Freepost to Europe & PayPal

1st rant - I know I'm in a minority here living in France but when Cooksons offer free postage to UK only couldn't they offer some sort of discount to people outside the UK, just take the cost of the UK postage off our postage ? Just a little discount to show they appreciate us as customers too ?

2nd rant - I'm resurrecting an old posting here but PLEASE Cooksons start taking PayPal payments, I like so many of Cooksons customers get paid for their orders via PayPal it makes so much sense to be able to pay our supplies bills using it too.

That's got that off my chest thank you all ;-)

Karen
La Vidalerie

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1st rant - I know I'm in a minority here living in France but when Cooksons offer free postage to UK only couldn't they offer some sort of discount to people outside the UK, just take the cost of the UK postage off our postage ? Just a little discount to show they appreciate us as customers too ?

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Nice idea but where would it stop? Germany isn't much further than France, Italy isn't far from Germany? etc etc eventually they would have to offer freepost worldwide and overseas postage is wayyy expensive from the UK.

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2nd rant - I'm resurrecting an old posting here but PLEASE Cooksons start taking PayPal payments, I like so many of Cooksons customers get paid for their orders via PayPal it makes so much sense to be able to pay our supplies bills using it too.

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Add in the increased costs and time involved in taking paypal and somebody would end up paying those costs, it would likely mean an increase is actual prices to cover all the fee's Paypal charge (as well as the chargebacks and ancillary costs that come with Paypal use on occasion) It would be a benefit for buyers but I don't see any benefit for wholesalers.

best wishes

Dave

I have to say that in the past I have enjoyed free postage from Cookies UK and I thank them very very much for it whenever it occurs. Maybe you can see if you can order the items you want direct from your Cookies France so you will be paying the local postage charge, in place of international. I appreciate that the choice is not as comprehensive, for me also.

I never bother with freepost. It's sent cheapest way, which means the rubbish home delivery service (in our case, very smelly man in even smellier van) and arrives days late, if at all. Postage costs should have been built into the price of sourcing materials anyway, so I never think it's much of an incentive to regular buyers, more to impulse or occasional purchasers.

Paypal mastercard is the simple way to use paypal funds, both face to face and anywhere online that doesn't accept regular paypal transfers.

Hi Dave

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Originally Posted by Exsecratio

Nice idea but where would it stop? Germany isn't much further than France, Italy isn't far from Germany? etc etc eventually they would have to offer freepost worldwide and overseas postage is wayyy expensive from the UK.

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Sorry I think you misunderstood me, I didn't say I expected free postage but a discount on my postage would be nice when free UK postage is offered ;-) And thanks for updating me about the UK postage system, when I left the UK postage to France, Italy and Germany was the same - they seem to have made everything very complicated.

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Originally Posted by Exsecratio

Add in the increased costs and time involved in taking paypal and somebody would end up paying those costs, it would likely mean an increase is actual prices to cover all the fee's Paypal charge (as well as the chargebacks and ancillary costs that come with Paypal use on occasion) It would be a benefit for buyers but I don't see any benefit for wholesalers.

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Oh well - it was a nice idea.

Hi Les, I wish I could but the last time I bought from Cooksons in France I was told that they didn't have 925 silver as it wasn't the French standard and they could only sell me 950 and the postage charge was almost the same !

I agree with George. I once ordered freepost and my parcel worth in excess of £1,000 was left under the door mat!

Hi Karen,

Our postal service (I'll of course remember there are Ladies present) is something that annoys me no end, I gave up with RM in the end due to the number of lost or damaged packages :( Prices went up again a short while ago....to get 3KG to the USA costs me as much by RM (and takes ages) as a courier will do 40Kg for on 2 day delivery!! If it's glassware (laser lens's are apparently considered glass even though they are metals) the chances of redress seem to be nil with RM.

I buy quite a lot in China, their speedpost can get items to me in a few days at very low prices, to return a defective item often costs more than the original total purchase price so in most cases I just write the item off :(

Worst part about Praypal is chargebacks, 5 months down the road a £5,000 delivery that was signed for can be charged back by the CC company and without any warning or checking PP just freeze the amount or deduct it from the linked account. Due to them being registered outside of the UK they seem to be a law unto themselves and add arbitrary conditions as and when they see fit.
Although this can happen with a merchant account at least you get some kind of redress to appeal the decision.

Up to £500 I don't mind paypal but past that it can turn into a nightmare for wholesale use (especially business to business sales)

best wishes

Dave

Postage is the same anywhere in the EU. But agree the logistics of knocking off money for EU customers is prob too much hassle. When ever I've taken advantage of freepost via a code I always choose SD. When I spent my vouchers the other week during the freepost offer my stuff was sent recorded. I think Yodel have cleaned up there act in my area as it always comes to the door now. My Hermes still leave parcels kicking about the road though. They don't even put it inside the gate.

Firstly it costs about the same to accept paypal and visa/maestro/american express etc payments. Merchant accounts cost.
Secondly, of course companies can offer 'free' shipping. It just get built into the price, along with the cost of putting the items into an envelope. Some online sellers don't charge for shipping anywhere in the world. Even by secure courier.
There is no point sending anything precious metal by recorded Royal Mail as they do not compensate for such items. Therefore no point in getting proof of posting either.

