julesp1905, on 08 February 2012 - 10:16 AM, said:
Ebay/paypal do not have an account, they have an agreement, one that defaults them as the prefered carrier, their is no discount for ebay account holders using Royal Mail services.
Royal Mail universal service products are regulated, there is no negoitation on price, the price is fixed by the regulator, yes you are right that large buisness users get a cheaper price. If EBAY have an account as you say why are we not offered mailsort, next day tracked and tracked as delivery options? these are buisness products after all.
Further evidence can be found here which states for ebay users the terms are between you and Royal Mail
http://www.royalmail...-and-conditions
please do not mislead people into thinking there is a 25-30% discount to be had as it simply isn't there.
I'm not trying to mislead anybody, and can only repeat that with any of the Parcel force options, printing your labels out through e-bay, and paying via paypal is cheaper than taking the same parcel to the post office and paying for it over the counter.
I said that was due to Ebay having an account, I stand corrected, they have an "Agreement"
I sent a lot of bulky/heavy parcels via the parcelforce option with labels i printed out from within e-bay after the sale completed. I did have some problems at 1st with all of my local post offices weighing the item (which they have to do), but then insisting on knowing the charges I'd paid, checking that with their instore rates, and telling me their was aq differnce and I'd have to pay the amount they had "on their sheet" - which was always around 25% MORE than I'd been charged and paid through e-bay.
After emails/calls to both ebay AND parcelforce, I was told the amount charged online by ebay was correct, and to tell the post office they had to treat my parcel as a normal "account" parcel.
Off I went to the post office, they weighed my items (which actually weighed LESS than I'd entered when buying/printing my postage labels), I then told them it was to be treated as a standard "account" package, to which they replied, "ok no problem, thanks"
And I've never had any trouble since.
So please don't infer that I'm making it all up and misleading people, because I'm not.
I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of "the agreement" and why you're not offered mailsort, tracked, and other "business" options.
But, again, I will say this is how it's been for ME WITH PARCEL FORCE OPTIONS, and there is a tracking number you can pass on to the customer!
I
Thanks
Paul