printing postage online

firbyfred

As I don't live near a post office I was thinking of using Royal Mail's online postage, for Ebay and Amazon, Has anyone used it?
To print the labels it says:
Print your postage* onto a label (A4, A5 or A6), envelope or paper,
So can you get A5, A6 labels on a A4 sheet? or is there somewhere online to buy them?
It is almost 4 miles to our nearest PO so I think it would be useful as I can take the items to work for collection.

pinkgem

i buy labels from ebay, 4 labels on an a4 sheet

soolin

The problem with buying postage online is that you have no certificate of posting or receipts that the Royal mail will accept in the event of loss. Therefore you will be out of pocket if an item gets lost and you refund the buyer.

firbyfred

soolin wrote: »

The problem with buying postage online is that you have no certificate of posting or receipts that the Royal mail will accept in the event of loss. Therefore you will be out of pocket if an item gets lost and you refund the buyer.

The local PO said the same about certificate of posting and receipts she issues, they can't trace anything with them.

Stuart_P

i use this

http://global.dymo.com/enGB/HowTo/LabelWriter_310.html

plus these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-x-DYMO-99012-LABELWRITER-COMPATIBLE-LABELS_W0QQitemZ180116882957QQihZ008QQcategoryZ25348QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and subscribe to royal mail's smartstamp.

the labels will print both the address and the stamp you need. i post 150 items per month. i don't get a proof of posting or use recorded delivery. only had 2 deliveries go missing in 2 yrs. the items i send avg at £15 per unit.

no q'ing up at the post office. no stroppy customers behind me because i take too long. never run out of stamps. smartstamp costs £4.99 a month. £4.99 for no more q'ing? a no-brainer really!

i'd rather be out of pocket for those 2 missing deliveries than waste my time q'ing up in a post office for a proof of postage / recorded delivery that for 99.9% of the time, will not be needed.

newbie71_2

Hi firbyfred - I use the online postage system and have found it brilli! Like Stuart P says so much time saved - especially if you work full-time with no post office close by - and so easy. I don't even print my addresses onto labels but just onto paper and then just secure them with sellotape to the front of the envelopes. :-)

firbyfred

thanks for the replies, I don't sell a great deal of items, one book didn't reach it destination before Christmas, other than that there has been no comebacks.

pinkgem

soolin wrote: »

The problem with buying postage online is that you have no certificate of posting or receipts that the Royal mail will accept in the event of loss. Therefore you will be out of pocket if an item gets lost and you refund the buyer.

i buy postage online as it saves ages in the post office not having to wait while items are weighed, postage printed etc. i still take my items to the post office to hand over the counter and i fill in/print out a certificate of posting and get it stamped by the post office

soolin

firbyfred wrote: »

The local PO said the same about certificate of posting and receipts she issues, they can't trace anything with them.

You don't need to send an item traced for it to be covered against loss by the Royal mail. If an item gets lost all you have to do is refund your buyer, and then as soon as 15 working days has elapsed fill out a RM claim form and send it in with your certificate of posting and reclaim the item cost. If you don't have that COP then you are going to find it almost impossible to reclaim your losses from Royal mail and will be out of pocket.

Normal mail, with some exceptions like vouchers/tickets etc, is covered routinely for loss in the post up to a total of £34. For items over £34 you must pay for an enhanced service like special delivery and getting your special delivery receipt stamped at post office is even more important.