Royal Mail are taking my profits - advice please

Kestrel

Wow, thanks for some great responses and the support! I've been away on holiday and just caught up with my thread.

Yes I am a small business seller (about 200 items a month) and up until now I have only had about half a dozen parcels go missing in the past 5 years. As a small seller I cannot afford frequent losses. I started my business to support myself and my family and as a single mum I'm proud of what I have achieved - I only started as a hobby seller.

I have now unfortunately got a third missing parcel to deal with and I'm seriously considering referring the matter to the police as I find it had to believe that 3 parcels in the space of a month can simply get "lost"

I now have two more quieries regarding these claims if anyone has any knowledge from experience that may help me:

1) what do I do about sending RM the original proof of value that they require - my accountant needs the originals for my bookeeping/accounts. I have sent a copy of the original to RM for the first parcel so I guess I will find out and will hold fire on the other claims until I know their response to the copy.
2) what documentation do I provide to RM if I am unable to provide a receipt (this 3rd missing parcel was purchased well over 12 months ago and my accountant will have the receipt along with hundreds of other pieces of paper/receipts that I have passed onto him and it would be a HUGE job to sift through it all not to mention time consuming)

Kestrel

Update: 4th parcel now missing :mad:

custardy

Kestrel wrote: »

Update: 4th parcel now missing :mad:

well somethings not right,i have had a fair amount delivered to me via RM over the last 2 weeks (sick time is costing me a fortune in boredom)
all delivered promptly
just yesterday i had a 1st class item delivered that i paid for at 5.30pm the night before (Wembley to Edinburgh)
how are you packaging your items? are you getting them weighed at the PO?
is it all different areas?

cyberbob

Kestrel wrote: »

Update: 4th parcel now missing :mad:

Report it to the Royal mail. They have an investigations dept or something (custardy can probably tell you) That is a really high rate of loss.

I assume (not to be patronising) that all address labels are secure etc

Kestrel

All my parcels are securely packaged, I'm a business seller and I spend good money on quality packaging materials. I've been packaging items for 5 years so I have plenty of experience.

All parcels have computer printed address labels which are securely attached and covered with clear tape to prevent any rain damage.

I always have a senders address label (printed, not hand written) on the back of all parcels.

I take all my items to my local post office and they are weighed and postage paid for there.

Its all different areas. 3 parcels are missing which I have sent and 1 parcel is missing which is a customer return coming back to me.

I have spoken to my local delivery office this morning, they are ever so nice there. They said that all items that leave my area and come into my area will be dealt with by Preston so I think that may be where the problem is?

I just cannot afford this amount of parcels to get "lost"

alfiesmum

I agree, that's too many in a short space of time. For the odd parcel that does go missing, I would plan for it in your business model. Once a buyer has received an item and they're happy with it, then the profit is mine, not before! It sounds simple, but it saves me getting my knickers in a twist as they say!

Hope starting an investigation of some kind gets it sorted out for you, best of luck.

Kestrel

Yes, as I say up until now I've had about half a dozen missing parcels over the past 5 years.

I never take my profit for granted and as alfiesmum says I don't count the profit until I know a buyer is 100% happy. I happily accept returns on any item for any reason without any quibbling as my customers are very important to me (I accept returns up to 30 days from receipt of delivery on some items) and obviously I always give full refunds - but I can always resell those items, it's when my profit is "lost" by Royal Mail that I'm unhappy - I have no profit and no item to resell

twotimes

4 out of 200 lost. Personally I think that's incredibly low. I reckon about 1 in 15 of all the parcels I send are lost/stolen or falsely claimed by buyers as undelivered. And before anyone says it, yes they are all packaged and addressed perfectly and sent at the Post Office (different ones as well).

magpiecottage

Look at this another wa
y.
Legally, if I win something on e-bay and pay for it then it is mine. You, as the seller, then act as my agent to package the item and put it into the post. You get proof of posting, scan it in and e-mail it to me.

It never arrives but no I, as the buyer, can put in a claim. The value to me is not simply what you paid for it but what it cost me to buy it and get it sent to me. It is difficult for Royal Mail to argue with that unless they can source an identical item and get it to me for less. If they can then fine, I'll let them do it.

I have done this when a fragile item that was very well packaged arrived broken, rather than a lost one.

It does rely on the buyer co-operating but it is worth asking them if they would do it.

alfiesmum

But it's the person who paid Royal Mail for the service who is responsible for claiming. And it's the seller who pays at the counter. Well done you for getting around it though, but Idon't think it would happen too many times unfortunately.