Royal Mail second class problems

charlies_mum

In the past week I have had four late delivery defects. All were posted by Royal Mail second class within 24 hours of payment. As most of my feedback says "fast delivery" I assumed it was buyer error when answering the dreaded "was it delivered on time" question

However, I have just had another feedback left with the comment "as described, arrived in 8 days".

Why are EBay forecasting delivery in 2-3 days when Royal Mail are failing miserably ?

soolin

charlies_mum wrote: »

In the past week I have had four late delivery defects. All were posted by Royal Mail second class within 24 hours of payment. As most of my feedback says "fast delivery" I assumed it was buyer error when answering the dreaded "was it delivered on time" question

However, I have just had another feedback left with the comment "as described, arrived in 8 days".

Why are EBay forecasting delivery in 2-3 days when Royal Mail are failing miserably ?

From memory you have a business account don't you? On the off chance you don't and are using eBay or PayPal labels it is worth looking at click and drop instead. After my Christmas fiasco I saw someone on the community boards who suggested switching to click and drop as the labels printed out very dark and crisp. The eBay ones are pale and sometimes barely legible and it was suggested they don't always scan properly so might get delayed.

Touch wood since switching I have not had another late defect and am down to 0.6% now. However, I've extremely poor sales at the moment so I am not really comparing like with like.

charlies_mum

Yes, I do have a business account, and most of my feedback mentions fast delivery

I have just had a message from another buyer asking where their item is. It was posted second class on 14th March and apparently hasn't arrived yet. It was a present for someone on Saturday so there is nothing I can do and will no doubt receive another orange dot to add to my 2.6% defects

All I can do is post first class, but with most items selling for £2 with free postage, there isn't going to be much profit left

ballisticbrian

Thing is, only a large proportion of mail gets there in 2-3 days, other items can bounce back and forth in the mail or go round in circles.
The strangest messages I get from buyers is, "where is my item, other items I ordered at the same time are already here!" and while this seems perfectly logical to the buyer, none of the items they ordered took the same route or missed the same connections or went back and forth for no particular reason.

charlies_mum

Case opened this morning by someone in the USA. Their item was posted 8th March and hasn't arrived yet. Nearly said stop moaning, UK mail is taking almost as long.

ballisticbrian

Have you ever looked at the service updates page: http://www.royalmail.com/service-update/international
There's also one for the UK, but it's mostly about the bank holidays at the moment. The occasionally tell you about a back log or problem, etc.

soolin

charlies_mum wrote: »

Case opened this morning by someone in the USA. Their item was posted 8th March and hasn't arrived yet. Nearly said stop moaning, UK mail is taking almost as long.

You seem to be getting quite a lot, obviously it depends on percentages more than one a week would be a lot for me but if you send hundreds yours might be average. However, if it is a lot is it worth calling your business manager and asking if there is a problem? As ballisticbrian says occasionally there are pockets of problems and they might be aware of something.

I've got one at the moment, a Spanish one from January who only contacts me once a week (a newish user) and will hit 60 days next week since posting. I want him to open a case as the very little feedback he has suggests he might have address issues - but once a week he sends me the same message telling me item hasn't arrived and ebay won't allow him to open a case. Once a week I respond with suggestions on how to open a case and also suggesting he calls ebay to talk him through it - which he evidently is not doing.

charlies_mum

I'm sending about 100 items a week, but am currently seeing more problems than I have ever done. Will be calling a royal Mail next week to see what's going on

jwil

With the ebay labels - there is colour in them for some reason. If you set them to print as black and white they come out perfectly dark.

ravenjet

I have had no end of problems with large letter envelopes recently. One has been returned to me 5 weeks after posting with sticker saying postage underpaid. The item was <100g, weighed at PO, stamped blue large letter stamp and proof of postage given. Contents is less than 5mm depth and cannot move to expand, nobody can give me a sensible answer as to what happened. I have also had 4 other LL go missing, not all posted at same PO

in_the_Cotswolds

If it's any help Royal Mail will be scanning every parcel with either a 2D barcode or a 3D smart code. This will even in time eliminate the red Recorded Delivery and the Blue Special Delivery stickers.