royal mail tracking number issue (standard postage 1st and 2nd class, all sizes) - SOLUTION

[eightdigitword]

if you have an item not recieved from a buyer and are unable to provide proof of postage please check this. also if you are a buyer and are not sure why the track and trace does not work.

The tracking number that is issued by eBay on standerd postage ( 1st and 2nd class, all sizes) is from royal mail and is an internal only tracking number. This can only be accessed by royal mail employees, at a delivery office or by royal mail customers services. This number (provided by royal mail to ebay and shown to the customer) will not work within ebay or on the royal mail website for tracking.

This happens when a sold items postage is arranged through ebays print labels and post system

when i get an item not recieved I visit the delivery office and they provided full tracking details using this internal number. with the print out they provide i contact the buyer and explain the situation. if they do not close the case I contact ebay customer services and ask that i provide the proof of delivery to then (they will send you a link to upload the scan to). 

from this issue I get messages from buyers telling me the track and trace number i provided does not work or claiming i have sent a fake number. this isnt good for anyone.

what would be ideal is if this issue could be escalated and resolved. Ebay should make it clear that this number is not provided by the seller and is provided by ebay via royal mail. they should also make it very clear that the track and trace number provided by ebay cannot be used to track and trace within the ebay system or on the RM track and trace website.

[red_magpie]

That's very interesting. If correct, I presume this means  that even the buyer can't  see the full tracking record? This would be serious, as buyers need to check that it confirms delivery to the correct address.

EBay can't be relied on to check this, we regularly hear about items that eBay has treated as delivered, but were delivered to the wrong address.

The moral is not to buy postage through eBay.

[eightdigitword]

this is correct. this mornings dispute to close today. buyer: item not delivered. tracking number shows not delivered as it is standard postage. visiting the delivery office provided a full print out of tacking information confirming the item was delivered to the correct address the day before the buyer opened the case. scanned doc sent to ebay CS, case closed in my favour this morning.

[eightdigitword]

as for the moral, not sure this is the case. what we have here is full tracking for standard postage. unfortunately it is misleading to everyone.

[tobiasd4]

You seem to be posting normal RM post, letter or large letter.

As such, unless you use a trcked service & you can prove delivery, you have to refund.

Ebay can check RM website, but if you say it is internal number, won't show on the Public system

[eightdigitword]

correct, I am posting 'normal' RM. letter, large letter, small parcel and medium parcel .

[eightdigitword]

these services provide a 'tracking number' through ebay

[eightdigitword]

using this tracking number within ebay or on RM website will result in an error

[eightdigitword]

visiting the delivery office or calling RM cust service will grant tracking information

[eightdigitword]

this tracking information can be used to provide delivery information to ebay CS and result in refund as i did this morning