royal mail Now started charging 30 pence for collecting Simple delivery ebay parcels

[tickswift2]

Royal mail are now charging 30 pence for collecting postage labels that were purchased using simple delivery

so now ebay Labels that you have to purchase with no other alternative option Sellers are getting charged with 30 pence per item // Just happened to 

[akemp1]

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@jills_cardclearout wrote:

Personally I think 30p for collection is a good price, but not if it's per parcel, there should be some scaling going on.

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The problem is if they made the multi-item collections cheaper they might have to charge more for the individual item collections to ensure they are still recovering enough money overall to cover the cost of the service and we could be back to 72p for the first item then 10p or whatever for each additional item.

[jills_cardclearout]

Just checked on the current business price guide and it's £955 + Vat a year, or £17.92 + Vat for a single days collection.

Makes 30p per parcel seem like a bargain.

If I still lived as far out as I did back then I'd use the service and be glad of it!

Didn't even know they have been doing free collection for the public, that seems a bit unfair on those small businesses that have to pay.

[dch2112011]

With bulk collection that is free for volume account holders you have to sort, bag and manifest  for RM - they will collect without any one present  and will agree a time to collect - ours is 4pm 

30p is very reasonable for the odd parcel considering the time lost taking it to a post office to deal with it  - especially with so many sellers with busy lives who struggle to dispatch quickly

[hallw_sall]

Yes I agree (although the service isn’t particularly good here so I do begrudge paying for it a bit) but the issue is for people sending about 10 a day then it’s £1000 a year which doesn’t feel good on top of the huge postal cost increases. The local post office has started doing Evri too and doesn’t seem to be coping well. There just aren’t a decent range of options for dispatching parcels with the decline in post offices, lack of parcel boxes and a poor collection service. 

[akemp1]

We are in a later stage of capitalism where despite us all buying and selling online the post office and carriers are struggling to deliver an adequate service because they are getting squeezed so hard by big businesses like ebay who want to make all the profit from the delivery charge despite not even doing the work themselves they can achieve this by abusing their dominant market position. Except they got too greedy and its backfiring.

[the_ribbon_shack]

I don't think it's just for Simple Delivery it's for anyone who wants a collection.   I've used the RM collection FREE for a year.   Not once has my postage gone missing even at Xmas.   I can't afford to pay 30p an item for a collection.   It will now either be back to the Post Office or Post Box like a lot of sellers.   More cars on the road, more emissions.   Can't wait to join the PO queue at Xmas again!!!!!!

[the_ribbon_shack]

I don't think it's just for Simple Delivery it's for anyone who wants a collection.   I've used the RM collection FREE for a year.   Not once has my postage gone missing even at Xmas.   I can't afford to pay 30p an item for a collection.   It will now either be back to the Post Office or Post Box like a lot of sellers.   More cars on the road, more emissions.   Can't wait to join the PO queue at Xmas again!!!!!!

[crafty_cat_lover]

I've not sat down and worked out how far I can get in my car with 30p worth of petrol but I reckon it will still be cheaper for a lot of people to pay the collection fee. Especially if you're a business and you add labour costs for the time taken to get to the PO and queue.

[tpogodin]

They really need to expand the availability of parcel post boxes now you can self service dispatch via the app. There's basically zero chance of that happening in my rural village but it would be ideal rather than paying 30p per parcel, I'd go back to my local post office if it hadn't closed down!

[mazda-mx5-mk3-parts]

If you take them to the post office you get charged 30p per parcel as well thats why I stopped taking mine and used the free collection service the only way its free is if you pay for your postage cost at the post office but my local post office doesn't offer tracked services which is what I use all the time!! 

[hallw_sall]

They actually dropped the extra charge at the post office a while back. It doesn’t feel like there is any strategy…. Do they want us to use the post office or home collection more?! In terms of tracking, I buy my tracked 48 labels online and then just take the packages to the post office with the labels done. They then just scan them and give you a proof of postage.  I believe they will print them for you if you don’t have a printer. 

[mazda-mx5-mk3-parts]

I refuse to use the post office since the horizon scandal and they are
still using the horizon system also the staff at my local post office have
zero clue about anything and everything I tried to educate them but I was
banging my head against a brick wall so gave up and have never been back
every courier I use collects for free FEDEX UPS DPD DX PARCEL FORCE the
list goes on!!

[carmadkenny]

Yes, it's been costing me 30p per item for collection. I'm thinking about changing my  postage policy to compensate . At the moment , I have been offering free postage to encourage buyers, but at this rate, it's going to have to change. 

[punkwroc77]

I also think it was £1 per item at one point. Although far riskier I have now started to use Yodel. For a 1kg parcel fully tracked £2.70 ,Labels printed in store and I can post before 8am. In contrast I'd have to print labels ,now it would be £3.45 + 30p for the same service by Royal Mail. Post office does not open until 9am, none of these RM lockers or parcel boxes near me so it is just not convenient or an easy matter for me to get to a PO after 9am (or where I live - safe) .

Today instead of RM getting 3 x £3.45 from me they get zilch and Yodel gets 3 x £2.70.

I do know that a Yodel collection is charged but the overall means of posting is now easier by Yodel.

I also read sellers saying they have no choice but to use Ebay Simple Delivery ?.....It can be turned off and you can use what Ebay Calls "Advanced" postage which is basically what it was before simple delivery.

[ruby*ryan]

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@punkwroc77 wrote:

I also read sellers saying they have no choice but to use Ebay Simple Delivery ?.....It can be turned off and you can use what Ebay Calls "Advanced" postage which is basically what it was before simple delivery.

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You can't turn it off when it becomes mandatory. There is a (slow) roll out, that's why some can still opt out and other can't.

[punkwroc77]

I think Post Office Counters losing money from not getting the fee they used to get per item for processing Royal Mail Parcels might have a lot to do with this change. Although Royal Mail say it was only ever a Temporary Test and the fee was always going to be re introduced. It could have been worse though as 30p is less than 1/2 what it was.

They will lose a lot of my custom since it makes no sense any longer to pay nearly £4 postage for a £5 item.(+ cost of ink,electric,printer maintenance etc)I will now only use RM when I can cover the collection cost from the sale price.

[cbclassicbuyer]

No charge for taking parcels to Post Office. 

[poshboutique2]

Is it £2.70 for Yodel via simple delivery, or do you go onto the Yodel website and do they print the labels free instore or is there a charge for it?

[lyndylooops]

Just found this out the hard way too.  Ebay being as devios, greedy and sneaky as ever.  Or maybe Royal Mail has just got fed up with them - either way yet again it's the small private seller who is losing out.  That's it for me.

[lyndylooops]

I have sent several prior to this since Simple postage introduced but the first time I've been charged.  Aaargg!