So How do I ship using Pitney Bowes for FREE????
Simple....you probably have a Paypal account right? If so you've probably used their shipping when you sell stuff. But what about those outside-of-eBay-or-paypal purchases?? (Like ones on half.com or Amazon.com?).
Its quite simple. Using your Paypal Account all you have to do is log in, and use this link: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now (linky)
If you aren't particularly computer-saavy, you are probably wonder why this allows you to ship stuff without having received a payment. Simple...if you click the "ship" button in your account, you'll notice this exact link, but with a &info=somecrazymessofletters&numbers. That &info is the pre-filled out form information that allows it to fill out the address for you. By removing it, it simply doesn't fill it out and allows you to fill it out manually.
It works perfectly and bills through your paypal account. You can select it to take the payment from your paypal balance, a credit card or a bank account (if you are trustworthy enough to add one).
Pro's & Con's to this "Free" way of shipping
PRO:
1: Now you can ship all of your First-Class and Media-Mail stuff WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY SOME NONSENSE MONTHLY FEE!
2: You don't have to use USPS.com's confusing & chaotic website to ship Priority Mail & Express Mail
3: Easy-to-use Paypal interface doesn't require special software or sticker-labels. Just shove a peice of paper in your printer and it prints fine, no issues!
NEUTRAL (could be a pro or con, depends on you):
1: You HAVE to pay a $.13 delivery confirmation fee for First-class & Media-Mail, its required. In my eyes, this is a benefit since I would purchase it anyways from the post office. You never know what kind of people try to BS you and say they never received the item you shipped them. Thus using delivery confirmation can prevent someone from defrauding you. At the US Post Office it costs 55 cents to buy delivery confirmation for media mail or first-class mail, so 13 cents is a real savings!
CON:
1: You can't ship to Canada, UK, etc, only within the United States
unless you ship WITH UPS SHIPPING This means you'll still have to wait in line at the post office when you have to ship outside of the US.
But wait... It seems your can now ship international!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanx SD!
