"Print Postage Label": stupid questions.

Steve348

I'm using eBay's "Print postage label" for the first time, plus Royal Mail collection.

I sold four items on Monday and ended up having to log-in to PayPal eight times! I think I can see now how I could combine the RM collection payments if I'm doing several at once, though there seems to be a time-limit before they expire, but how can I simplify the eBay label payments? There was an option in the process that said "Save PayPal account for future labels" but this made no sense to me so I chose "one-off". Would the 'save' option do what I want?

Another question is, why do I have to pay for the eBay labels via PayPal? I'm sure that in setting up Managed Payments I authorised a DirectDebit for eBay. Why are they not just taking payment for the labels directly from my bank account?

KxMx

You are paying Royal Mail for a Royal Mail service, just going via eBay instead of Royal Mail direct. I have seen plans for eBay to take postage out of Managed Payments balance but that has still not been rolled out yet in the UK.

Bulk Shipping tool will allow you to combine all open orders and select a service for each individual item on one screen, rolling it into one payment- I've never used Royal Mail collection so can't comment there.

Saving the PayPal account for future use should streamline the process further.

PS they are not stupid questions I myself did labels one by one until I found the Bulk Shipping tool.

steviebabes

I don't see the advantage in purchasing Royal Mail postage via ebay, it's the same price direct using click & drop. Also at the moment collections are only 30p from RM but ebay seem to be charging 72p! You can use paypal or debit/credit card on the RM website or app.

Steve348

Thanks for the replies both. It does seem an unnecessarily complicated process. I'll look into the Bulk Shipping Tool, but I'm never likely to do more than two or three items a week.

Probably the only advantage of using eBay postage is that you don't have to put in the address  manually. By the way, RM collection via eBay is only costing 30p at present, even though the eBay page says 72p.

fenwick458

steviebabes said:

I don't see the advantage in purchasing Royal Mail postage via ebay, it's the same price direct using click & drop. Also at the moment collections are only 30p from RM but ebay seem to be charging 72p! You can use paypal or debit/credit card on the RM website or app.

you don't think it's an advantage that the buyers address is already entered (all you need to do is select the size of the parcel, the service you want and the weight) and at the end it automatically tells ebay and the seller that it's been dispatched? seems much simpler to me.
I'd like it if paypal were out of the equation and it just took money from my ebay balance too. although I have selected  "Save PayPal account for future labels" so i don't need to log into paypal each time

steviebabes

I haven't tried the ebay postage system but I would assume it just copies and pastes the address as the buyer has input it. This is very often all lower case including the postcode and then there is that strange string of characters that they add to the address, what's all that about? The click & drop site uses the RM address database so will find mistakes with the postcode/address and sort it out neatly using capitals where required.

soolin

steviebabes said:

I haven't tried the ebay postage system but I would assume it just copies and pastes the address as the buyer has input it. This is very often all lower case including the postcode and then there is that strange string of characters that they add to the address, what's all that about? The click & drop site uses the RM address database so will find mistakes with the postcode/address and sort it out neatly using capitals where required.

No, it corrects the address now- in fact most of them say something like 'buyer has ab12cd as a postcode and we have corrected it to AB1 2CD '. It sometimes doesn't capitalise the persons name, but I don't care about that- only the postcode matters.

The new ebay labels are brilliant- as above, you literally just check the weight and size and print, and that's it. I'm using it at the moment trying to address the issue I have with stuff not tracking or not updating through my business click and drop- and I'm finding it very easy to use. All my non ebay sales go through normal click and drop and takes considerably longer as I have to add the name, then the postcode, then choose the hous enumber- you can't just cut and paste the lot in its entirety.

I think ebay now use the RM database as it does what Click and drop does and corrects minor problems like adding a region, or correctly spelling a road.

steviebabes

Thanks soolin, I will give it a go.