That Royal Mail package postage prices hike yesterday will severely dent Ebay, Amazon selling/buying, etc.

[OhLori]

I went to the Post Office today to send some crocs through the post, second class - normally £2.60.

However, it is now (second-class) £5.20 to send this item. It was 2mm thicker than the new width allowances (even though it was incredibly light 330g).

The PO worker told me these were the new rates from 2 April 2013. They have a new measuring plastic thing to check measurements for small and medium packets.

So, apart from buying/selling books (which counts as a small packet), that's it for me.

[PiHigh]

One of the benefits of MyHermes is being able to drop off at a garage on a Sunday. The best thing though is not having to queue for 30 minutes in the PO.

[Tortoise]

Most things that I sell on my Ebay account will fit through the small parcel slot so it won't really affect too much. Will probably opt for 2nd class now. All my listings need to be edited but that won't be too bad.
Agree prices are stupid for larger items but I too use myhermes.

[nipersvest]

these rates are terrible for small businesses. i have a craft book published which i normally sell myself, signed copies via etsy. i can't afford to do this anymore, firstly as to buy in a stock of books myself, although i get them at a reduced rate the postage is huge, and then to sell them on, the postage is around £10 per book, i can't compete with the likes of amazon on both unit price and postage

[LaVitaBellissima]

They will forever be known now at myherpes

I've had no problems at all using couriers and can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

[GemmaTeller]

This week I've ordered two different things off ebay, both of them buy it now, bulky items and both with free delivery.

Both of then delivered next day by myhermes.

I've just registered myself on myhermes to deliver any of my orders larger than the large envelope size through them.

[StickleTick]

The "funniest" ... HA HA !!!! thing was taking my ebay item to the post office yesterday, and the stickler for the rules behind the counter, dropped it into the special measuring box 5 times. She tried every angle possible, to try and get it to "wedge" against the sides, and each time it slipped in, unaided. She was very disappointed.

Each time it fell in, I triumphantly said "it's fitted", and each time, she admitted through gritted teeth, "but only just". The irony is, that what had made it a few mm thicker in every direction, was the one layer of bubble wrap I had added. LIFE is becoming suicidally tedious ... you just have to add up all these little grievances ! :), AND, "falling out" with officials and using threatening behaviour is prosecutable.

we can't win.

[limelites]

We run a small business, posting approx. 25 small packages a day, every day. They only weight about 100g each so we were happy to take them to the post office and pay the £3.38. Now, the same parcels are nearly £6.00! It?s outrageous!

I don?t know why it?s not all over the news. When a penny goes on the price of a stamp there?s outrage but when they literally double the price of their packages no one even mentions it.

We're actually sending everything by TNT now. Who'd have thought they'd ever see the day that sending via TNT is cheaper than Royal Mail?!?

Get this one, we had a box that's 12x9x6 inches going to Suffolk, not recorded, just 1st class mail. It was £4.80. Then, on the scales right after that was the exact same box that's 12x9x6 inches going to Washington DC in the States. It was £4.40!! Can you believe this?!? It's cheaper to send a packet from Glasgow to Washington DC than from Glasgow to Suffolk!!!!

[yonithewaytogohome]

It's outrageous and I am seriously pissed off about it.

I rely on ebaying for extra cash around christmas and birthdays etc but it will be completely pointless now. No one is going to buy a pair of children's trousers for 2.99 then pay a fiver postage....they could use that 8.99 to buy a new pair.

[EhricLovesTeamQhuay]

Today I posted something to my mum. It was very squashy and in a medium sized envelope. Even though it would have gone through the 'large letter' gap with a minuscule amount of pushing it was consider a parcel and cost me £3. I asked why it could not be a letter given that it was mostly air inside (bubble wrap) and he said the post person at the other end would refuse to deliver it and it would cost my mum more to pick it up. I imagined a jobs worth postie refusing to slightly squash a packet through a postbox. That's really what would happen isn't it!?

[Tortoise]

yoni ( ) It wouldn't cost £5 to send a pair of childrens trousers. Would be about £2.60 2nd class. They wouldn't be too fat to go small parcel.

[niceguy2]

I agree. The price increases are ridiculous and I think in time they will struggle as a lot of people will simply switch to small couriers. That in turn will make the couriers even cheaper as their economies of scale grow.

It will impact ebayer sellers a lot whom sell small value items.

