Sending Ebay Parcels with Royal Mail

[hayfield]

1 minute ago, petethemole said:

Despite criticism of poor performance by RM, I'd like to report that some of my packages, both large letter and small parcel, sent 2nd class without tracking and normally left at the PO about 4pm, are achieving next day delivery. I don't use EVRi normally apart from some of SWMBO's mail order returns, which have all been delivered, but I recently sold SWMBO's banjo, in a hard case, and used Evri as it was notably cheaper than RM for the package  size with cover.  Picked up and labelled by our very reliable local courier Dave, it was delivered safely.

 

I totally agree with a few postal exceptions I send all 1st class and judging by the feedback, messages and tracking data, the majority arrive the next day

 

The village Everi delivery driver is very good, though when he is away there are issues. The biggest problem is Everi's attitude to customer service. Just try and speak to a person easily. And when it is delivered to the wrong address their BOT does not understand "its not my house where the item has been delivered to" 

 

Everi has sent me two photos of what they claim is my house, and will not accept neither is my address. in fact they do have a third photo which is my house. So much for intelligent answering service  

[hayfield]

27 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

That means nothing. 

That means nothing. Everyone knows there are local anomalies where the service works . The problem is when you live in an area where it doesn't work, and don't know if it's going to another area where things are messed up. It's a lottery, and we already have a national one of those - don't need another. 

 

 

You are very correct. there are far more complaints about Everi's service standards than most other couriers just on this site Everi has been criticized many times it was so bad it had to change its name. Rather than meaning nothing it means many of us have suffered problems with Everi and its previous existence 

 

The Royal Mail does have a few areas where there are massive issues, usually where the unions are in dispute with the management. And I can understand those customers are being treated very badly

 

Even the better companies have issues I was expecting a DHL overnight delivery from Germany, a breakdown at the Paris airport meant the container was stuck there for 3 days. Next day delivery turned into next week delivery 

Edited December 8, 2023 by hayfield
misunderstood

[stewartingram]

Given the choice, I won't use couriers. Mainly on principal, I like to support our national (now partly privatised) Royal Mail service. Incoming mail I don't usually have the choice (I'm not sending), but outgoing I do. By choice I certainly wouldn't use Evri or Yodel under any circumstances. RM has always been good for me without exception in all cases over many years. All the couriers have given trouble at one time or another. As stated above, there are many options with RM, don't take the 1st offer as the best.

[andyman7]

4 hours ago, Daddyman said:

Thanks. I wonder why she told me my only option was £9.50 then? 

 

When you say "the weekend" do you mean ebay offer this every weekend or only every so often? I never seem to get these offers - just one a few weeks ago, and the item didn't sell - but I seem to remember reading on here some time ago that they varied from seller to seller. 

If you were asking at a Post Office remember that is a separate company to Royal Mail and unlikely to recommend a service that they cannot sell. Tracked 24/48 are the Royal Mail's own parcel services, which are sold direct to the public.

Edited December 8, 2023 by andyman7

[Daddyman]

9 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Sorry you are incorrect. there are far more complaints about Everi's service standards than most other couriers just on this site Everi has been criticized many times it was so bad it had to change its name. Rather than meaning nothing it means many of us have suffered problems with Everi and its previous existence 

 

The Royal Mail does have a few areas where there are massive issues, usually where the unions are in dispute with the management. And I can understand those customers are being treated very badly

 

Even the better companies have issues I was expecting a DHL overnight delivery from Germany, a breakdown at the Paris airport meant the container was stuck there for 3 days. Next day delivery turned into next week delivery 

You misunderstand me - we're saying the same thing. I was responding to a post that said things worked well for him. That's meaningless if we don't all have that - hence my lottery comment. 

 

[hayfield]

2 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

You misunderstand me - we're saying the same thing. I was responding to a post that said things worked well for him. That's meaningless if we don't all have that - hence my lottery comment. 

 

 

Sorry but as you had not quoted a post I incorrectly linked it to another, post now edited

[RFS]

2 hours ago, maico said:

RM tracked 48 booked via eBay is an unbeatable service.

 

Does this service include being able to have it collected? The parcel that I had today was sent that way and I got all the emails from RM sent to me.

[Chas Levin]

Two things: in the interest of balance I would certainly agree that RM is freqeuently absolutely excellent (while noting @Daddyman's lottery point) and I'm often told that things I've sent 2nd class arrived next day, with severe delays being actually quite rare.

Secondly, those Ebay 70 or 80% off selling fee offers always used to carry in my experience a lot of caveats - only certain categories, only certain starting prices, only certain auction lengths and so forth. I stopped bothering with them ageas ago, particularly because of the restrictions on categories: are they now more generally applicable?

[hayfield]

38 minutes ago, Chas Levin said:

Two things: in the interest of balance I would certainly agree that RM is freqeuently absolutely excellent (while noting @Daddyman's lottery point) and I'm often told that things I've sent 2nd class arrived next day, with severe delays being actually quite rare.

