Royal Mail Changes to Second Class Delivery 28th July 2025

[knit-in-styles]

Has there been any information from eBay re RM changes from today in that Second Class deliveries will now be every alternate day and no Saturday deliveries.

I cannot see any announcements and hope they are going to change the Estimated Delivery Dates. 😖

[theplaceforlace]

I just spent 30 minutes speaking to a CS agent who wasn't aware there is a problem with EDDs.  Her main message was that EDD is based on seller performance.  So, even if you have 2 working days dispatch, if you consistently dispatch same or next working day and buyers leave feedback stating on time delivery, this will be reflected in the EDD.  So, one way to get your EDD more accurate is to not mark as dispatched until your shown dispatch date.

The other question I asked was, if I purchase post via eBay will I have more protection against late delivery defects/INR claims and she checked with colleagues and said 'Yes, if you get defects against you for late delivery they will be removed because purchasing the label via ebay proves on time dispatch.

She wasn't sure about INR because 2nd class large letter doesn't have tracking.   Maybe someone on here has an answer to that question?  If I purchase post labels via ebay am I protected against INR claims?  Seeing as I am giving ebay my money and not my local post office, therefore purchasing delivery from ebay?

[typo_lee]

I wanted this answering as well regarding buying 2nd class through ebay. We have just started purchasing all post through ebay which is 2nd class but I think you will still get the INR defects as its not tracked. However when we use Amazon postage Amazon do remove all bad feedback and defects for late post which is good and thats 2nd class.

[technthread]

If you mark dispatched as late as possible, the delivery scan will still surely take precedence when they calculate future EDD’s. I think you just do everything on time, let eBay know you dispatch quickly because they don’t seem to like people finding loopholes to get round their system. If you are considered a slow dispatcher, I wouldn’t expect eBay you place you high on an organic search. 

People do things differently so there is no one size fits all answer to it other than I’d say the acceptance scan on 2nd class at a locker is very useful. You have ticked that box for eBay to automate defect removal. Post office receipts aren’t worth much to eBay, they can’t tick a box with those. 

[darth_baggins]

There was a recent update in Click & Drop that automatically marks your orders on markeplaces as despatched when it gets its first scan by RM.

[typo_lee]

Looks like ebay have extended the EDDs. Just looked at ours and competitors and there is about 5-7 days added on. So looks like they are now aware of the disaster that was about to unfold

[technthread]

That’s where I have had trouble with some tracked parcels. One some of these I used a parcelbox / postbox and dispatched the same day but it took 2 days to get that scan by Royal Mail. As far as eBay are concerned, I dispatched late and I can’t prove otherwise. 

I understand some (edit: most 😆) people are bigger sellers than me who send sacks of 2nd class mail every day and a locker won’t have a big enough capacity so my advice above is no good for them. As much as the EDD’s stress me out too, I have found that my applied defects come from Royal Mail letting me down with their service rather than eBay being unreasonable. 

I spend less time on the forums now but has anyone explained what is going to happen with the premium service badge. Those of us who qualify on 2nd class with same day dispatch are likely to lose it now?

[typo_lee]

Basically you can't win as the postal system, EDDs etc are all against the seller now. Sky rocketing INRs and late delivery defects will be the norm, TRS statuses will be lost and metrics will be sky high. Its lose lose. Lets hope sellers don't get the 'Below standard'!

[technthread]

I have thought that the only sellers who are truly safe from metrics now are private sellers using Simple Delivery who are shielded and the business sellers who use eBay Fulfillment by Orange Connex. 

At least everyone else is in it together. I’m hopeful that eBay don’t want a catastrophe with seller metrics and are figuring things out so this is just another change that will blow over with most unaffected. 

[typo_lee]

We have already been put on 30 day payouts which used to be 24 hour payouts. Presumably something to do with our ever increasing INRs now. 24 years selling on here and its getting to be a disaster and we hope to ditch this platform sooner rather than later as its just too much hassle.

[custom-giftsuk]

So looking at things with my EDD below, if you buy an item now, the EDD is between Monday & Wednesday for RM48. i post next working day, Monday-Friday which means anything bought today gets shipped Monday.  So I cant see how it'll get there for Monday if its dispatched Monday.

However for some reason eBay are marking my items in my seller hub as dispatch by the 5th which is Tuesday.  (see below). So according to me, my postal dispatch day is Monday via RM48, so how can it be delivered on Monday but why are eBay stating I have until the 5th to dispatch the items, which would be Tuesday dispatch for the day before delivery?

[technthread]

I think the dispatch due date is due to the bank holiday?

I have always taken these type of EDD’s to mean eBay are not so subtly nudging the seller to either post on Saturday or use RM24. Rightly or wrongly they are saying, do whatever it takes.. 

[custom-giftsuk]

We dont have a bank holiday here on Monday.

We used to post via RM24 but the price rises in RM costs werent sustainable and as such we tried to increase the price to offset the increase in cost, yet no one was willing to pay for the increase in postage and sales went through floor. Resetting the old prices with RM48 brought back the sales levels. 

[technthread]

Yeah sorry it’s Scotland only isn’t it. I just glanced at the calendar and didn’t read it properly.

[custom-giftsuk]

It is some of Scotland that has it, but not us in Glasgow nor Royal Mail pickup so maybe eBay has listened at last to asking for regional holidays but alas they only got it partially correct.

[technthread]

That’s interesting I didn’t realise local authorities could substitute the date.

[custom-giftsuk]

Might be some kind of date updated based on data from ukgov.uk

UK bank holidays - GOV.UK

[technthread]

eBay would have to consult each council’s official calendar wouldn’t they. Tbh if I was eBay even if I knew that I’d also just apply the bank holiday to the whole of Scotland to make it easier. 

[custom-giftsuk]

I think its a data grab from UKGov because direct regionality would be difficult as even certain regions of local authorities have different holidays based on location as even small towns have local holidays that dont apply to that region.  Might be better using the data from RM but they'd have to literally break it down in to post codes as opposed to doing a search saying "company registered in Scotland uses Scotland holidays from UKGov, company registered in Northern Ireland used Northern Irish holidays etc".

Dont think it'll stop any INR cases though 🙂

[luka0001]

I live in BN25. We get post and letters about twice a week and this has been for maybe 18 months. Monday and Friday, maybe this is one of their test areas.

Parcels arrive randomly from eBay and THAT other site. Usually before estimated delivery date.

I hope eBay can factor this in, but I doubt it.

Xx  

[beatrice834]

Just saw the Ebay announcement about the new alternate day delivery by Royal Mail for second class letters.  Still no date for its start nationwide available.  I gather it has been trialled in some areas of the country.  My local area is still on daily delivery .   My postie says there is a strong feeling among Royal Mail Staff that alternate day delivery will be a nightmare to service and they foresee chaos, with unhappy postmen and customers.