First-class stamp price to rise to £1.65 from October…!!!
a large letter will rise from £2.10 to £2.50
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That’s a huge rise………
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They say it’s because there are so many less letters sent these days, but that’s hardly surprising, is it! We used to send about 50 Christmas cards. At that price, this year we’ll be sending precisely none. And how can I justify the expense of 1st class signed for on something I sell for a fraction of its worth anyway? One way and another I feel very despondent about internet selling. 
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Good grief it makes buying online even more expensive, not good especially before the Christmas period it’s a right kick in the gutts.
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I send mostly 2nd class LL these day. Unless it’s requested I don’t sent first class. And I believe 2nd class hasn’t gone up, yet.
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sadly I do too Joss @XStitcherJoss …I know in total I have a lot of sales, but the profit on a card for £1.25 is minimal…hence I am now also doing to some crochet in the hope of a larger income
. My gas is going up £50…electric £80, stamps crippling my folksy small business and no fuel allowance this year. I also stopped sending Christmas cards last year because of the cost of stamps…they have shot themselves in the foot…crazy way to run a business.x
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Gosh again, they seem to go up every few months nowadays, I send 2nd class as well and this year will rethink Christmas cards, last year I spent more on postage than on the cards to send them to relatives and old friends also sent a few to special friends and made the mistake of buying cards that were larger so they cost a fortune to post and as I was last minute (as usual ) I had to send them 1st class.
It’ must be getting very hard for sellers such as yourself @teabreaks who make cards online
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It’s becoming impossible. I have tried really hard not to keep increasing my shop prices and now usually lose out on postage and provide free packaging!! I will definitely have to change to second class stamps in October and have a big rethink.
If as you say Jocelyn, the increases are because fewer letters are being sent, it seems absolutely crazy!!
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Unfortunately, for me hand knitted garments are two large for the ‘large letter postage size gauge’, even a pair of booties lying flat side by side with a turn down welt will not always go through. A pair of earrings with over a 8mm round bead plus it’s bubble wrapped packaging will not go through the gauge either. Knitwear and gemstone Jewellery can also weigh a lot more than the standard weight allowance so I nearly always pay more for the postage than I have actually charged the customer!
I always send everything out by 2nd Class Signed For, no matter what the cost because the customer can’t claim they didn’t receive the goods. Proof of postage does not prove the customer actually received it. Under u.k law the seller either has to refund the customer or send out another one. As a lot of my work is a one off I can’t guarantee being able to replace an item if it’s claimed to be ‘lost’ in the post. It’s a true fact not everyone is honest. I know someone who did most of her Christmas shopping on Folksy and the dark side for free by telling the sellers she didn’t receive the goods. She always chose sellers using standard Royal Mail postage!!! As it currently stands I don’t charge for the packaging cost.
Don’t forget Folksy also charge sellers commission on their postage and packaging charges!
Sales have slowed down considerably since spring for me and a lot of other regular sellers have reported the same. It’s sole destroying trying to remain focused and positive to keep going without the constant postage price increases adding to our wows. Neither can I afford to offer free postage and packaging because quality material have risen so much since covid. Genuine semi precious gemstones and sterling silver in particular have sky rocketed. These are all things the majority of the general public just don’t understand when they see the cost of postage. However, most of the time they can’t actually purchase the item in first place because it’s unique and hand made and not available on Amazon!
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Do they? When did that happen?
Are you sure, if so when did that come into affect
No Folksy only charge commission on the item price. Which is a reason not to offer ‘free postage’ by including it in the item price.
You do of course pay commission to Paypal or Stripe on the full payment including postage.
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Are you sure Helen!
I am sure another regular long standing seller has said the same. If not, that’s some good news. I know Stripe and PayPal charge commission on postage charges.
So now the Royal Mail price increases are not once a year, but twice a year??
Looks like they can increase it as often as they like. It’s crippling small businesses who sell low value items such as beautiful hand made cards etc.
The world’s going completely mad always round, whichever way you look at it!
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Absolutely:
https://folksy.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/58077-how-much-does-it-cost-to-sell-on-folksy-
See section 2: Commission
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Here’s the chart for the post office prices from 7th Oct
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2024-09/our-prices-october-2024-v1-ta.pdf
And here’s the chart for the online (click and drop) prices - these are cheaper (I know it’s not an option for everybody)
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2024-09/online-price-guide-october-2024-v1-ta.pdf
The tracked 24 and tracked 48 services (which should be available from the post office) are cheaper than first class signed for / second class signed for and come with full tracking and delivery confirmation/gps coordinates.
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I was on Instagram last night and saw a shop that had decided to close down due to the stamp prices going up again.
This year has been so hard for small businesses (It’s been my biggest struggle since 2010!) the stamp price increase is obviously the breaking point for some. So sad 
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I’ve been an avid supporter of my local post offices since I started, but sadly this year I’ve succumbed to buying my postage online. I have some items that are physically small enough to be LL but I still want tracking, and the bigger items are not covered by the lower £20 compensation on Signed For, so I’ve changed over to Tracked 24 across my shop. It’s still a lot of money per parcel however you charge it, and I’ve seen my Craft Fair sales of larger items rocket where previously people didn’t want to bother carrying stuff.
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I think it’s sad that there will be a difference of 50p between buying small parcel postage on line or at the Post Office. I’d love to support our PO more but it’s getting harder to do so. They must be feeling it too.
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