Secondly, those Ebay 70 or 80% off selling fee offers always used to carry in my experience a lot of caveats - only certain categories, only certain starting prices, only certain auction lengths and so forth. I stopped bothering with them ageas ago, particularly because of the restrictions on categories: are they now more generally applicable?

 

Chas

 

Whilst I only sell via auction (no other methods offers etc) and list for 7 days (much the same as most private sellers) I have with 1 exception received 80% discount on every sale, the one I did not get discounted rates, was where I let an item automatically relist. My fault for not following the rules. I now only list on discount weekends, which seems about every other weekend. I am not a big seller just reducing my collection by selling a few items a month. I usually only sell model railway items so had no issues, but recently sold 2 very old cameras (my daughters farther in law's items) which also got the discount. In my experience very few restrictions. 

[Chas Levin]

8 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

Chas

 

Whilst I only sell via auction (no other methods offers etc) and list for 7 days (much the same as most private sellers) I have with 1 exception received 80% discount on every sale, the one I did not get discounted rates, was where I let an item automatically relist. My fault for not following the rules. I now only list on discount weekends, which seems about every other weekend. I am not a big seller just reducing my collection by selling a few items a month. I usually only sell model railway items so had no issues, but recently sold 2 very old cameras (my daughters farther in law's items) which also got the discount. In my experience very few restrictions. 

Thanks John - clearly I need to revisit!

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, Chas Levin said:

Two things: in the interest of balance I would certainly agree that RM is freqeuently absolutely excellent (while noting @Daddyman's lottery point) and I'm often told that things I've sent 2nd class arrived next day, with severe delays being actually quite rare.

Secondly, those Ebay 70 or 80% off selling fee offers always used to carry in my experience a lot of caveats - only certain categories, only certain starting prices, only certain auction lengths and so forth. I stopped bothering with them ageas ago, particularly because of the restrictions on categories: are they now more generally applicable?

 Make you accept the offer before you list, otherwise you won't gt the discount if it sells.

 

Categories are not an issue for the stuff I sell.  But make sure you haven't ticked the Automatic Relist option, as it can sell second time round if it fails to sell and you don't then get the discount.

That just means anything that fails to sell will appear in the Unsold folder, which you can relist manually en bloc after you have accepted the next offer.

[Michael Hodgson]

There used to be offers of certain very restrictive categories (Music CDs only or whatever) that were of no use unless you happend to sell that sort of stuff.  I've not seen much of that sort of meaningless discount lately.

[Daddyman]

Well, that worked well ... for a while. Emboldened by my first experience with RM's collection service, I booked a second parcel to be picked up today. Sitting at home this afternoon I was puzzled to get an email from RM saying that they'd picked it up ... when it hadn't moved from its spot on my desk! 

[andyman7]

On 08/12/2023 at 19:04, stewartingram said:

Given the choice, I won't use couriers. Mainly on principal, I like to support our national (now partly privatised) Royal Mail service. Incoming mail I don't usually have the choice (I'm not sending), but outgoing I do. By choice I certainly wouldn't use Evri or Yodel under any circumstances. RM has always been good for me without exception in all cases over many years. All the couriers have given trouble at one time or another. As stated above, there are many options with RM, don't take the 1st offer as the best.

I think Royal Mail is entirely privatised. Whilst they are my carrier of choice there are times (e.g. last year during the long running dispute) when there was no choice but to use an alternative

[Tofufi]

14 hours ago, Daddyman said:

Well, that worked well ... for a while. Emboldened by my first experience with RM's collection service, I booked a second parcel to be picked up today. Sitting at home this afternoon I was puzzled to get an email from RM saying that they'd picked it up ... when it hadn't moved from its spot on my desk! 

 

I gave up using the collection service. Frequently they just don't arrive to collect.

 

Our local delivery office is short staffed and we don't get daily deliveries.

 

Those two things are probably linked.

 

If buying on eBay, they don't seem to add the 16p fee for dropping the items at a post office.   🙂

 

To be honest, I don't know why anyone selling on eBay doesn't buy the postage labels on there. Tracking is auto updated, prices are cheaper than buying in a post office, and you can print labels or get a QR code to have scanned and a label printed in your local post office.

[hayfield]

4 minutes ago, Tofufi said:

 

To be honest, I don't know why anyone selling on eBay doesn't buy the postage labels on there. Tracking is auto updated, prices are cheaper than buying in a post office, and you can print labels or get a QR code to have scanned and a label printed in your local post office.

