Royal Mail Postage prices gone up today - Will the rise affect you on eBay?

[ets]

ok thanks I think tomorrow I'm going to review all my pricing etc

[Thankful]

I've called a few friends who also use e/b 1 of them is seriously considering changing his whole business model because of the rise.

[NoneOther]

TBH I can t understand what all the drama is about

Royal Mail increase their postal charges every April, surely people running a business should be aware of this and plan their business accordingly.

Basic business principles, forecast your budget, control your costs.

[moneyhustler88]

royal mail do increase i agree but never by this much!!

[NoneOther]

The amount of the increases was published nearly two months ago.

As I said if your running your business properly then you should be aware that there will be an annual increase so when it is made public you adjust your budget and business model accordingly in advance, not getting in a panic because you've done nothing and 'suddenly' find postage costs have gone up and your still charging at the old rate.

Buyers know that postage costs have increased, they are using RM the same as you and they'll expect to pay more for their e/b postage.

As I said in an earlier post as long as your charging within reason and ship quickly then it should all be as before.

[Bunneh]

I wouldn't touch MyHermes with a barge pole.
I have used them in the past and there postage was roughly £5 and if you wanted tracking you had to pay for that over and above.
There service was BAD and the tracking updates were appalling, it also took around 5 days to reach the destination. Never again!

[Thankful]

Originally Posted by Bunneh

I wouldn't touch MyHermes with a barge pole.
I have used them in the past and there postage was roughly £5 and if you wanted tracking you had to pay for that over and above.
There service was BAD and the tracking updates were appalling, it also took around 5 days to reach the destination. Never again!

Another reason not to use them, overpriced and slow.

I think it will always a Royal Mail trip then unless i deliver myself.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by NoneOther

Your right because they're all at it, even the depot managers.

RM might not be perfect but they do the job for e/b better than any of the alternatives imo.

Agreed.

RM just sneak in.

Where possible it's preferable to have a variety of 'delivery' methods.

[james169]

I have a franking machine, and even with that I have seen a rise from £1.14 to £1.92 per item sent out for one of my main items, and that is for 2nd class,

It is eating into my profit margin quite a bit, I am waiting for my main competitor to raise their prices before I do to incorporate the price rise otherwise my sales will slide loads

[Killuminati]

I totally agree with noneother im pretty sure customers will understand the increase on postage charges they just have to pay a little extra on what they want.

So i don't see what this fuss is all about

[NoneOther]

Originally Posted by james169

I have a franking machine, and even with that I have seen a rise from £1.14 to £1.92 per item sent out for one of my main items, and that is for 2nd class,

It is eating into my profit margin quite a bit, I am waiting for my main competitor to raise their prices before I do to incorporate the price rise otherwise my sales will slide loads

Unless you are offering free postage I don't see how this can be as the customer pays the cost, your profit I would assume comes from the item sold.

If you are making a profit from what you are charging for delivery then I would say that you must be overcharging.

Customers expect to pay a fair cost for delivery so an increase in those costs is unlikely to upset them when the whole country knows that RM have raised the costs substantially.

Don't get me wrong I'm not criticising your business model as such but imo it is not good business practise to rely on profits from delivery charges.

[Thankful]

I don't think it's profit from item sold that people will or are losing, more the drop in sales due to the postage increase, perhaps.

[NoneOther]

I Still don't get it.

Why should sales drop because postage prices have increased. Everybody knows RM have increased their prices and it happens every year.

In fact they only changed yesterday so how can people say they are losing sales based on one day?

Doesn't make any sense to me I'm afraid.

[GREEN LION]

I wrote a little note in my item description page and explained to my buyers why im increasing the postage cost. in case of they didnt watch the news.

[Thankful]

Noneother - You would be surprised how many buyers don't actually know, i've got some of my regular buyers already msging me asking why my postage went up.

I think it would affect sales - alot of buyers on ebay come to ebay looking for good prices or bargains, slight price changes can affect sales for sure, especially with a saturated market were it's already competitive as it is.

With Amazon it's different most buyers will spend more money on the same item thats cheaper on eBay, without thinking twice.

[NoneOther]

As I said I don't get what all the fuss is about, it happens every year.

In two weeks time the buyers will take no notice and carry on buying regardless.

Sellers are their own worst enemies sometimes, seeing problems where none actually exist instead of just getting on with it.

Every business, everywhere has cost increases every year, that's the way of the world.

[Callidus]

Originally Posted by GREEN LION

I wrote a little note in my item description page and explained to my buyers why im increasing the postage cost. in case of they didnt watch the news.

I like this guy !

[Callidus]

Originally Posted by NoneOther

As I said I don't get what all the fuss is about, it happens every year.

In two weeks time the buyers will take no notice and carry on buying regardless.

Sellers are their own worst enemies sometimes, seeing problems where none actually exist instead of just getting on with it.

Every business, everywhere has cost increases every year, that's the way of the world.

You would be surprised, you really would. I forecasted my items would need to go up £2 per item to make the same as before the postage price increase but yes I can see what you mean people should know but Thankful is right there are some right idiots out there, some being on this forum

[NoneOther]

I think I must have been transported to another planet.

For the life of me I can't see why people feel need to increase their item cost just because postal charges have been increased unless they offer free p/p.

£2 would seem excessive given that postal cost have not increased by anywhere near that.

Especially as they only increased yesterday and suddenly everybody is seeing or anticipating huge drops in sales.

[Ebayorbust]

Can't see how folks are losing money over this. Postal prices went up for everyone.

I spend approx £300 a week on postage. I've stocked up on over £4k in stamps so should make roughly an extra £1200 in profit over the next 10 weeks.

[Thankful]

Originally Posted by Ebayorbust

Can't see how folks are losing money over this. Postal prices went up for everyone.

I spend approx £300 a week on postage. I've stocked up on over £4k in stamps so should make roughly an extra £1200 in profit over the next 10 weeks.

Now thats smart thinking.

Sir, I salute you.

I would have done the same however for my packages they need to be bought over the counter.

[ryanba]

I just thought I would add my 2 cents.

I have used MyHermes before and I've never had any issues with them, the woman who collects my package/s always arrives before noon and is friendly.

I don't have any issues with the 3-5 day time frame for delivery and neither have any of my buyers as long as I get good tracking information.

The thing with Royal Mail's recorded delivery is that most of the time it does not get updated on the website, well saying that 2 gift cards I sent on 30th April 1st class recorded did both get updated correctly and 1 needs redelivering.

Also has anyone else heard about TNT doing end to end delivery in West London - Cherry picking or something the RM called it - I think it has something to do with final mile deliveries for business letters that have TNT on them for example debt letters/benefit letters etc etc