the charges in my case. As I still had to go to the PO to get the CoP I decided to buy postage from them.

I think they only make sense if you have a large volume and RM picking up from you to stamp CoP and deal with recorded or SD.

jumbojuice

why not contact royal mail and get a business account - you can then get a stamp with your ppi that costs very little and get the same rates as the franking accounts i believe, if not better.

chaosweddings

Hi,

i have a business account with royal mail and use their Smart stamp. i pay £49 per year and print all my postage from the website.

its a pay as you go type of account , you top up when you want using a debit card and if you have a lot of parcels in a week royal mail will pick them up from you for a fee and stamp your proof of posting.

hth

Rolandtheroadie

The smartstamp and business account doesnt seem to save you money on the actual postage though. Right now I only break even on one of my listings to remain competetive and shore it up with my other items. A franking account discount would turn it into a profit and between that and the savings on the currently profitable items, all profits would be up.
I just need more info on costs involved with a franking account over and above the weekly fee.

theonlywayisup

scotsman4th wrote: »

The smartstamp and business account doesnt seem to save you money on the actual postage though. Right now I only break even on one of my listings to remain competetive and shore it up with my other items. A franking account discount would turn it into a profit and between that and the savings on the currently profitable items, all profits would be up.
I just need more info on costs involved with a franking account over and above the weekly fee.

A business account and PPI will save you considerably on the postage paid at a Post Office, discounts are above those on franking accounts.

soolin

scotsman4th wrote: »

The smartstamp and business account doesnt seem to save you money on the actual postage though. Right now I only break even on one of my listings to remain competetive and shore it up with my other items. A franking account discount would turn it into a profit and between that and the savings on the currently profitable items, all profits would be up.
I just need more info on costs involved with a franking account over and above the weekly fee.

A proper 'large volume' business account saves a huge amount of money, but you need large guaranteed volumes to get one. The bigger Amazon sellers have them and can often sell huge books at pennies because they can pay so little postage.

Rolandtheroadie

I'll look further into the business account. Thanks for all the help.

theonlywayisup

scotsman4th wrote: »

I'll look further into the business account. Thanks for all the help.

Ask about PPI and Packetpost. Then you print your own image postage and can either take your mail to the DO or arrange a collection (free over a certain amount).