Royal Mail.......lost items!!!!!

[dancestationdirect]

Hi, has anyone noticed an increase in UK Royal Mail packages going "missing" recently. In the last 2 days I have had 3 different buyers claiming item has not arrived. One looks genuine as it is Recorded Delivery which has not arrived. The other 2 are fairly low value First Class items and of course I have no way of knowing if  this is genuine or not.

Prior to this (I have "lost" a few international parcels) but only 1 UK parcel last year went astray and never turned up.

Anyone else having problems with this?

[bravergrace]

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@wyntersemporium wrote:
It seems I have ten parcels gone missing. And I use the royal mail online stamp facility which prints the address as well. Most of mine have headed to the good ol USA and gone missing, or so they say. One lot to necklaces to Spain - estimated delivery says 23rd on eBay. One girl from Germany said she wanted a replacement sending out, which I did and three days later said it surprise surprise turned up.
Flipping sick of lparcels going missing. Always the same every year though, either they've gone astray or stuck in the post, oh and the Spanish guy actually emailed me, not via eBay but my actual email. And said if it arrives he's going to reject it and is now demanding his money back, sent a reply back to say its possibly stuck in their Spanish system.

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There's been a considerable delay to some parcels to the USA recently - probably a Customs backlog.

Allow 6-7 weeks, and they should all turn up.

[bravergrace]

Oh, and there are also internal delivery problems within the USA.

There's an announcement about it on eBay.com - the "protection" only seems to apply to American sellers, but the delivery delays will obviously affect all sellers sending items to the USA.

Attention sellers: eBay is protecting you from major carrier holiday shipping delays

Posted: 27 Dec 2013 07:47 PM PST

Due to carrier delays, a small number of buyers who placed orders for delivery by holiday deadlines did not receive their packages on time.

We are working to determine which sellers have been affected by these recent carrier delays. For those sellers we identify as being impacted, your seller standard will be protected from cases for items not received and low Detailed Seller Ratings for Ship Time. In addition, both negative and neutral feedback where the comment is only related to shipping for impacted transactions may be removed upon seller request. Information on feedback removal can be found here.

As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

Related posts:

1. Sellers: How eBay is protecting you after the northeastern blizzard

[non_stop_daddy]

As far as INR's and possible INR Scams go, what would be interesting would be to have some way of knowing how many sellers have actually had "undelivered" items returned to them as that way we would know how much is down to RM and how much is down to buyers.

Personally speaking, over the last 3-4 years I have no accurate idea as to how many INR's I have had, but I do know that I have only ever had one item returned to me by the RM.  

[gjalp]

I have incoming international that are taking longer than usual. 2 from the US and 1 from Sweden. So holiday delays are working both ways.

[bravergrace]

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@cindyscosmeticsplus wrote:

As far as INR's and possible INR Scams go, what would be interesting would be to have some way of knowing how many sellers have actually had "undelivered" items returned to them as that way we would know how much is down to RM and how much is down to buyers.

Personally speaking, over the last 3-4 years I have no accurate idea as to how many INR's I have had, but I do know that I have only ever had one item returned to me by the RM.  

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I have about two dozen undelivered items returned to me every year - so about two items a month, on average.

About half of them are expected (where the buyer forgot to update their address, or was called away from home unexpectedly and couldn't collect the parcel).  

But the peculiar thing is that about half my returns are unexpected - ones that have not been reported as INR.

These are ones where Royal Mail (or one of the overseas postal services) has failed to leave a card, or failed to find the address, or I've copied the address down wrong, something like that - and the buyer either hasn't noticed the item was late, or hasn't bothered to contact me about it.  I ask the buyer for instructions in these cases, but very often never hear back  from them, so I just refund.  Perhaps they've lost their passwords, or their internet access, or perhaps they've dropped dead.  I have no idea.  But in my case, these unexpected returns, outnumber my "never turned up" INRs.

[towelposter]

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@bravergrace wrote:

I have about two dozen undelivered items returned to me every year - so about two items a month, on average.

About half of them are expected (where the buyer forgot to update their address, or was called away from home unexpectedly and couldn't collect the parcel).  

But the peculiar thing is that about half my returns are unexpected - ones that have not been reported as INR.

These are ones where Royal Mail (or one of the overseas postal services) has failed to leave a card, or failed to find the address, or I've copied the address down wrong, something like that - and the buyer either hasn't noticed the item was late, or hasn't bothered to contact me about it.  I ask the buyer for instructions in these cases, but very often never hear back  from them, so I just refund.  Perhaps they've lost their passwords, or their internet access, or perhaps they've dropped dead.  I have no idea.  But in my case, these unexpected returns, outnumber my "never turned up" INRs.

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I thought it was just me that had these unexpected returns.  2 out of my 4 UK INR's this year have been returned, but neither of the 2 Belgium ones.  I even had a return where the buyer paid extra for next day delivery and wasn't in when PF tried to deliver and never collected afterwards, even though I rang them up to check that they had been carded - go figure :(.