I sell a lot of things online, and if possible, I like to use paypal to pay my wholesalers. Not just because most of my customers pay me that way either.

I had a delivery of 2 dozen smoking dragon incense cone holders a while ago. They were so badly moulded they were not fit for purpose. I contacted the supplier who was incredibly unhelpful. The best they would do was a credit note for half the stock, but I needed to buy replacement stock elsewhere.

As I had paid with paypal, I opened a dispute and got all my money back. So much easier and less time consuming.

As to royal mail vs couriers, a lot of the cheaper couriers are franchises and are only as good as the local company. If you live in an area where they care, they are fine. I have had a couple where they have delivered to the wrong house, the wrong village etc, and will argue that their description of the house they left it at fits yours completely, even when they are as different as windsor castle and 10 downing street.

The good couriers are more expensive, but I suppose you get what you pay for. I have had very little trouble with royal mail, and would rather send with them than Yodel any day of the week.

if you pay for something and it goes missing because it hasn't been properly delivered to your door, do you get your money back? One of my neighbours who never uses her back door only realised that her computer had been sitting by the back gate (so on a public road) for two days because my mum happened to notice it. My Hermes had just dumped it there. Now if someone had decided to nick it, who is liable?

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Originally Posted by pearlescence

Firstly it costs about the same to accept paypal and visa/maestro/american express etc payments. Merchant accounts cost.
Secondly, of course companies can offer 'free' shipping. It just get built into the price, along with the cost of putting the items into an envelope. Some online sellers don't charge for shipping anywhere in the world. Even by secure courier.
There is no point sending anything precious metal by recorded Royal Mail as they do not compensate for such items. Therefore no point in getting proof of posting either.

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you might not get compensation, but you do get tracking, which for a lot of people is enough.

I offer free shipping for orders over £200. It's not worked into the final price, it's just a perk for customers who fork out a lot of cash in one go.

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Originally Posted by medusa

if you pay for something and it goes missing because it hasn't been properly delivered to your door, do you get your money back? One of my neighbours who never uses her back door only realised that her computer had been sitting by the back gate (so on a public road) for two days because my mum happened to notice it. My Hermes had just dumped it there. Now if someone had decided to nick it, who is liable?

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They are. They hadn't delivered it. This is why so many of the couriers want you to sign away your rights if you ask them to leave it with a neighbour or in a safe place.

In another vein, has anyone ever tried to refuse a delivery from a courier? I have had a couple of occasions where what is clearly a mobile phone has been offered for delivery - but since it isn't mine, nor is it addressed to me (correct address, wrong name), I won't accept it. There's no option for that, it seems.

I recently refused a delivery of some padded envelopes, where the box had clearly been chucked around and then dumped under something very heavy, so was almost shredded. The driver scratched his head a lot and looked utterly bewildered, but eventually threw it back into the van. When I contacted the seller, they had no idea at all, but eventually accepted that since there was no signature, there had been no delivery.

I've recently refused a delivery from Amazon of a printer as the box looked like it had been chewed on all the corners and the cardboard seemed damp. I took a photo of the box with my phone, told the courier I would not accept it and got straight onto Amazon to set out the position. Bless them, a new printer was dispatched immediately and delivered the next day ;)

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Originally Posted by ps_bond

They are. They hadn't delivered it. This is why so many of the couriers want you to sign away your rights if you ask them to leave it with a neighbour or in a safe place.

In another vein, has anyone ever tried to refuse a delivery from a courier? I have had a couple of occasions where what is clearly a mobile phone has been offered for delivery - but since it isn't mine, nor is it addressed to me (correct address, wrong name), I won't accept it. There's no option for that, it seems.

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when you say 'they are' do you mean the courier company?

Yup. No signature, no acceptance of goods, no proof of them being delivered.

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Originally Posted by ps_bond

Yup. No signature, no acceptance of goods, no proof of them being delivered.

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But the customer doesn't have to battle with the courier company, the supplier does, yes?

I both buy and sell a lot mail order and when stuff I have sold on ebay (never happened that stuff I make has gone awol, thank god) has gone missing I refund the seller and chase it of with RM if it shows non-delivery (I always send tracked).

Now if I sent out something really expensive, like bullion worth a small fortune, via a company that just dumped it in the street, I'd want to know it's been delivered. But for sure My Hermes do not get signatures (though stuff from Yodel does). So how good are these companies at compensating for loss? and if enough customers are making claims against these companies, would that stop suppliers from using them?

They all hate it when you won't accept stuff. It means more paperwork for them. I have as much trouble from Mu Hermes as I do from Yodel. One of the problems with Royal Mail signed for is a lot of time they don't bother with the signatures if it will go through the letterbox.

If i was dishonest, I reckon I could have claimed that several thousand pounds of stuff never arrived, purely because postie just shoved it through my door.

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Originally Posted by medusa

But the customer doesn't have to battle with the courier company, the supplier does, yes?

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That's the theory... As a purchaser, your contract is with the supplier. How the supplier gets stuff to you is up to them; if their winged monkeys eat it en route, it isn't up to you to have to remonstrate with them. Also, the winged monkeys tend to take the attitude that you aren't their customer, the sender is.