One effective way to change ALL the postage when the Royal Mail have their annual ris

[Annes_Nostalgia]

This task is a pain !!!!

Here's what I do, posted in the hope it will help someone.

I include the packaging cost in the price of my item - all are BIN
Then I put in the appropriate RM cost exactly, e.g. £4.41.

When April 6th comes round I download all my listings [call it spreadsheet A], and make a second copy of the spreadsheet [call it B].

Then on 'B' I do a 'Find & Save' on the postage columns updating to the new cost.

On the original spreadsheet, 'A', I change the number of items in each listing to 0 and upload the file [effectively deleting all the listings.]

Then upload the new spreadsheet 'B' and the listings are done and dusted.

Sounds complicated but works a treat!

[astral276]

I don't see why we can't have a postage calculator like our American cousins have.

The RM system is far less complicated than theirs also.

That way, if you set postage for an item at the 150g, Large Letter, UK, Second Class rate then the correct price would be shown regardless of changes to RM rates - as long as eBid kept the rate table up to date. The same for any rate initially set.

[raindropsies]

I don't see why we can't have a postage calculator like our American cousins have.

The RM system is far less complicated than theirs also.

That way, if you set postage for an item at the 150g, Large Letter, UK, Second Class rate then the correct price would be shown regardless of changes to RM rates - as long as eBid kept the rate table up to date. The same for any rate initially set.

But what about packaging cost how is that added to the postage?

[meebo1]

You could make allowance for that in the asking price

[gazza]

As soon as RM produce an API for us to speak to we'll be able to add one. Unfortunately that are a little late in delivering it!

[astral276]

Well it is really only a lookup table that changes about once a year. I don't see the need to interface with the RM site. Calculations could be carried out locally. It would just mean updating the lookup table when prices change (i.e. rise).

The Seejays site (http://www.seajays.org.uk/postage/) would appear to use that method. The only thing is they look up only on weight. If you added the extra filters to also lookup on destination (UK, EU, RoW), package size, and service then you would arrive at the actual cost to ship that item.

[astral276]

But what about packaging cost how is that added to the postage?

By the entry of a separate price for packaging which is added to the calculated price for shipping.

Shipping prices steadily rise but packaging costs remain constant enough not to bother about. So while you need to calculate shipping the stated packaging price can be left as originally entered when the listing was created.