[hazegiftproducts]

Over a few months we have had a few returned to us. One item we replaced was then returned to us " item not called for". Buyer insists no card left. We had asked her to check sorting office - she obviously didn't.

Over Christmas we had 2. In both cases we asked them to check sorting office. One has come back and let us know she has received it, ( after Xmas), the other we have not heard from again even though I have written to ask whether she has received it????

Sometimes buyers are the ones who lack communication skills even if RM let you down on occassions.

[bravergrace]

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@weston-pets wrote:

 One item we replaced was then returned to us " item not called for". Buyer insists no card left. We had asked her to check sorting office - she obviously didn't.

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If she rang the sorting office, she was probably given the company line - "If you didn't get a card, we haven't got the parcel".  You could ring the sorting office yourself - you're probably a bit more assertive than the average buyer.

Or arrange a redelivery on the buyer's behalf.  You can do this online.  It usually works, and saves them having to return the item to sender.

[hazegiftproducts]

Once New Year is over, what it is worth, I intend contact RM with my concerns. Now I realise my few cases are unlikely to make a difference but if we all do it or it is in certain areas, then they might take note.

[goldengirl152013]

I agree from the last 11 items I have posted only 4 actually arrived, seems worse since my local post office insist that I write on the outside of the parcel what is inside - I have lost a lot of money in the last month and now have to wait and see if the RM will pay out - last time they sent me 6 stamps and I had to refund £19.48 - it seems so unfair

[towelposter]

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@goldengirl152013 wrote:

I agree from the last 11 items I have posted only 4 actually arrived, seems worse since my local post office insist that I write on the outside of the parcel what is inside - I have lost a lot of money in the last month and now have to wait and see if the RM will pay out - last time they sent me 6 stamps and I had to refund £19.48 - it seems so unfair

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What reason have they given you for that?  There is no requirement at all to write what is in the parcel on the outside of it.

[angeleyesmodel]

ive have half a dozen packages not arrive now... and its really worrying thay i cannot rely on my post arriving anymore  

[fasteddiesb3]

As a buyer who has recently had three packages go missing, I can assue you it happens. I ordered two before xmas and one on 2nd Jan and none have arrived. I wish I knew what to do about it as I have been buying things off ebay for donkey's years but I'm now loath to order anything else.

[towelposter]

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@fasteddiesb3 wrote:

As a buyer who has recently had three packages go missing, I can assue you it happens. I ordered two before xmas and one on 2nd Jan and none have arrived. I wish I knew what to do about it as I have been buying things off ebay for donkey's years but I'm now loath to order anything else.

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Were these auction items won at a very low price?

Have you contacted your Delivery Office or postie to see if RM have attempted delivery but you were out?

[powerp0192]

It doe's seem everyone has vastly different experiences with missing items through e.bay.  I may be one of the lucky one's, in 5 years on here I have only ever had 3 sold items go missing, and none whatsoever as a Buyer.  However if you are selling expensive items there is undoubtedly a very real prospect of being ripped off.  There doe's not appear to me to be any attempt by either E.Bay or the Post Office to eliminate theft.  I am staggered by the number of people reporting that even recorded delivery doe's not guarantee the security of delivery.  It seems to me the only way to send expensive items is via one of the big couriers such as TNT.

[towelposter]

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@powerp0192 wrote:

 It seems to me the only way to send expensive items is via one of the big couriers such as TNT.

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Except TNT won't cover your item for damage these days.

[triasic]

In the past ten years, only two items that I sent did not arrive, but one of them came back to me!

Standing in the queue at the Post Office, I often see persons with a large number of packets that are presumably Ebay sales.    I notice that in most cases, the names and addresses are scrawled on them in thick black marker pen and not really very legible.    

When sending things through the post in the UK, write the name and address in large, clear writing, or even better, print the name and address labels.

Put a return name and address on the back!

Your lost packages will then dramatically reduce!!!!

[triasic]

Not many of them do.     I wonder why the law does not extend to couriers to make them take responsibility for items in their care?

I am equally amazed at how most sellers seem to be on the side of couriers who will not pay compensation for lost and damaged items and just accept it!        The Distance Selling rules do not mind making the seller fully accountable, but they are only individuals, large delivery firms can do as they like.

I once asked Trading Standards about this and was told that if they put it in their Terms & Conditions that they were not responsible, that was fine, as they made it clear.

When I asked if I could do the same, I was told, "no you can't - you are responsible!!

On asking why the rule applied to sellers, but not the couriers who were entrusted  (and paid) to deliver the items, I was just met by silence!!!

[majnan75]

Brilliant idea to apologise on feedback
I am going to do that in future thanks such a simple idea and effective

[mjdesignsrebornknitter]

I have been selling on here for many years but these past few months the amount of 'non delivered' items has bacome a joke!! I have replaced and refunded more times than ever as we have no choice because the buyer is always right!!! But are they??? No I think but Ebay ALWAYS finds in the favour of the buyer....NOT FAIR!!!

Sometimes we get scammed and I am fed up with it 😞

Time something was done