A local hi-fi shop had a regular contract with Parcel Force to pick up their mail each evening. Once the mail-order side of the business became well established Parcel Force demanded they upgrade all items to Parcel Force 24 or they'd refuse to collect. The shop declined and switched all its mail order business to private courier which they reckoned still worked out cheaper than Parcel Force 24 although not as cheap as regular Parcel Force which was no longer an option.
(kim)
Tell us MBQ, if these price hikes are "justified", why do fewer and fewer of the firms I order from even offer Royal Mail delivery as an option any more?
(kim)
Fair enough - except the Highlands & Islands. Isle of Man and Isle of Wight!
Cheers Richard
We had a contract with Parcel Force, but never used it. The paper work demaded was huge (and pointless), and to produce it on the computer we'd had to have Mscosoft Office at huge expense. ANC gave us their software free, and even came round to install it - free. One form for each parcel was all that was required, and once customer details were in the dbase (that came free), it was simply press the print button and job done.
Royal Mail has spectaularly failed to embrace technology, and fails to understand the web at all!
Cheers Richard
It costs me 3.50GBP extra for signed for service.
Regards
Probably because the volume of sales is going down so the costs have to be spread across fewer sellers.
Chris
On 01/02/2008 13:52, Wolf K. said,
Are you sure that it was Paypal charging this fee, and not the vendor? Paypal make a huge thing out of the fact that it's free for buyers. If every eBay buyer for instance had to pay a setup fee to pay by Paypal, then who would use it?
From a buyer's point of view, Paypal is very good, although not perfect. If a non-eBay supplier offers it, I tend to use it.
Buyers seen t get a s abused as sellers from what I see.
Chris
Its the same for all the universal service companies BT have the same problem. On the news yesterday they noted they had several hundred phones boxes that had not made an outgoing call for over year but are expected to continue to provide the service. Of course it used to be part of the post office years ago :)
Chris
See where you are going but for a lot of people it would be cut as he was talking about abolishing taper relief so cost neutral.
Well, if so, they've changed since I had that experience that turned me off them. In the meantime, all the vendors I deal with take payment via credit card, so it's a moot point.
BTW, with VISA I get the best currency conversion rates when I buy overseas. Almost as good as my bank (which doesn't charge a commission, because I have reached "the golden years".)
"kim" wrote
Of course there are cheaper options, but that's because the alternative servers cherry pick the services they want to provide. If someone two doors from me wants me to deliver 1,000 envelopes every day to my street, I'll do it for 5p per letter, but I certainly am not interested in taking the same envelope to the Isle of Skye for less than £500.
John.
What, even though they allow you to print off your own stamps via the internet?
Fred X
At a price! They expect you to pay for the software, anually, and offer no discount. And it only runs on Windows (you have to install it). Then, for parcels, you still have to queue at the Post Office to have the weight checked. In otherwords, there is no cost benefit offered for doing their work for them. Hardly an outstanding demostration of the use of web based technologies to assist customers!
Cheers Richard
It is at 5,000 items! Plus, and this is the real point, how can a company justify charging extra for making a delivery they should be making anyway?
Cheers Richard
I think that may be the the small debit they make from your registered account when you set it up to check it actually exists. I seem to recall the sum is refunded/deducted from the first bill or similar.
Cheers Richard
beamendsltd said the following on 02/02/2008 09:05:
Ah, yes - there is that, but it's literally only a few pence. I think the money just went into your Paypal balance, so it would be used the first time you paid for something and won't end up costing anything. I also think that might only be required when setting up a seller account, or if you want to confirm or verify your account, so isn't compulsory anyway.
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 19:01:37 +0000, Paul Boyd wrote
AIUI, Paypal charge the buyer for neither purchases nor setup.
If you optionally want to get your account 'verified' - then Paypal make a small (UKP1.00 ?) charge to your credit card in order to verify that it's genuine. This is then discounted from your first Paypal payment.
Verification enables Paypal to confirm to sellers that they have verified your details and will, effectively, warrant your account to the seller.
Some sellers - typically of high value items - will only sell to verified Paypal accounts but the majority of sellers don't require verification.
Either way, there is no charge if you're a buyer.
But there are high charges for the seller. You pay to list you pay a final figure fee then you are hit again when the buyer pays by Paypal. If the buyer pushes the wrong button and pays by cheque it takes ages to clear. It is all weighted towards the buyer. If there were no sellers there would be No eBay.
On 02/02/2008 14:37, Graeme said,
You're confusing eBay with Paypal. The only charge a seller pays to Paypal is a percentage of the total amount. Paypal isn't just used for eBay purchases - more and more companies and individuals accept Paypal.
You mean echeque, I guess, and they are an abomination. You don't even have to press the wrong button - if your card has expired, for instance, the payment will go as an echeque without you being aware of it. Then when you chase the seller, they say "But you paid by echeque - it takes two weeks to clear" and that can be the first you knew of it!
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