Royal Mail smart stamp or PPI

[Area51]

Hi there.

I currently use ebay/paypal for postage labels, its straight forward and pretty easy.. However since they insisted their (ebay) payments were to go to Luxemburg for postal labels.. it has slowed the process down, its cr*p to be honest and I do not need a .pdf file for each label.. Just how many trees do they want me to ruin...

I see the forum has some notes on grabit it style programs etc. However this does not reduce the costs of post, so back to the header..

Anyone any expereince of Smartstamp or PPI from Royal Mail...

Ease of use
Costs = reduced postal costs
Who it works?

Thanks so much in advance.. A51

[peterpiper]

PPI is the way to go get all the info from royal mail website
cheers peterpiper

[arshavin]

Are the ppi and smartstamps any good? and would i need a special printer for these?

[peterpiper]

PPI stamps buy 1000 for £10 off of ebay simple as that cheaper than printing yourself

[cortex]

what are these

Stamp Products | Royal Mail PPI Stamps "New" | Speedy Stamps

[saki]

ppi stamps are much easier

[jayne.w1]

How do ppi stamps work? How do you pay for first class stamps and can you change the postage amount for different size packages?

[arshavin]

Originally Posted by jayne.w1

How do ppi stamps work? How do you pay for first class stamps and can you change the postage amount for different size packages?

I'd also like to know this.

[rsot]

/quote

However since they insisted their (ebay) payments were to go to Luxemburg for postal labels..

How new is this?

[Bunneh]

personally i dont see the problem paying for postage through ebay or paypal? I mean entering the weight & then clicking the pay now button takes seconds.. you dont need to even full out the address.

But smart stamp seems to just be the SAME postage price/ barcode you get from paypal/ebay except you can put on a pretty business logo.. and then waste your time writing out an address for each parcel, or printing that out seperately ...not all that fast
It also costs £4.95 a month to use this service.

[Area51]

Hi there.

The link to click thru for paypal postage changed back in spring, this slowed down my process and produced a .pdf type label that used a page of paper!!! Doh, the service was slower and the email confirmation on the sale advised payment was to EU rather than previous process used.

I used a paypal link in each sale to go to paypal and print a label from there, this is quicker and the old format..

The matter or PPI is one of ease and discounts!
If you read up their blurb, ebay/paypal for redirecting you to royal mail via their system get a cut of the postage.
So ebay get..
1. your fees
2. paypal commision on sale plus commision on post costs
3. a cut from directing you to royal mail..

Point 3. I think you can do something about and that is what I am wondering about and asking on here, if PPI is a good service and you put enough business their way you can save on the postal costs.. finally you also get access to different services.. Paypal will not let you select 2nd class recorded.. this will save around 15% on postal costs but still get same service as postman has to get the signature..

The 15% saving is outside any saving for using PPI, looking at their tables you could be in line for another 7% (ebay / paypal get this or more for directing us all to Royal Mail)..

If I am reading this right, the potential for 20% saving on post is there.. over a year it outweighs the hassle of any PPI inputs..

Anyone think I am on the right track here?

Thanks

[they_screwed_me_too]

smartstamp is 20 times quicker than paypal postage if you have many items to send

there are no discounts in postage costs with smartstamp

PPI gets you discounts on packages if you send bulk

DO NOT FIDDLE THE POSTAGE ON SMARTSTAMP

YOU WILL GO TO JAIL !!

[Area51]

Thanks, its mostly small packages I aim for so could do with making use of some service to reduce funds going to eb/pp and increase profits!!

Do you know if PPI drags over the address detials from eb at all? or do they need to manually entered?

Thanks.

[they_screwed_me_too]

i use the print address labels and invoices in ebay, then copy past into PPI

write the item being sent on the back of the label take them into packing and stick

i can do 100 labels in an hour id estimate

[Area51]

Ideal me thinks.. Just need to work on the 100 sales to fit in one hour

[webprojectuk]

Originally Posted by they_screwed_me_too

DO NOT FIDDLE THE POSTAGE ON SMARTSTAMP

YOU WILL GO TO JAIL !!

Where did you here this part? So, if a customer makes a mistake and decides the package is a letter not a large letter he or she will end up in Jail? Seems a little harsh.

[they_screwed_me_too]

thats not what i mean at all

i mean serious "fiddling"