The time involved using Australia Post eparcel contract for international destinations.

[padraicpaul91]

International purchases make up about half of my ebay turnover, and so I have been on an international contract for some years.

The discount given varies according to destination, but in general I can offer the published retail postal rate to customers, and still cover packaging costs, ebay and paypal fees on the postage.

As of this month I am required to use eparcel if I am to send parcels internationally at contract rates.Instead of writing the forms and lodging this at the post office,the information is now uploaded directly to AustPost, printed and enclosed in those sticky clear envelopes.

The issue I have is the amount of time this takes.Where  the old manual forms took seconds to write, entering the info now takes much,much longer. Even allowing for the time saved lodging at the post office, the total time remains considerably longer. I know I will be quicker over time but all the same....

Has anyone found any short cuts to the process?

If not, I may introduce a small P&H charge to compensate a little.

[curraone]

i'm sorry I can't help - don't have an eparcel contract

I do the occasional aust post international label and think it's a blessing - mainly because I can do them when I want, like 2 am in the morning

But the reason I am replying is I am interested in whether you have any trouble getting the sticky envelopes?   Aust Post are supposed to supply them for free but my PO has not had any for over a year.

[eol-products]

If your discount is not better than 15% have you considered mypost bussiness which I find does not require a lot of time.

[padraicpaul91]

Thanks.

It is better than 15%, probably averageing about 20%. eg UK is about $22 up to 500gr.

If I cannot get the time down, I will investigate the benefit of 'my business'.

However, I primarily send tubes containing prints, not satchels, which I thought was what my 'business' was about.

I used to consider the discount as being for volume.

Now I am viewing it as part compensation for doing work once done by PO employees.

[padraicpaul91]

Re Sticky envelopes

I did have to try a couple of PO's as mine didn't have them either.

They can be ordered through your PO and are almost certainly available at your nearest postal hub or business office.

I have ordered through my account manager.

[curraone]

It is $21.20 for me  to send 500g to the UK so where's the discount for you?

[eol-products]

If it includes tracking $22 is good for UK as I think it is $24 with maximum discount with mypost. 

[purplemon18]

I don't use eparcel either, but I have a guess about speeding it up. Auspost use an ebay api in mypost business to import order information automatically, this can save a lot of time, especially when processing multiple orders at once.

Once they are imported, it's merely a matter of checking the data to make sure there are no mistakes, and printing the labels.

If the above is just technobabble to you, then the simple answer is to see if there is an option in the settings to add your ebay username and password. If there is, then after entering that info, look for a button in the orders section to import.

[padraicpaul91]

That $22 includes tracking.

Yours?

[curraone]

---

@padraicpaul91 wrote:

That $22 includes tracking.

Yours?

---

No, no tracking.