I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing the problems I am?
In the tax year 2024 / 25 I posted over 5,000 items and lost only 11, 3 of them signed for.
A 0.22% loss rate.
The problem is mainly on my AMAZON sales but is also happening on my eBay sales.
Items less than £20 I post with Proof Of Postage and entrust buyers will not escalate Not Received cases when they have received the Item but I cannot prove they have.
Fortunately loss rate of 0.22% last tax year so all OK.
Items over £50 go Special Delivery and Signed For between £20 and £50.
I need to use AMAZON metrics to explain this but it translates across to eBay, I have numerous items also sold recently on eBay where Royal Mail tracking shows not delivered.
AMAZON monitor VTR - Valid Tracking Rate - over a 30 day rolling period.
Sales fulfilled by seller must maintain over 95% VTR otherwise items can be removed and you can no longer sell.
My VTR as of today is 77.78%, 8 out of 36 items not reported on Royal Mail Tracking system as delivered, this is for sales between mid November and mid December.
My VTR has been as low as 73%, Royal Mail failing to obtain signature on 27% of items!
I only started on AMAZON in late May.
I've checked back and can report that since mid August I have sold 177 items and 29 of them are not showing as Signed For.
Over 16%!
I have been complaining to Royal Mail through several channels and am getting no where.
When they eventually reply they suggest I should post all items Special Delivery.
My average sales price is £10 and before fees and income tax let alone the price of item sold and the effort I put in they want me to pay them a minimum of £9.25 from my £10!
I received an email from AMAZON on Tuesday.
"Hello,
We have identified that your Valid Tracking Rate for seller-fulfilled orders in select categories has dropped below the 95% requirement. If your Valid Tracking Rate continues to be below 95%, we may remove the listings for your seller-fulfilled items in the affected categories on Amazon.co.uk.
Why did I receive this message?
We have observed that you have provided valid tracking numbers for less than 95% of your seller-fulfilled orders in select categories. Sellers must provide valid tracking numbers for at least 95% of their shipments with integrated delivery service providers in all categories. For more information on Amazon policy on this topic, go to Valid Tracking Rate (VTR)."
I spent over an hour online chat with them explaining this is Royal Mail's failure NOT mine.
They are investigating.
I have told Royal Mail they are placing a huge RISK on my business, my livelihood.
One email I received from them said:
"Items sent via our Royal Mail Signed For service are not fully tracked. These items will receive a scan on posting and a further scan on delivery with a signature being obtained.
It is possible that some items are delivered without a delivered scan or a signature being obtained. To confirm if this was the case you would need to ask the recipients if the items had been delivered.
You may wish to consider using our Royal Mail Tracked 24/48 services as you will receive a little more tracking to keep a check on the items sent. I have provided a link so you can check our prices, please note that online prices are a little cheaper than prices paid in the Post Office. There are two separate price guides for these options."
They are trying to up-sell me!
A brief summary of my reply is:
- Can you please provide me with a copy of the Royal Mail Signed For Policy where it explicitly states to the customer that some items might be delivered without a delivered scan or a signature being obtained.
-
Can you please include in your reply an explanation of "how it is possible that some items are delivered without a delivered scan or signature being obtained". - In what circumstances and for what reasons does this contractual protection service failure occur, where I pay £2.77 / £3.60 for a service I could have paid 87p for, an overcharge, which you are not even offering to refund, of £1.90 / £2.73 on every item you fail to deliver, a breach of the terms I paid for?
- This is news to me, I have never seen this advertised or stated anywhere, is it in the Small Print?
- If this is not stated then Is this a breach of contract, actually fraud, selling a higher priced service but not providing that service?
Just wondering if anyone else has experience of this, knowledge, opinions they might wish to share?
Please no answers on a postcard as highly likely I won't receive them.
