'SmartSend' - Parcel2Go?

JustAnotherSaver

What actually is this? Seems to suggest free postage but then i saw something about £1.99 so obviously not free. I'm very cautious about new things I've never heard of before :rotfl:but it may be a good thing which is why i'm here to ask about it.


I've sold a few items but my lack of experience is showing once again as RM are too expensive to send them so i'm having to go via courier and part of the process asks for email address & phone number. I don't think these are necessities but probably improves the process for the buyer, so i'm having to get in touch today with my buyers to see if they'll provide this info.



Didn't you used to be able to extract this from eBay once you'd sold an item? I tried a link and it said this feature has been devalued.






Also MyHermes drop off .... it's cheap, which appeals to the buyer, but what's the reliability like for the seller here? I only have 1 experience of this and it was an absolute nightmare and i very nearly got stung.

I got a crappy bit of paper with some sort of code on it to say i'd dropped the parcel off, yet i couldn't use this on the main MyHermes website as it didn't recognise the code. I had to aquire (i forget how) something like some side Hermes website to enter this code which then wasn't recognised by eBay/PayPal when i was on the phone disputing it because it wasn't the main Hermes website. Eventually after about a month the parcel turned up (it was returning to seller of a faulty item).

soolin

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

What actually is this? Seems to suggest free postage but then i saw something about £1.99 so obviously not free. I'm very cautious about new things I've never heard of before :rotfl:but it may be a good thing which is why i'm here to ask about it.


I've sold a few items but my lack of experience is showing once again as RM are too expensive to send them so i'm having to go via courier and part of the process asks for email address & phone number. I don't think these are necessities but probably improves the process for the buyer, so i'm having to get in touch today with my buyers to see if they'll provide this info.



Didn't you used to be able to extract this from eBay once you'd sold an item? I tried a link and it said this feature has been devalued.






Also MyHermes drop off .... it's cheap, which appeals to the buyer, but what's the reliability like for the seller here? I only have 1 experience of this and it was an absolute nightmare and i very nearly got stung.

I got a crappy bit of paper with some sort of code on it to say i'd dropped the parcel off, yet i couldn't use this on the main MyHermes website as it didn't recognise the code. I had to aquire (i forget how) something like some side Hermes website to enter this code which then wasn't recognised by eBay/PayPal when i was on the phone disputing it because it wasn't the main Hermes website. Eventually after about a month the parcel turned up (it was returning to seller of a faulty item).

Just to answer the point about Myhermes, the tracking number is on the label you generate , that's the only number that matters. The bit of paper they give you is just a receipt for the parcel and does not show the tracking number. Where did you end up buying your Hermes label , at home or in store? The tracking details should be added to the listing when you buy the label so buyer can check status , then there's no need to worry about it later.

JustAnotherSaver

:mad::mad::mad::mad: Not having good run at this.


I just packed up the items ready to go, found out about the above email/phone number thing so contacted the buyers. 2 have got back in touch with me positively so i've gone to process the booking in.


Print off the label. 2 things -



1) It says don't put sellotape over the label as it affects the scanning of the barcode. Well how am i supposed to fix it to the package then since i don't print on sticky labels i print on normal paper.
So i just put sellotape around the edges so the barcode wasn't covered.



2) There's a 'packing slip' to put inside the parcel in case anything goes wrong.
If i open the things now on a couple of the items then the packaging will be totally useless. Would you bother putting this inside? If it will kick me in the balls if i don't then i'll have to but if it isn't really necessary then i'll leave it.

I can understand the need when you're returning an item to say Amazon, they need to identify who you are etc. I'm just sending something privately to a buyer though.

JustAnotherSaver

soolin wrote: »

Just to answer the point about Myhermes, the tracking number is on the label you generate , that's the only number that matters. The bit of paper they give you is just a receipt for the parcel and does not show the tracking number. Where did you end up buying your Hermes label , at home or in store? The tracking details should be added to the listing when you buy the label so buyer can check status , then there's no need to worry about it later.

If i remember right (and with my memory that isn't certain!) The seller created a returns label as the item was faulty. I just printed it off and dropped it off.


