eBay and the Post Office

fatboyonadiet

I've noticed that my PO are very nice to me when I turn up with a pile or parcels and are very helpful (as opposed to the times I just pop in for a form or pay the road tax) and it got me thinking they must be doing very well out of the whole eBay selling, is this true? Does anyone know of any facts and figures that relate eBay to PO profits? Just wondering really and thought someone might like to join in on my little train of thought!

JPS

The thread I started just yesterday has some information about how much PO's need eBayers help in order to stay open.

Take a look here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=38173

It seems obvious to me that Post Offices DO need eBayers in order to survive - so they should be greatful (and most are) for our custom.

Soolin said her Post Office lady said eBayers accounted for well over half her turnover!

HTH

Josh

Rockee

Hi,

I had this discussion about a year ago, when I moved to a new area and started to use the local PO, as I was going in on a regular basis spending approx £50.00 a day (and not always getting a smile! similar to the thread Stop Staring At Me....) but after a while and me explaining to them that there must be other eBayers, the staff became very friendly and helpful, as they had worked out that there was about 10 of us going in everyday. So they didn't have to be Einstein to work out that the ebayers were spending large regular amounts on postage (and other stuff whilst there).

So, if you take £25 as an average spend in my local PO x 6 days x 10 people x 50 weeks = £75,000 x say 1,000 PO = £75,000,000

I don't know how many Post Offices there are in UK and the figures I have used above are just a guessimate and are only sales but could be an indication of why the Royal Mail made a profit last year! If anyone out there knows different. What I do know, is I would never have spent/used Royal Mail/Post Office if it wasn't for ebay.

Rockee

Lazy_Ike

Couple of months ago there was a local (Lincs/South Yorks) news article on TV about an Ebayer and her success story (I think she was selling slippers). There was mention that the through-put from this Ebayer was the saving of the village PO, which otherwise was threatened with closure. I have also read that Ebay postings form a significant part of the PO turnover generally, likewise in the States.
As said in the thread "Stop staring at me" Ebayers are helping to keep local Post Offices viable. Fortunately never had any probs in my PO, and the staff are always friendly and helpful not matter what amount of business I have.

divadee

when my postie turned up on monday with yet another ebay delivery for me i got chatting to him, he buys and sells a bit on ebay he told me, but he also said that at the moment from what he has been told, ebay is keeping royal mail going to some degree. he said they would be losing loads and loads of money, if it wasnt for us lot sending hundreds of parcels for ebay

fatboyonadiet

Thanks all for your comments, thought people might ignore this post a bit as it is just a general discussion - and not sure if it should really be in here!?

Makes interesting reading and Stay Fat!