As many of the items I sell are perfect for posting on as gifts, I thought it would be useful to look at Royal Mail on line services.
There are many parcel service operators and I have only used Royal Mail, for me, they seem to be the best value if it is one small parcel. And now they offer a collect service for 72p a parcel (I found it was slightly cheaper for prepaid returns).
Firstly, stating the obvious, if you are doing it all at home you will need to a printer. They have a QR code option to your phone, you will need to take to a delivery office (not a post office) for the label printing.
You will need to weigh the parcels, and also measure the dimensions. Weight is on a scale, see price list, so no need to worry about being that accurate unless you are getting near the the next limit.
I have discovered there are 2 'pages' to purchase the postage on line. My favoured way, which is slightly more time consuming initially, but much quicker after that, has the option of adding addresses to the database, including the return address, so that you need never type them in again.
https://business.parcel.royalmail.com/ you will need to register and you can then make some choices on the print layout of the 'shipping label format'. You won't need the despatch note so in option 3 click not needed. You can see my settings at foot of this post.
Set up your return address and save it.
If you are sending abroad, ensure that you print the customs declaration and put onto the parcel.
When you add the address for the first time check the box, add to address box, and it will be there for next time. I now have family set up and also a few friends.
Once you have purchased your postage print the label. Then using the link below you can arrange collection, you will see the option "arrange a collection".
Alternatively you can also buy postage using this link, and as part of the same transaction you can arrange and pay for collection.
https://send.royalmail.com/ there is no facility for any addresses to be saved. For one off addresses this is easier, and you can arrange the collection as the same transaction.
A few points
- Buying the postage on line you get a small discount, so a small parcel 2nd class is £3 rather than £3.20, if you need to go by car to post your parcel, it maybe just as cheap to get it collected.
- If it is collected, you get proof of posting by email.
- You can drop your parcel at the special large boxes/any post box
- You can take to a post office or delivery office and they will stamp the proof of posting.
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