Buyers addresses on eBay - reliable?

lovinituk

ludovico wrote: »

With Aimco it takes me about 2 minutes for 100 addresses, since December I've had 5 orders with no house number (all new members and I'm sure it's an eBay glitch that's been about for over a year now) and a few where I've had to add bits that are missing.

Not sure how Aimco works but I use 1stoporders and to check the addresses would mean opening each order to view/check the address. I just feel this would be too time consuming so take my chances!

Thinking about it I did have a couple of INRs last year where when I asked them to confirm their address (as I always do), it was slightly different to the address they had in ebay (missing house number on one of them). Because they had given a different/incorrect address and I had the evidence in the ebay message system, I declined to send free replacements as it wasn't my fault. Both customers accepted it was their mistake!

ludovico wrote: »

I'm pretty particular as well so do this for my own satisfaction but also with RM not offering compensation for the parcels we send I'm not taking any chances now.

Yes, I'm on PPI too and that is a bit of a worry with the compensation being withdrawn! Although only a tiny fraction of our mail has ever been lost by Royal Mail so its not a huge financial impact on us.

ludovico wrote: »

My Aimco is set so the text fits to the size of the box, one buyer this week had a long road name, town name, Guernesy, Channel Islands all in the first line which would have made the text tiny!

1stoporders wraps onto the next line so although may look a little unusual sometimes, they are still readable.

Strapped

What about the situations where the buyer adds a "gift" address in PayPal - would the address in the eBay order still be correct? I always use the PP address because I continue to be unsure about this. (I really should sort myself out).

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

My labels cost 6pence per sheet of 14 which is less than half a penny per label (and they can probably be found cheaper than that but I trust my currently supplier enough not to bother shopping on price).

6pence a sheet for 14 labels must be cheaper than 14 wallet docs bearing in mind you most likely have to pay for the paper you are currently using to print the addresses on?

lovinituk

Strapped wrote: »

What about the situations where the buyer adds a "gift" address in PayPal - would the address in the eBay order still be correct?

Yes. As far as I know, when the buyer selects the address at the payment stage, that is passed back to the order.

Strapped wrote: »

I always use the PP address because I continue to be unsure about this. (I really should sort myself out).

Since selling as a business I have never used or even checked the address on Paypal. I've sent several thousand orders downloading the address from ebay every time.

marie-20

ludovico wrote: »

My labels cost 6pence per sheet of 14 which is less than half a penny per label (and they can probably be found cheaper than that but I trust my currently supplier enough not to bother shopping on price).

6pence a sheet for 14 labels must be cheaper than 14 wallet docs bearing in mind you most likely have to pay for the paper you are currently using to print the addresses on?

I used to use labels but had a small run of INR's and also a couple of people who claimed that they had to pay postage plus £1 as the PPI label had come off in the post (at 14 labels per A4 very little room for PPI & address so used to use 2 labels - one for address & one for PPI) so I decided I needed to do something about it. Since changing to the doc wallets (just under 1p each & 500 sheets A4 paper @ £2.34/8 labels) I've had 1 INR which I expected to be an INR anyway as they set my alarm bells ringing.

lovinituk

ludovico wrote: »

My labels cost 6pence per sheet of 14 which is less than half a penny per label (and they can probably be found cheaper than that but I trust my currently supplier enough not to bother shopping on price).

6pence a sheet for 14 labels must be cheaper than 14 wallet docs bearing in mind you most likely have to pay for the paper you are currently using to print the addresses on?

I use integrated invoice/labels. I prefer to send an invoice/receipt with my orders. The sheets act as a picking list for packing and then the address labelled (with contains return address and PPI impression) is peeled off and stuck on the envelope.

The invoices detail my contact info, the sale details and a message thanking the customer for their business and assuring them we will resolve any problems quickly. I also use the invoice to include messages that encourage customers to buy from my website - I have had a lot of success with this.

It is an extra cost at approx 3p per sheet but works well for me.

theonlywayisup

marie-20 wrote: »

theonlywayisup - thank you! I will have a look at that and see how I get on. I tihnk I'll also have a look at Linnworks as that could be very interesting. A stupid question I know but what is DMP & RMT? Yes I'm currently a Silver PS and I will be moved up to Gold next week. The main part of our items go as a large letter so the PPI and average weight is fantastic for me and allowed me to be cheaper on a lot than my competitors.

chemical.galaxy - it will get busier! and it's nice to know I'm not the only one that does it that way.

Auntie-dolly - I started out doing it that way and have just continued it TBH. I'm a bit anal at times and I like to know EXACTLY where I am with the figures but I think that I will start and do the monthly reports instead


Now all I've to decide is what to do with all of my free time . . . . . :rotfl:

marie, as ludovico says, Andrew is incredibly helpful and if you don't get him on the phone, leave a message or email him. He will sort it out for you.

RMT - Royal Mail Tracked. It's a Royal Mail business service. You get a price per parcel and everything is barcoded. It's like Special Delivery but cheaper. It's either a next day or 2-3 day service, whichever you opt for. And unlike most PPI services, you can claim for losses.

DMP was a typo, sorry! It should be SMP, seller manager pro. Software bulk editing tool which is from ebay from memory its a fiver a month or free with some shops....but check it may have changed.

lovinituk

marie-20 wrote: »

Since changing to the doc wallets

You may as well just print the sales invoices off via Selling Manager onto plain A4 paper. Then you can fold them to fit in the doc wallets. Print your PPI labels out separately - you can get 33 on the right sheet of A4 labels.

Thats exactly how I did it for months before using 1stoporders and it worked really well. The main reason I moved to 1stoporders was because of wanting to customise the invoices more.

theonlywayisup

I don't tend to have problems with addresses as I use Linnworks and DMO (dispatch manager online from Royal Mail), it uses the Royal Mail database to check postal codes are correct (you would be amazed at how many don't know their own!). It flags up if something isn't right - ie Joe Bloggs missing his house number off, so I can check with the buyer before I send.

I don't include an invoice either, it's just a waste of my paper as far as I am concerned. I include VAT receipts when asked, or if selling to another company.

If you get your PPI image emailed to you/downloaded it's a bit fiddly but you can get it into Aimco and it will print beautiful labels with the stamp on. So easy, you will wonder how you ever did without it.

marie-20

theonlywayisup wrote: »

marie, as ludovico says, Andrew is incredibly helpful and if you don't get him on the phone, leave a message or email him. He will sort it out for you.

RMT - Royal Mail Tracked. It's a Royal Mail business service. You get a price per parcel and everything is barcoded. It's like Special Delivery but cheaper. It's either a next day or 2-3 day service, whichever you opt for. And unlike most PPI services, you can claim for losses.

DMP was a typo, sorry! It should be SMP, seller manager pro. Software bulk editing tool which is from ebay from memory its a fiver a month or free with some shops....but check it may have changed.

Ahh ok - I don't think that tracked is really worth it for me - the value of my items are too low even now they are removing compensation. I'm just looking forward to ringing them and asking them to collect from me once I hit that £15K which with the way we are going won't be long. I have my account since Oct and spent around £3K(!!!) and the bills getting bigger every month.

I already had Selling Manager with the shop but have just upgraded it to Pro so we'll see