The tracker tracked it so far and then it just seemed to end. Even when it turned up it wasn't updated any. It's like the thing just vanished and then randomly appeared again.
Unless the seller was being awkward because they weren't happy about me returning it so said they didn't have it when they did. Who knows.

mgdavid

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

:mad::mad::mad::mad: Not having good run at this.
I just packed up the items ready to go, found out about the above email/phone number thing so contacted the buyers. 2 have got back in touch with me positively so i've gone to process the booking in.

Print off the label. 2 things -
1) It says don't put sellotape over the label as it affects the scanning of the barcode. Well how am i supposed to fix it to the package then since i don't print on sticky labels i print on normal paper.
So i just put sellotape around the edges so the barcode wasn't covered.

2) There's a 'packing slip' to put inside the parcel in case anything goes wrong.
If i open the things now on a couple of the items then the packaging will be totally useless. Would you bother putting this inside? If it will kick me in the balls if i don't then i'll have to but if it isn't really necessary then i'll leave it. ........

With Hermes the phone no. and email address are optional, I never bother with them (although the buyer's email address can usually be found in the Paypal payment confirmation email).


Like you I pack and seal parcels before weighing and booking a courier so never bother with the Packing slip either.

JustAnotherSaver

mgdavid wrote: »

With Hermes the phone no. and email address are optional, I never bother with them (although the buyer's email address can usually be found in the Paypal payment confirmation email).


Like you I pack and seal parcels before weighing and booking a courier so never bother with the Packing slip either.

I've just had a look at one of the items i sold. I've gone over the 2 emails that came through and didn't spot an email address in either. I've also logged in to my PayPal account and couldn't find an email address there for the buyer either. The buyer has got back in touch with me but still, i can't actually find it.


Rewinding this quite a bit though .... anyone experience of this 'SmartSend' thing?

Ms_Chocaholic

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

:mad::mad::mad::mad: Not having good run at this.


I just packed up the items ready to go, found out about the above email/phone number thing so contacted the buyers. 2 have got back in touch with me positively so i've gone to process the booking in.


Print off the label. 2 things -



1) It says don't put sellotape over the label as it affects the scanning of the barcode. Well how am i supposed to fix it to the package then since i don't print on sticky labels i print on normal paper.
So i just put sellotape around the edges so the barcode wasn't covered.



2) There's a 'packing slip' to put inside the parcel in case anything goes wrong.
If i open the things now on a couple of the items then the packaging will be totally useless. Would you bother putting this inside? If it will kick me in the balls if i don't then i'll have to but if it isn't really necessary then i'll leave it.

I can understand the need when you're returning an item to say Amazon, they need to identify who you are etc. I'm just sending something privately to a buyer though.

I have 2" clear parcel tape for packing and use this to cover the label as it's see through.


Often the email address doesn't show in Paypal, it doesn't matter though. I regularly use Hermes to send parcels and never put the buyer's email address or phone number on and Ive had no problems.

JustAnotherSaver

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

I have 2" clear parcel tape for packing and use this to cover the label as it's see through.


Often the email address doesn't show in Paypal, it doesn't matter though. I regularly use Hermes to send parcels and never put the buyer's email address or phone number on and Ive had no problems.

I've just measured the tape i use for the label and it's 2" clear also. I personally don't see a problem with it and i've used it for a UPS parcel recently that didn't ask for sellotape to not be used and it scanned perfectly fine.


I've had issue with Parcel2Go in the past (that's who i went through to use Hermes because for some reason it's cheaper than going direct to Hermes!!!!!:mad:) - they're the ones that mentioned no tape and in the past they claimed one of my items was outside of their size allowance. I checked it out & there was no way in the world that it was, it wasn't even close. It was a heavy awkward package yes but was within their size and weight allowances without even being borderline.





I'd much prefer if i could use one of these Hermes drop offs to do a sticky label printed off direct from them but when going to Hermes direct is dearer than going to Hermes through Parcel2Go then I know what i'll be choosing.

JustAnotherSaver

Why is it cheaper to send (using MyHermes at least) through Parcel2Go than it is using MyHermes direct?

It doesn't make sense. Surely Parcel2Go needs to get paid so you'd think it'd be dearer, not cheaper.


I'd much prefer to use MyHermes directly as you can use the label printing machine at the drop off centres but when there's a difference in cost i'll stick to using sellotape



On the topic of secondary sites, is there a better one than Parcel2Go to use?