Postage through Paypal

Flyonthewall · 18 January 2020 at 10:45PM

Hi.

As a private seller who doesn't sell often and has mostly just sold small items under 2KG, I've always just gone to a Post Office and bought the postage there.

However, I now have some bigger/heavier items as well as numerous smaller, lighter items so I've been looking at postage through Paypal as it mentions discounts, but a lot of information online about it seems to be from years ago! So I have a few questions lol.

On the Parcelforce website compensation says £100, with the option to make it higher. Through Paypal, I noticed that the Express24 is £100, but the Express48 is only £50 so clearly there are differences. It doesn't mention size. Do the same sizes apply to buying postage for Parcelforce through Paypal as to buying direct? Are there any other differences?

Does weight have to be exact? I'd be dropping them off at the Post Office, if that makes any difference.

Do I need accounts with Royal Mail or Parcelforce?

Are there any known issues with the service that I need to watch out for?

Thanks.

forgotmyname · 19 January 2020 at 3:45AM

Exact weight, depends on how accurate your scales are. Probably best to err on the side of caution and choose the next weight bracket rather than risk the delivery to your customer demanding extra money due to insufficient postage.

Issues, they all mess up.. Just cross your fingers its not yours.

SuperPikachu · 19 January 2020 at 10:31AM

In as far as the specific Parcelforce questions go, this may be worth a skim if you hadn't seen it yet

https://www.parcelforce.com/sending-parcel

But other eBayers here may have better experience/knowledge of who is best to use and why.

Flyonthewall · 19 January 2020 at 10:59AM

forgotmyname wrote: »

Exact weight, depends on how accurate your scales are. Probably best to err on the side of caution and choose the next weight bracket rather than risk the delivery to your customer demanding extra money due to insufficient postage.

Issues, they all mess up.. Just cross your fingers its not yours.

Thanks. Weights are all well within each weight bracket I think. Just didn't want them to be funny with me at the PO if an item weighed, for example, 1.34KG and I'd put 1.4KG even though price would be the exact same.

lol true.

SuperPikachu wrote: »

In as far as the specific Parcelforce questions go, this may be worth a skim if you hadn't seen it yet

https://www.parcelforce.com/sending-parcel

But other eBayers here may have better experience/knowledge of who is best to use and why.

Thanks. I have read all the info I could find on the Parcelforce, Royal Mail and Paypal, but they're not clear on everything and I can't see any mention of size for postage through Paypal. You'd assume it would be the same, but then you'd assume compensation would be the same and it's not so...

lindens · 20 January 2020 at 9:49AM

I use parcel2go or buy all my postage through ebay. I weigh each item and enter the exact weight, once packaged

Flyonthewall · 20 January 2020 at 11:05AM

lindens wrote: »

I use parcel2go or buy all my postage through ebay. I weigh each item and enter the exact weight, once packaged

Parcel2go offers less protection for near enough the same price as postage through Ebay/Paypal (for ParcelForce services anyway, haven't checked the others). So no good for me, I need over the £20 protection and there doesn't seem to be any option to increase it (and it would then cost more than ebay if it did).

I plan to do that too. I don't entirely trust my scales will give me the exact correct weight though, which is why I wanted to know how exact the weight had to be. Hopefully I can give the exact weight, but if my scales are a little off, I want to know the Post Office won't refuse to take it even if it still costs the same because it's in the same weight bracket.

SuperPikachu · 20 January 2020 at 12:19PM

Another I can suggest is https://despatchbay.com/

Flyonthewall · 20 January 2020 at 12:37PM

SuperPikachu wrote: »

Another I can suggest is https://despatchbay.com/

Thanks, but they hide their prices and Google results mention them being fined for an illegal agreement so think I'll avoid them lol.

Happy to use the Ebay/Paypal option. Whichever I use the weight thing applies anyway as I'll be dropping it off at the PO. Hopefully my scales will work properly and the PO won't care if it is ever so slightly off

soolin · 20 January 2020 at 12:59PM

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Thanks, but they hide their prices and Google results mention them being fined for an illegal agreement so think I'll avoid them lol.

Happy to use the Ebay/Paypal option. Whichever I use the weight thing applies anyway as I'll be dropping it off at the PO. Hopefully my scales will work properly and the PO won't care if it is ever so slightly off

as long as you are within the weight band you are fine, so for instance if your parcel is about 700g and it turns out to be 750 it doesn't matter.

For couriers though watch the restrictions and insured amount- just because you sold something and ebay or paypal will quote you for postage doesn't mean that A) it is allowed and b) you are insured for the correct value.

Also remember, as per above advice, that if you go through a third party, and that includes ebay/paypal or parcel2go then your contract is with them and not the courier and that can cause issues if your item is lost or damaged as it delays matters with you speaking to them and them speaking to the courier.

Flyonthewall · 20 January 2020 at 3:22PM

soolin wrote: »

as long as you are within the weight band you are fine, so for instance if your parcel is about 700g and it turns out to be 750 it doesn't matter.

For couriers though watch the restrictions and insured amount- just because you sold something and ebay or paypal will quote you for postage doesn't mean that A) it is allowed and b) you are insured for the correct value.

Also remember, as per above advice, that if you go through a third party, and that includes ebay/paypal or parcel2go then your contract is with them and not the courier and that can cause issues if your item is lost or damaged as it delays matters with you speaking to them and them speaking to the courier.

Thanks.

Good to know!

I know I'm not going to be sending anything that can possibly be restricted, but good point about that. Not sure I've seen any mention of it on Paypal or specific Ebay/Paypal postage pages on the ParcelForce site.

You'd think sending something would be easy. Package it, pay, send it off. Simple. Nope lol. I'll probably stick to just going to the PO for large letters, but they charge too much/don't accept the larger items I have so I have to use another option for them.

lindens · 20 January 2020 at 4:16PM

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Parcel2go offers less protection for near enough the same price as postage through Ebay/Paypal (for ParcelForce services anyway, haven't checked the others). So no good for me, I need over the £20 protection and there doesn't seem to be any option to increase it (and it would then cost more than ebay if it did).

I plan to do that too. I don't entirely trust my scales will give me the exact correct weight though, which is why I wanted to know how exact the weight had to be. Hopefully I can give the exact weight, but if my scales are a little off, I want to know the Post Office won't refuse to take it even if it still costs the same because it's in the same weight bracket.

i round up a little but mine never seem to match the PO scales when i do go in. as long as you're not missing one of the price brackets they dont care

Postage through Paypal

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