Buy postage online quickly

nickz

Hi


What's the quickest way to buy postage online?


I tried Royal Mail but after the Size, Weight and Class they want my name & address, recipient's name and address and possibly more (I gave up).


Is there a site where I can just say, "Give me £1.26 in postage" and pay, preferably with PayPal? If not, why not?

sarah1972

I would think that any company will want your name and address to create an account with them, thats just standard practice.

Not sure why you don't want to give that info?

nickz

Thanks for your reply. I should have made clear that I chose
"The quick way to buy and print postage at home, without having to sign up for an account".

See parcel.royalmail.com/orders/quick-delivery/

They accept PayPal. PayPal is useful because you can go to a site which accepts it, buy something, and pay for it without having to assemble, enter and share name, address, phone number, card details, birthday etc. PayPal share what's necessary with the seller.

I don't want to give that info because they'll only share it with carefully selected partners or sell it or get hacked. My default is not to put personal information online without good reason.

Why do Royal Mail want my name and address and that of the recipient? I went back to look and decided it was to print labels. I don't want to spend 5 minutes typing in the labels, they're already stuck to the package. I just want a stamp.

Step 1. Enter delivery details
Step 2. Choose a size
Step 3. Choose a service
Step 4. Add recipient details
Step 5. Add sender details
Step 6. Summary & confirmation

Really it's just bad workflow design: they should assume the customer knows what she wants, start with Step 0: Buy a stamp and add complications such as labels if necessary.
Do Royal Mail still have a monopoly here?

sarah1972

Trouble is that even when you can buy online and put on a parcel at home which I did when I sold some stuff on Ebay, you still have to take it to the post office anyway and each time I have done it, there has been an incorrect amount of postage on my parcels (not in my favour)

The Post Office told me that nearly every time they get a parcel bought in where the sender has printed the postage online its been wrong and the sender has bought too much postage.

Kernow666

current world record is 7.3seconds

custardy

nickz wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I should have made clear that I chose
"The quick way to buy and print postage at home, without having to sign up for an account".

See parcel.royalmail.com/orders/quick-delivery/

They accept PayPal. PayPal is useful because you can go to a site which accepts it, buy something, and pay for it without having to assemble, enter and share name, address, phone number, card details, birthday etc. PayPal share what's necessary with the seller.

I don't want to give that info because they'll only share it with carefully selected partners or sell it or get hacked. My default is not to put personal information online without good reason.

Why do Royal Mail want my name and address and that of the recipient? I went back to look and decided it was to print labels. I don't want to spend 5 minutes typing in the labels, they're already stuck to the package. I just want a stamp.

Step 1. Enter delivery details
Step 2. Choose a size
Step 3. Choose a service
Step 4. Add recipient details
Step 5. Add sender details
Step 6. Summary & confirmation

Really it's just bad workflow design: they should assume the customer knows what she wants, start with Step 0: Buy a stamp and add complications such as labels if necessary.
Do Royal Mail still have a monopoly here?

Care to elaborate on that final line?
Did you try getting 'postage' from Yodel,DHL,DPD etc? Nothing stopped you did it?

nickz

I measure generously and have you checked your scales? Ask them whether it's size or weight that's too big. Or go to another Post Office.

sarah1972

nickz wrote: »

I measure generously and have you checked your scales? Ask them whether it's size or weight that's too big. Or go to another Post Office.

Scales are spot on, sizing and weight correct, Post office say its a known problem with Ebay which is why I don't do it anymore as you have to take the parcel there to post anyway.

nickz

Of course I'll elaborate. I ask about the monopoly because Royal Mail are not publicly owned anymore. Do they have a monopoly on selling postage online?

You can print your own stamps with Pitney Bowes but you need to rent their machine. You can buy stamps online but they're sent in the post.

I didn't try Yodel etc. because I just wanted to print a stamp, stick it on the package and walk to the postbox. In 2016 that doesn't seem unreasonable: open an app on your phone, type £7.43 (or click 2nd Class), click, Pay, click, Print. Do Yodel etc. offer that service?

custardy

nickz wrote: »

Of course I'll elaborate. I ask about the monopoly because Royal Mail are not publicly owned anymore. Do they have a monopoly on selling postage online?

You can print your own stamps with Pitney Bowes but you need to rent their machine. You can buy stamps online but they're sent in the post.

I didn't try Yodel etc. because I just wanted to print a stamp, stick it on the package and walk to the postbox. In 2016 that doesn't seem unreasonable: open an app on your phone, type £7.43 (or click 2nd Class), click, Pay, click, Print. Do Yodel etc. offer that service?

Well have you tried paying Asda for your Tesco shopping?
You are basically proposing the same set up.
You rent the Pitney Bows,but are paying RM.
You can pay Yodel direct,for a Yodel service.

Lisbon

sarah1972 wrote: »

Scales are spot on, sizing and weight correct, Post office say its a known problem with Ebay which is why I don't do it anymore as you have to take the parcel there to post anyway.

Totally baffled by this - I've never had a problem. What's ebay got to do with it? If you weigh and measure a package accurately and then buy the correct postage, end of story. I suspect that ebay is being (wrongly) blamed because so many sellers just guess!

Nowadays I never use the post office for any sort of UK parcel - Hermes is cheaper, offers tracking and ParcelShops are open much longer hours than post offices. The vast majority of stuff arrives within 48 hours. Occasionally there's a problem and you find out just how poor Hermes' customer service is...but no worse than the nonsense you go through if you try and claim against Royal Mail!