take care with ebay advice about alternative couriers during RM strike

soolin

I noticed that where an RM strike is imminent the ebay postage page states helpfully that sellers should consider an alternative courier to avoid issues around delays with RM. I would treat this suggestion with extreme caution. Tempting as it might be to take ebay advice and get your parcels out via courier instead it appears that ebay will not protect sellers against poor feedback and low stars if buyer complains that they didn't get the service they expected. I have seen several mentions now of sellers getting poor stars and/or feedback especially where one of the less popular couriers have been used- and whilst some sellers have said that ebay did remove feedback, most are saying that ebay just say that it is a valid feedback based on the buyers point of view of the transaction.

I have not taken their advice luckily and stick to the service I quoted in my listing, but I have quite a lot of flexibility around posting days- I can imagine for some sellers the strike impacts them a lot more.

KxMx

I had my DSR'S hit recently, down to 4.9 on delivery time.
I did ask eBay about the seller protections offered during strike action and was told they weren't focused on DSR's but negative/neutral feedback and late delivery defects. 
They have passed on my issue as feedback but doubt it will get any results. 

I have 5 working day despatch on my listings plus other courier 3 to 5 days, and send no later than next working day so nothing more I can do. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:

I noticed that where an RM strike is imminent the ebay postage page states helpfully that sellers should consider an alternative courier to avoid issues around delays with RM.  

It's silly advice really, the seller should update their listing if they are going to use a different courier.

I get pretty cheesed off when I pick a seller specifically because the listing says Royal Mail but then it turns up a week and half later at 9pm at night with Evri. 

vacheron

I've found recently that every time RM go on strike the other (budget) couriers are equally bad because they struggle to deal with all the extra load that comes thier way and don't seem to have much overhead capacity. 

GadgetGuru

Ive been trying to use Special Delivery a bit more recently - although the guaranteed next day is no longer claimable, I read that RM are prioritising SD items, and they do still seem to progress through the system, albeit slower then usual of course.....next week's 3 days in a row strike is going to be a killer though.......

Ive also been contacting buyers informing them the item has been dispatched (as my local Post Office is still open but just do not have collections on strike days), but there may be a delay due to RM strike action - I just want to set the expectation beforehand to avoid any unaware/unhappy buyers!

vacheron

IftiBashir said:

Ive been trying to use Special Delivery a bit more recently - although the guaranteed next day is no longer claimable, I read that RM are prioritising SD items, and they do still seem to progress through the system, albeit slower then usual of course.....next week's 3 days in a row strike is going to be a killer though.......

Ive also been contacting buyers informing them the item has been dispatched (as my local Post Office is still open but just do not have collections on strike days), but there may be a delay due to RM strike action - I just want to set the expectation beforehand to avoid any unaware/unhappy buyers!

Actually they've only suspend the ability to claim for certain dates, I know this as I just made a claim on the last 5 minutes! 

They currently state: 

We will continue to accept, prioritise and deliver as many Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am or 1pm items as resources allow during industrial action. We cannot however guarantee delivery next day for items sent during periods of industrial action.

We are therefore suspending the delivery guarantee for items posted on Wednesday 12 October, Thursday 13 October and Friday 14 October and items posted from Wednesday 19 October up to and including Wednesday 26 October.
Customers will not be able to claim for late delivery or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted on these dates and which are not delivered on time.

My parcel was posted on the 15th of October.... and arrived on the 20th!

What is currently working great for me though is I generally use SD for the insurance, not the speed... but then I noticed that whenever I use a certain Post Office the delivery always arrives... but almost always arrives late. 

So what I now do is specifically use this post office for using Special Delivery for the insurance cover. Then, when it arrives late (as it almost invariably does) I claim the entire postage cost back from RM! 

I've done this 5 times in the last 6 months and saved myself over £77... one time it actually arrived on time and I was really disappointed