Buying RM postage online - Vinted

Abbafan1972

Hi there. I am a bit confused regarding sending an item I’ve sold on Vinted. I’ve got the link to go onto RM website to buy the postage - it has automatically come up as 2nd class standard, but I am going to up it to Special Delivery due to the nature of the item. 

Can I just go to post office & send the parcel as normal? Sorry to be dense, but everything I have sold so far has been inpost lockers. 

Also, it says on the message thread to only use the postage method indicated, but I don’t mind covering the extra for special delivery. 

Any advice please. Thanks. 

TimeLord1

Yes you can but rather than do special delivery use Royal Mail 24 or 48 but share the tracking with the buyer. 

Abbafan1972

TimeLord1 said:

Yes you can but rather than do special delivery use Royal Mail 24 or 48 but share the tracking with the buyer. 

What happens if I buy the postage online and print the label at home. Do I have to take it to the post office, or do I put it in the post box? 

There is a link on my Vinted sale to say upload receipt, is that the receipt from the post office? I am a bit lost with this sorry. 

soolin

On Vinted you can use whatever RM postage you want, but you only get the fixed £3.39 or whatever it currently is. Buy your postage, upload proof of posting and make sure you mark it as sent. Unfortunately RM isn’t integrated so you get no payment at all until decides to confirm receipt. If buyer doesn’t bother confirming receipt then Vinted will pay you out after approx 21-25 days.

I found buyers very reluctant to confirm delivery and got fed up of waiting for my money so I have removed RM as an option and only use integrated couriers.

TimeLord1

If you print it online you can drop it at a post office they'll scan then weigh plus provide a receipt. But as Soolin said it can be a wait for your money.

martindow

There's also the option of free collection if you buy postage online.  For RM24 and 48 this is cheaper than taking it to the PO when you will be charged an extra 20 or 30p. 

Abbafan1972

Thanks for all your help. As @soolin suggested above, I have disabled the Royal Mail option for the future. 

soolin

Abbafan1972 said:

Thanks for all your help. As @soolin suggested above, I have disabled the Royal Mail option for the future. 

I do hate restricting potential buyers, but I really couldn’t cope with the delay in payments , it was getting stressful. 

Abbafan1972

soolin said:

Abbafan1972 said:

Thanks for all your help. As @soolin suggested above, I have disabled the Royal Mail option for the future. 

I do hate restricting potential buyers, but I really couldn’t cope with the delay in payments , it was getting stressful. 

You saying that - it’s been the opposite for me. I posted the item on Tuesday, the buyer confirmed receipt yesterday and left me feedback. 

Checked my Vinted balance this morning and the money is there. The buyer paid £3.39 for 2nd class standard and I used Tracked 24 which cost me £3.50 (large letter), so I didn’t really lose out on postage. 

soolin

Abbafan1972 said:

soolin said:

Abbafan1972 said:

Thanks for all your help. As @soolin suggested above, I have disabled the Royal Mail option for the future. 

I do hate restricting potential buyers, but I really couldn’t cope with the delay in payments , it was getting stressful. 

You saying that - it’s been the opposite for me. I posted the item on Tuesday, the buyer confirmed receipt yesterday and left me feedback. 

Checked my Vinted balance this morning and the money is there. The buyer paid £3.39 for 2nd class standard and I used Tracked 24 which cost me £3.50 (large letter), so I didn’t really lose out on postage. 

Some buyers do acknowledge receipt- but after a disastrous Christmas period in 2023 where I was waiting on about 7 to confirm and they all made me wait about 3 weeks I decided it wasn't worth the stress. I didn't 'need' the money, but seeing a fairly nice amount sitting there which I knew I could have used waiting for people who had their items to confirm, was annoying.

All the other couriers are integrated, once item arrives, and that's automatic as Vinted supply the labels, the buyer has 48 hours to confirm otherwise it is automatically confirmed and the money released. 

Abbafan1972

Hello again. I had to send out my last sale by Royal Mail SD. The buyer has confirmed receipt by message and said they are happy. They said that there was no option to confirm receipt as yet, but would do it as soon as possible. Is this usual? I don’t know how long it takes, but another buyer confirmed receipt of their Royal Mail SD parcel the same day it was received. 

Should I be worried at all?