Items not received over 30 in a month - help

samtoby

Good afternoon,

I have shut early for christmas because I have had so many items go astray. Many were just franked mail and posted the first week in december. A few were tracked and still not showing as signed for yet.

I have had quite a few messages saying things have not been received and now I am thinking surely these people are trying to pull a fast one?

I am a new company and wondering if its better if I just shell out for recorded delivery. All items are large letters so would cost £1.88 on my franking machine.

Or is this just what happens at christmas? I have sent out just over 2k in last month.

theonlywayisup

Have a read of the postage sticky.

There is no such thing as recorded delivery anymore, it is called signed for.

You don't say what percentage your 30 losses are (i.e. in how many parcels) neither do you say if these are actual losses or judged by you by looking at the POD on the RM website for your signed for parcels.

Contains_Mild_Peril

samtoby wrote: »

Or is this just what happens at christmas? I have sent out just over 2k in last month.

Do you mean that's the actual number of packages posted? If so, that would be a loss rate of around 1.5% (minus any that are merely delayed), which seems a lot but I'm not hugely surprised at this time of year. Most of the things I've had go missing, both as a buyer and a seller, have been smallish things (large letter size): bigger parcel losses seem rarer.

19lottie82

30/2000 sent untracked, especially at Xmas is not a high figure IMO (as a business seller myself)

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

19lottie82 wrote: »

30/2000 sent untracked, especially at Xmas is not a high figure IMO (as a business seller myself)

1 in 66 parcels going missing is exceptionally high, even for eBay buyers!

We've had 6 out of 2000 for Dec (so far) plus 2 scammers.

4 out of 3000 for Nov and 6 out of 2000 for Oct.

OP if your loses are high then do everything you can do help stop them. eBay addresses are a mess, check them against the Royal Mail database and remove anything unnecessary (especially those who put 2 street names in) and the county whilst adding the bits the buyer missed.

Make sure those such as 88B Birmingham Street are clear and preferably use labels with nice big text which can't peel off in the post or get wet and smudge. We also seal every jiffy with a strip of tape so no one can peak inside.

When buyers say they haven't received confirm the address and ask them to open a case, how hard to wish to persuade the buyer to change their mind about the parcel not arriving is up to you, we just say we'll contact Royal Mail and replace their order whilst advising to check with others at home and the neighbours if they wish.

We also only replace missing orders, 2 of what we sell would be of no use to most. Replacement goes Signed For and the tracking added to the case once delivered. Only 50% of those who say their order didn't arrive get as far as being replaced.

If you are a new business with a lower feedback score some may be taking advantage thinking you are naive to their game.

samtoby

Thanks. Can I ask why you ask them to open a not received case as well as replacing anyway? Is this because consistent moaners can be checked?

Amazon is more of the 30 than ebay. 8 are eBay. 22 are amazon.

Do high volume sellers use signed for? Or just chance normal post? Or go on values? So if the item is over a certain amount.

theonlywayisup

If your losses are that high - you need to look at your labelling, address verification and packing in general.

samtoby

Franked, printed labels. White envelopes.

RFW

I'd also look into where you're sending them from, maybe split a couple of batches and see if there are higher losses from one sorting area over another.
I get more problems sending from one area than another. That said, I rarely get problems. I've had a busy few months, doing several thousand and the only losses were from fulfilled by Amazon orders, nothing from Royal Mail. We rarely use tracking, parcel values are between £7 and £15.

theonlywayisup

You should still be validating addresses. As said above addresses can be a mess and I'm finding Amazon customers are not being as careful as they once were.

If the losses were all posted at the same time, it could be a bag has been mislaid.

samtoby

Thank you I really do appreciate it. We are having an overhaul over christmas and I am thinking we just carry on as we were (franking and sending first class post) and see what we get in January.

When you say validating addresses do you mean checking them against royal mail?