Am I eligible for a Royal Mail Business Account?

[weestore]

Due to the Oct 2023 Royal Mail price increases, I'm looking at anyway I can reduce my postage cost.

Pretty much all my items are sent as large letter and under 100gms, this price has jumped from £1.15 to £1.55! Almost unstainable without increasing my prices and then sales plummet 😞

I send around 30-50 large letters weekly, just do it through eBay atm. I'm not registered for VAT so will just be doing self assessment next year. Would I be eligible for a business account with Royal Mail for the discounted rates? 

Any advice would be appreciated....and if OBA is worthwhile? 

[carbtec]

I'm in a very similar situation, including the sizes & volumes. I took the plunge & applied for OBA, costs nowt' & I'm using it as a vehicle to refine my despatch process with an eye on future expansion.

I'm finding it a nightmare. The RM back office seems to be worse even than ebay's. Despite taking my time, reading help & watching the video's I'm struggling to make sense of it all. They seem to need to setup an account for different sections & it's pointless attempting to use anything before that's all done . . . . By different departments with different timescales.

Today, I'm trying to use my OBA click & drop to at least get 1 order out, currently I seem to be switching between the business service & the retail one for no apparent reason everytime I navigate around the system.

[tefa78]

I have had a franking machine for a 3 years now and was considering getting rid of it as my sales have tanked this last year,but with this Royal Mail increase i am keeping it, £1.55 LL at post office  for under 100 gms ,£1.13 for franking machine post ,its a good saving but do your research on them as the extra costs for some of them can mount up,ink, labels, topping up credit etc

[weestore]

Sounds like OBA can be a nightmare, I was happy enough with purchasing the labels through eBay, but with such a large price hike, it's just impossible. 

So, even though I'm not registered for VAT etc, I would be eligible for the OBA and cheaper rates? How much do you pay the 2nd Class/48 LL? 

Been trying to phone Royal Mail to discuss but of course I can't get through! 

[weestore]

Yeah I was looking at Franking, but I used to use that years ago for an old job and I know there can be a lot of other cost involved. I remmeber just the having the machine, upkeep etc could be costly! Having said that, I'm keeping all options open considering the LL price hike. 

[tefa78]

Frama had some offers on a few months ago,i got a good deal with Pitney at the time thats why i have kept with them,otherwise i would have gone with Frama ,they did have a deal which i cant remember all the details but i think it was you didnt rent a machine you just bought the postage and printed your own labels,might be worth a look .

[weestore]

That definetly sounds like it's worth a look, would take alot of the hassle/cost out of franking. 

Thanks for the advice! 

[carbtec]

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@weestore wrote:

Sounds like OBA can be a nightmare, I was happy enough with purchasing the labels through eBay, but with such a large price hike, it's just impossible. 

So, even though I'm not registered for VAT etc, I would be eligible for the OBA and cheaper rates? How much do you pay the 2nd Class/48 LL? 

Been trying to phone Royal Mail to discuss but of course I can't get through! 

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I'm a sole trader, no VAT & they accepted me. I think it's down to volume (1000+pa) & I use click & drop so have a provable posting history.

I have absolutely no idea how much my LL RM24 & RM48 is going to cost me as the only postage options available to me at this point in my discovery process seems to be all the 'signed for' services ?

[small-boxes]

It will end up costing you more if you have a account with RM thats just the way it is better to buy labels on ebay.

[a-touch-of-sparkle]

I have a RM online business account. They send me free labels for my printer and bags / zip ties and labels to pack up my sales and take to the post office. This saves my computer paper and ink.

100g large letters BPL code £1.20 2nd class, £1.25 1st class. 2kg small parcels are £2.99. 

BUT letters are 79p 2nd class, but only 75p on Ebay or at the post office counter according to the price guide. I will be printing letter postage from Ebay from now on. 

[actual_uk_seller]

Does the BPL thing include a code that can get scanned on delivery? LL labels printed via eBay come with a code that get's scanned if the postperson feels like it which can reduce the rate of "INRs".

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

All sellers are in the same position so everyone has to put up p+p prices.

The way of ebay is lowest price wins, its the same for all sellers.

One seller gets the sale and the rest go hungry.

[susapric-68]

It is worth it and you should qualify, once you have a business account you can use the business account phone number and it's never a long wait to talk to someone at royal mail. 2nd class under 100g costs £1.20 and RM48 LL under 100g costs just under £1.30. RM 48 good for when you have the odd over 100g letter as they take the adverage for all sent that day and most time time brings them all to under 100g plus you get delivery confirmation with RM48.That helps alot with buyers that buy low cost items knowing they wont go recorded so they can do a none recived item claim. 

[a-touch-of-sparkle]

Large letters "can " get scanned on delivery, and I am seing more delivery confirmations showing up on Ebay now they are barcoded, but not all do get scanned.

[ile136yz]

Have a look at RM Click & Drop site & ask them to give you a quote on the cost for your Business Mail.

[supports-direct]

Do these prices include ALL the surcharges?

Plus, you can NOT make a claim for a lost item with a business account.

Oh, and they will hit you with a wrong declared format surcharge as and when they feel like it.

So you will be in a position where you have been surcharged to the max, the item doesn't get delivered, and you can't make a claim. This happens quite often.

So you end up paying £10+ for something that doesn't get delivered.

But at least you get free thermal labels!

I'm about to tell them where to stick their account... There will probably be a surcharge for that, too!