Royal Mail taking a month to deliver?

[smarts-gaming]

Is anyone else having issues with Royal Mail lately? I have many items that I sent almost a month ago now that have still not arrived... can only assume they are completely lost in the system. Im talking like ten different orders... is anybody else facing this? I have heard Royal Mail seem to be having issues lately, but this is absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately its even happening with Evri too, so I dont know what on earth I can do. 

I had one that took two weeks to arrive, and when it did arrive the lady says that there is nothing inside. What is going on with them? It feels like they are about to be shut down or something. 

Admittedly I sent most of these as £1.50 large letter untracked. But that should take a few days tops, not a month! Im starting to doubt very much that these orders are ever being delivered, and then of course ebay will refund the buyer and I have no proof that anything was sent. I have the receipt but no weight on it as they didnt weigh the items. Feel like ive been scammed, and ive already received a negative feedback because of late delivery when I sent it same day!

It is on my other account where I am selling jewellery, just in case you look at my profile and cant find it. 

[jckl1957]

Untracked items don't show as delivered.  Your items have not been lost in the system - most likely they have been safely delivered weeks ago.

If you send Large Letters with just a stamp on, they will show forever as sent.  I frequently send items with no tracking and I just assume they have been delivered unless I hear from the buyers.

You have not been scammed and Ebay will not refund your buyers unless they open a case stating the item has not been delivered.

[style_wise]

Yes, you can't afford to many defects due to untracked postage. Royal Mail 2nd Class Large Letter has a lot to recommend it, but it is not very eBay friendly. RM themselves say:

2nd is considered 'on time' until 14-days.

Delivery of 2nd is not a priority (see new 2nd Class rules today, for example)

Behind the scenes, friendly Posties have admitted to me that in busy times, where the system is overwhelmed, RM put 2nd Class items aside while they focus on delivering Special and 1st Class items. So at peak times of the year, I would charge 2nd but bump up to 1st to avoid defects.

Cheaper, untracked services have a lot to recommend them, but they are also not very eBay friendly. Do you know that RM standard services LL 250g and over and Small Parcels come with a Reference Number? This can be entered into eBay as a Tracking number, and is also supposed to be scanned at dispatch / delivery for proof of those.

If you are selling a lot of 100g 2nd LL and want to avoid defects, perhaps you might use cardboard LL boxes and things like a free gift to take them over 250g? You would pay 45p out of pocket for the extra weight, but it would give you a free Reference Number that you could use as proof of dispatch and delivery? Otherwise if you want to avoid defects it may be time to use a Tracked service.

Good luck with your selling!