What do you think about self-printing postal services?

[cyprusstamps]

As a buyer on eBay and a small presence selling it really irks me to always be offered to self print the postage electronically (not that we can as we're not in US or UK so it doesn't work anyway).

What's even more annoying is that when buying stamps on eBay we receive envelopes with said electronic postage applied! How does this help to keep our hobby alive?

We always use "real" stamps on our posted items and if we have to send a large envelope then the recipient will often get a nice surprise as, rather than pay to purchase the Registered Mail price, we put the same cost in real stamps onto the envelope so they get even more stamps! 

Here's an example of an item we sent to Norway earlier this year:


Details of the stamp issues used on the envelope (for those who may be interested) can be seen on my blogspot post about it here. One is Cyprus' 2012 Olympic silver medal winner and of course the small blue one (top left) is the obligatory Cyprus Refugee Fund tax stamp (€0,02c).

So, to eBay sellers - do you stick or print?

[Admin Bear]

for me it depends on the size of the package. if its small enough i will use postage when ever possible (international rates are sky high so at times this gets hard also) but on boxes i almost always use a printed label. no matter how you look at it there is only so much room on a box and again with prices through USPS being so high to ship over seas you have to make the sacrifice.

[MikeC99]

Although I don't mail that many parcels, I strive to use stamps rather than a label. I am always disappointed when I receive a parcel with a label affixed to it. There is one stamp company I periodically deal with that goes the extra mile to ensure I get great quality stamps on its parcels. It cancels the stamps and/or souvenir sheets and then covers the stamps/SS with a plastic overlay. I always look forward to getting parcels from this company.
Mike

[RossTO]

I much prefer to affix postage on an item that is being shipped. I have received items in the mail that were shipped registered mail and still had a stamp on them ($10 blue whale).

As we have stamps that are higher in denomination there is little reason why they (the post) can't use them instead of the printed labels. I have specifically asked for a heavier item to have postage on it, the clerk ignored me and stuck a label on it... wasn't impressed and let him know. Other times I have mailed something and they still printed the label. I was able to catch them before they stuck it on the envelope and told them I said stamps. I usually get a dirty look as they open the drawer to bring out the postage. I swear in some cases they can't add as they have to bring out a calculator to figure out how much postage to put on the envelope .

[FairyFoot]

The trick then is if you are sending packages, is to ask for the stamps to the value of the postage.... or even partially affix some of the postage at home, before going to the post office.
I rarely order direct from RM these days but they don't send items with lovely postage stamps on...