[sarahtigh]

£2.60 is upto 8cm thick or inside a 6" cube box or smaller mostt clothing except coats will still fit small parcel size you must squash air out of mailing bags though

[jeansdoneupwitharubberband]

I work from home and regularly send out large fairly heavy boxes to galleries packed with framed artwork, they are always big as each piece inside has to be wrapped individually. On average most parcels cost between £6 and £8 to send. My parcel today cost £13! Im now looking into other couriers as its just not economic to pay these prices.
Royal Mail are bastarding twonks. The lady behind the counter today was so apologetic and quite embarrassed when she told me the price and searched for ways to help make it a wee bit cheaper.
So many people are now supplementing their income selling online or starting businesses from home after fruitless searches for non existent jobs. Price hikes like this make it more difficult for the stay at home mums/dads who run their business from the kitchen table/garden shed, whilst caring and providing for their families, as said before it wont matter too much to companies like amazon who can bargain cheaper rates, so in turn buyers will shop from the sellers who can do cheap/free postage and returns.
Yes, i will find it cheaper from another provider, but that will in turn take up more of my valuable time (which i cant properly charge for as its only me who values it!) to process each order/delivery, meaning less precious time to spend with family ==watch tv/drink wine==

And breathe.

[davidjrmum]

To those who are saying that they post out several parcels a day, you should move to a Royal Mail Business Account. When they put up the parcel prices in April they also reduced the number of parcels per annum you need to be doing for a business account from 5000 parcels to 1000 parcels. So if you are sending an average of 3 per day then you will be able to get a business account. We've just moved to a business account (we do 2000 parcels a year) and we can't believe how cheap it is - cheaper than the over the counter rates we were paying for the last 3 years. For example, the 48 hour parcel service is £1.80 for a small or a medium parcel under a 1kg - considerably cheaper than any courier service we've looked at. Also, would like to say in defence of Royal Mail that they have only lost a couple of parcels in 3 years (about 6000 parcels) and all seem to get there very quickly. In comparison we have only used couriers a handful of times during that period and had 2 lost parcels which as a % is not great.

[mynameisnotmilly]

My local post office is really strict about not allowing stuff through the slot (all the more revenue for them). I paid £2.60 to send a 97g cotton scarf. Now I go to the more sympathetic post office in the next village where they squeeze the air out of the plastic bags before passing it through the slot and charge me 69p for a similar item. It's worth a bit of petrol to make such big savings. I object to paying for fresh air!

[selfemployedlars]

I have complained to the Post Office as I have been refused parcels that were within the 35cm x 8cm x 45cm range for small parcels. The template they use has only 2 dimensions 35cm x 8cm and if it doesn't fit through there they refuse to let it go as small and want to charge £5.20 onwards! I tried 4 local Post Offices with different parcels and I couldn't get through to them that their template wasn't allowing the 45cm length that is permitted! The Post Office have agreed by email that I am correct but still my local branch refuses them as they don't fit through the 35cm slot width, hey no kidding Sherlock?!
I recommend MyHermes (1-2days) and Collect+ for small parcels and ParcelMonkey for large heavy items. I can post a boxed chair for less than £20 via City Link going through Parcel Monkey, just make sure you package correctly!
happy ebaying ladies! ;o)

[carlywurly]

£9.10 to send some trainers last week. 2nd class... I stood there with my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish in horror.

[lurkingfromhome]

So glad I've found this thread. I've just finished a massive decluttering and Ebaying task and am wishing I'd just taken everything to the charity shop instead.

Had no idea the prices had gone up so much and had quoted what I thought was reasonable postage costs. How can it possibly cost £3.60 to send a top by the most basic 2nd class untracked not-signed-for service?

This will have huge implications for Ebaying. Who is going to want to spend twice as much on postage as they did on the actual item? They'll be much better off just going to a shop and buying new.

[carlywurly]

It's going to hurt eBay - I'm just taking larger or heavier clothes items straight to the charity shop unless they're really good brands - not worth the effort otherwise.
Should be good news for charity shops though, on the upside.

[lljkk]

ZOMBIE.... only restarted by someone trying to point out that it is possible to pay something reasonable if you don't mind researching other carriers.

[issey6cats]

i sell pottery and different items on ebay and have found that the post office is charging silly prices so i have started using a company called ipostparcels, if you have a depot nearby you get a £1 discount for dropping off at the depot, and so far have sent around 30 parcels and only one has come back to me and thats because i forgot to put flat number on it, they email to let you know when delivered i find them ace

[homeandgardengifts]

hi all i am new to this forum and i am not sure if this will help you but if you run a small businesses from home this could save you a lot of money. They need to carry your stock to get the discounted rates, a 1kg delivery picked, packed and posted 2nd class is only £3.00 saving at least £2.50 on royal mail counter prices. What's even better is no more trips to the post office :) www.pickitpackitsendit.co.uk/discounted-royal-mail-rates-and-fulfilment

[number1barber]

Well the reality is that the price increase is not bad. I send stuff every now and then and buy stuff online. A one day train ticket is £7 only to zone 6 plus the time it takes to go get something. I buy online as even with postage charged its cheaper. As you can send something from one end of England to the other next day I think £5 is cheap