 

 

Tofufi

 

I tried the service during lockdown, I went into the Post Office and was told I had to take it myself to the sorting office, I went the 5 miles to the sorting office only to find the part which accepts parcels was closed. I then asked several Royal Mail staff what I could do and none of them were interested in giving me any information. In short 10 wasted miles of travelling and the good part of a morning wasted in repackaging and going back to the Post Office 

 

In short the post Office is a five minute walk away, they decide which weight category and service required according to the value (I always use first class). No customers will face a postage penalty owing to my mistakes on size and weight

 

I can understand the attraction of buying direct with the Royal Mail and I may try it again for high value items, but I clearly state I charge for post and packing and try and post within 24 hours/ next working day of payment. Quality of service over cheapness   

[RFS]

18 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

 

Tofufi

 

I tried the service during lockdown, I went into the Post Office and was told I had to take it myself to the sorting office, I went the 5 miles to the sorting office only to find the part which accepts parcels was closed. I then asked several Royal Mail staff what I could do and none of them were interested in giving me any information. In short 10 wasted miles of travelling and the good part of a morning wasted in repackaging and going back to the Post Office 

 

In short the post Office is a five minute walk away, they decide which weight category and service required according to the value (I always use first class). No customers will face a postage penalty owing to my mistakes on size and weight

 

I can understand the attraction of buying direct with the Royal Mail and I may try it again for high value items, but I clearly state I charge for post and packing and try and post within 24 hours/ next working day of payment. Quality of service over cheapness   

 

That was then and everything has since changed. You used not to be able to use Tracked24/48 with online postage and had to do as you say. Now you can either take to the post office, or have it collected by the postman. As already stated more than once, Tracked 48 bought online with collection costs £3.29 compared to £4.69 for second class signed for. 

[Crosland]

I have found the collection service to be utterly reliable. It's brilliant, in fact, and a much better experience than the rude counter staff in the village PO.

 

The only times I have had issues, including chasing the postman down the street to ask why he didn't collect, turned out to be my errors.

[Daddyman]

3 hours ago, Tofufi said:

 

I gave up using the collection service. Frequently they just don't arrive to collect.

 

Our local delivery office is short staffed and we don't get daily deliveries.

 

Those two things are probably linked.

 

If buying on eBay, they don't seem to add the 16p fee for dropping the items at a post office.   🙂

 

To be honest, I don't know why anyone selling on eBay doesn't buy the postage labels on there. Tracking is auto updated, prices are cheaper than buying in a post office, and you can print labels or get a QR code to have scanned and a label printed in your local post office.

Well, RM collected today, but I had to book a new collection and will have to spend 30+ mins on the phone to get the original £3.99 back. 

 

I take your point re ebay's labels, but I don't have a printer, and my Android doesn't do QRs!  

[Chas Levin]

It's certainly worth selling stuff on Ebay - it's a huge marketplace, in the UK alone, let alone overseas customers - but it does take some work, doesn't it?

i've done it for many years (20, in fact) and overall have made a profit, but I also value the de-cluttering. If I were judging it solely on profit vs. hours, I'd not be such a fan...

[RFS]

5 hours ago, Daddyman said:

Well, RM collected today, but I had to book a new collection and will have to spend 30+ mins on the phone to get the original £3.99 back. 

 

There's a link in the email saying they'll collect it to allow you to get a refund. They will wait 7 days till it's no longer valid to post, and then they refund after that. Used this a couple of times when I used the wrong service.

 

Over the last 12 months I've sent over 50 items using RM collection, and they have only failed to collect once. I got the message early on in the day, and as I was going out anyway dropped it off at the post office. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by RFS

[andyman7]

I used to hate having to send parcels in December. Huge queues in the Post Office whilst people who only sent stuff once a year spent 10 minutes discussing postal options whilst my items were ready to go; people filling in customs forms at the counter whilst I'd done mine at home etc. 

The ability to just have my parcels collected or to be able to drop them at the sorting office is a godsend.
I can see the Post Office meets a need - but I am glad I have options to be able to steer clear of it (especially in December)

[maico]

On 08/12/2023 at 20:51, RFS said:

 

Does this service include being able to have it collected? The parcel that I had today was sent that way and I got all the emails from RM sent to me.

 

Yes, free collection by your postman if requested.

 

They come at the same time every day for me. If I'm not going to be in I type in the secure place for collection. 

An email is sent to my mobile at the point of collection which is usually the postman's scan.

 

RM Tracked 24 or tracked 48 is the service to use for small parcels.

 

If you are selling on eBay use the RM shipping option when the item is paid for.

Edited December 12, 2023 by maico

[Hal Nail]

Just now, maico said:

Yes, free collection by your postman if requested.

In fact it rather assumes you do want it collected and it's quite late on the process you can select drop off instead.

 

Easy once you know but I seem to recall some shouting the first time.

[maico]

On 08/12/2023 at 16:05, John M Upton said:

Given how utterly awful the Royal Mail service seems to have descended to recently, the guaranteed 24/48 hour thing is meaningless.

 

I paid extra for guaranteed 24 hour ParcelForce delivery a couple of weeks ago and it took over a week to be delivered. 

 

Parcelforce is not RM. Given RM will take up to medium parcels which covers most things, I can't imagine why anyone pays more to use Parcelforce unless as a company where rates are much reduced.

If something is priority there is always RM special delivery. I used to send out watches valued at £500-£2000. Never had a problem in over 200 transactions apart from sending to Jersey where it arrived a day late IE. not next day. I applied and got a refund.

Having worked in other countries I don't think some here realize just how good and how good value RM actually is overall ! 

Edited December 12, 2023 by maico