Online Royal mail Postage .. where to drop off the parcel ?

WLM21

I know the eBay postage rate for a Royal Mail small parcel, is about 50p cheaper than buying at the post office, but up until now I've never bothered with it .. after all the buyer is paying for this, not me.

However, today I have just sold an item with free postage, something I don't normally (the free post option) so it might have been a mistake

Anyway, this has made me consider the online postage option, but I am puzzled as to where I take the parcel, after I have stuck on the label.

I know you can drop a letter, or even a large letter in a normal post box, but can you hand in the parcel to a post office, or do I have to bring it to the local sorting office. This is about 5 miles from my home, so making the idea uneconomical.

soolin

WLM21 said:

I know the eBay postage rate for a Royal Mail small parcel, is about 50p cheaper than buying at the post office, but up until now I've never bothered with it .. after all the buyer is paying for this, not me.

However, today I have just sold an item with free postage, something I don't normally (the free post option) so it might have been a mistake

Anyway, this has made me consider the online postage option, but I am puzzled as to where I take the parcel, after I have stuck on the label.

I know you can drop a letter, or even a large letter in a normal post box, but can you hand in the parcel to a post office, or do I have to bring it to the local sorting office. This is about 5 miles from my home, so making the idea uneconomical.

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. If you don't want to bother having it 'insured' against loss then drop it in a parcel post box, there are quite a few around now so should be able to find one.

I do a mix of everything, tomorrow I'll probably use the Post office, I queue up hand my items over and they scan them and issue a till receipt/proof of posting. There is still one PO I use that need me to write out a proof of posting (they supply it) but I rarely use that PO now.

martindow

soolin said:

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. If you don't want to bother having it 'insured' against loss then drop it in a parcel post box, there are quite a few around now so should be able to find one.

I do a mix of everything, tomorrow I'll probably use the Post office, I queue up hand my items over and they scan them and issue a till receipt/proof of posting. There is still one PO I use that need me to write out a proof of posting (they supply it) but I rarely use that PO now.

I've stopped using these after I had several instances of the parcel sticking on the metal chute and then jamming the opening so I couldn't get the parcel out or reach in to push it down.  Rattling the outside handle vigorously up and down eventually got it to drop in.

I think the brown tape I use on boxes causes the problem as it sticks to the metal inside the box.  Is this just me?

WLM21

soolin said:

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. 

Oh yes, I forgot all about the proof of postage

I know the small parcel receive has a code that can determine whether an item has been delivered, but do they have that now for large letters.

A couple of weeks ago a buyer raised a complaint about an item not being delivered and asked for a refund. that code showed it had in fact been delivered more than a week before. When I pointed this out and showed a screenshot from the RM site the person closed the case. I blocked that buyer

WLM21

martindow said:

I think the brown tape I use on boxes causes the problem as it sticks to the metal inside the box.  Is this just me?

I think you should put the sticky side facing inwards 

soolin

WLM21 said:

soolin said:

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. 

Oh yes, I forgot all about the proof of postage

I know the small parcel receive has a code that can determine whether an item has been delivered, but do they have that now for large letters.

A couple of weeks ago a buyer raised a complaint about an item not being delivered and asked for a refund. that code showed it had in fact been delivered more than a week before. When I pointed this out and showed a screenshot from the RM site the person closed the case. I blocked that buyer

Large letters don't currently have proof of delivery although I notice that when I use ebay postage my large letters I have started to show an update of delivered. Ideally any tracking or delivery numbers should be added at the point of despatch to your sold listings.

Proof of delivery is needed for protection against an INR but if item gets lost then you need proof of posting to be able to make a claim from RM.

soolin

martindow said:

soolin said:

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. If you don't want to bother having it 'insured' against loss then drop it in a parcel post box, there are quite a few around now so should be able to find one.

I do a mix of everything, tomorrow I'll probably use the Post office, I queue up hand my items over and they scan them and issue a till receipt/proof of posting. There is still one PO I use that need me to write out a proof of posting (they supply it) but I rarely use that PO now.

I've stopped using these after I had several instances of the parcel sticking on the metal chute and then jamming the opening so I couldn't get the parcel out or reach in to push it down.  Rattling the outside handle vigorously up and down eventually got it to drop in.

I think the brown tape I use on boxes causes the problem as it sticks to the metal inside the box.  Is this just me?

I've never had a problem although I rarely use the parcel boxes, perhaps no more than 3 or 4 times a month at most for low cost items to save me a walk to the PO. 

KxMx

soolin said:

WLM21 said:

soolin said:

If you want proof of postage for parcels or large letters (in order to claim against loss) then you need to take it to a Post Office or mail centre. 

Oh yes, I forgot all about the proof of postage

I know the small parcel receive has a code that can determine whether an item has been delivered, but do they have that now for large letters.

A couple of weeks ago a buyer raised a complaint about an item not being delivered and asked for a refund. that code showed it had in fact been delivered more than a week before. When I pointed this out and showed a screenshot from the RM site the person closed the case. I blocked that buyer

Large letters don't currently have proof of delivery although I notice that when I use ebay postage my large letters I have started to show an update of delivered. Ideally any tracking or delivery numbers should be added at the point of despatch to your sold listings.

Proof of delivery is needed for protection against an INR but if item gets lost then you need proof of posting to be able to make a claim from RM.

I buy postage for my LL's through parcel.royalmail.com, up until September/October I routinely got a delivery confirmation number for them, but that stopped and my latest sale last month  didn't see a number provided either. 

jon81uk

You can get proof of posting for small parcel and tracked items if you scan them using the Royal Mail app and then scan the parcel postbox.
See How to Get Proof of Posting (royalmail.com)

GadgetGuru

jon81uk said:

You can get proof of posting for small parcel and tracked items if you scan them using the Royal Mail app and then scan the parcel postbox.
See How to Get Proof of Posting (royalmail.com)

Ah I didn't know this.
How does this work though? I mean, what's stopping someone from scanning a barcode on their item, and scanning the postbox, but then not actually posting it through?

jon81uk

IftiBashir said:

jon81uk said:

You can get proof of posting for small parcel and tracked items if you scan them using the Royal Mail app and then scan the parcel postbox.
See How to Get Proof of Posting (royalmail.com)

Ah I didn't know this.
How does this work though? I mean, what's stopping someone from scanning a barcode on their item, and scanning the postbox, but then not actually posting it through?

The information is at the link I gave. You don't get the proof of postage until Royal Mail scan it at the depot.