Sellers refusing to post to the Scottish Highlands

[graymee1234]

Recently I have tried to purchase a few items from businesses but the listing shows Doesn't post to Scottish Highlands. I have contacted individuall businesses and they have ammended their listing to allow me to purchase their goods, others haven't bothered or couldn't work out how to sort this problem and have lost the sale.

Postage to me means using the Royal Mail to send items and as the Royal Mail is mandated by law to charge the same ammount for anywhere in mainland UK the sellers can't say postage is more expensive.

If they dispatch goods via a carrier other than Royal Mail then perhaps they incur higher deliver costs so their argument perhaps has some validity. This does not ring true however for an item I recently tried to purchase. The seller was based in the Newcastle area. They would not post to Scottish Highlands. If this was based on increased delivery cost why is there no restriction on posting to Cornwall? Using Truro as an example, it is 450 miles from the seller and only 280 miles to me. Ebay should clamp down on what is discrimination based on location and also potentially amend the listing template to more accurately say delivery rather than postage.

[cassiej1234]

Hi,

I have just come across this issue, I sold something from Wales to Scotland with Evri and post on listing was £2.94, buyer paid £2.94. When I went to print label it charged me £5.44. I have asked ebay and they have said that Evri charge an extra £2 50 to deliver to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Jersey.

It is not the sellers fault its the postal service. Sorry

[imposs]

So is "Doesn't post to Scottish Highlands and Islands." discrimination or not?

My recent experience with an eBay seller offered shipment at £30 on the goods from my winning eBay bid, then I was eventually informed that both ParcelForce & UPS (after Tracking appeared for both on eBay) didn't/hadn't turned up to collect? 

I don't know if there is a problem using ParcelForce or UPS but based on other eBay sellers Buy it Now's for the same goods, I offered that seller another £100 (as shipping did appear to be an issue) to conclude our eBay transaction.

My reward was that the seller didn't accept my offer, cancelled our transaction and refunded my payment.

Later relisting the goods back on eBay and selling to another eBay bidder for less than I paid the first time round.

Looking at payments for shipping on the same goods, I've been quoted:

eBay: £30 (my winning/losing eBay bid), £70+vat & £130 (this seller also quoted delivery to Aberdeen £19.99)

Independent enquiry: £185 due to it having to be palletised.

Amazon: Also has one advertised at £3.99, confirmed via Amazon Chat but I don't know if I'd like to chance it & the seller doesn't communicate directly?

Certainly, Not Good Karma!     

[shauwilliam-35]

As a seller and I sell 1000's of items every year all over the world. I can confirm that every courier charges more from mainland England to certain locations in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. The only delivery company that charges the same amount is royal mail and their prices are in the middle of all delivery companies in the UK. So when sellers tell you that it costs them more to ship to you in the highlands. They are telling the truth and it does. Take my word for it from my own experiences. Royal Mail are not cheap and it costs the seller and the buyer more to use them. The system really is not fair as it's all part of the UK. It's a nightmare for all of us. I've sold something just now and it should cost me £3.71 with yodel and it's going to have to cost me £5.99 with royal mail because Yodel along with EVRI and DPD and Inpost and UPS and any courier you care to mention are all trying to charge me more than Royal mail on the postage as it's going to Inverness. It's just not a fair system for any of us. It means that the buyer has underpaid on her postage and I will have to cover the extra from the price she paid for item. It's totally not fair at all. 

[lotnumber73]

DPD now charge £25 flat rate for deliveries to Highlands and islands
All UK couriers apply a surcharge for deliveries in remote or island locations
Business sellers in a large number of categories are obliged to offer a FREE postage service on items
We sell items for less than £25 so we would be losing money 
We offer FREE delivery to UK addresses so there is no profiteering or discrimination on the sellers part.

It is true that the royal Mail have a universal delivery obligation, but this relates purely to letters and small packets, not for parcels.  If you have tried to post a parcel yourself recently you will see that the Royal mail themselves outsourcing their parcel business to DPD

Cornwall may be a longer distance, but it is relatively well served by courier depots and there is sufficient volumes of deliveries to make the routes profitable 

This isn't profiteering by the sellers. It is just commercial reality from the transport industry.

[adavi01]

Hi,

That's a very welcome update and it helps me understand better why but I do
disagree.

However it seems to be one size fits all as I personally live in IV2 which
is the capital of the Highlands and located off the A9.

We are served by road, air and rail, so I'd understand this if we were any
further up the road where logistically it starts to spread out but in
Inverness that is not the case.

Personally I believe they need to dial it in a bit better because as it
stands it makes no sense and really isn't very fair.

Maybe Evri are just trying to maximise their profit.

Kind regards

[lewismacdonald]

I am also on the mainland, but in the Highlands.
While I understand there are additional costs from most (all?) couriers other than Royal Mail, what I have been finding lately is a lot of sellers who quote free delivery using Royal Mail, but refuse to deliver to me because I'm in the Highlands.
It shouldn't be beyond the grasp of eBay to require that if a seller states they are using Royal Mail then they should deliver to all addresses covered by the Universal Service obligation of Royal Mail.

[messier44000]

---

@lotnumber73 wrote:

All UK couriers apply a surcharge for deliveries in remote or island locations

Parcel force don`t if booked direct. No surcharge to N.Ire either.

Sometimes if a PF package is under a certain weight / size, they will hand over to RM to deliver.

[f130dt]

That doesn't make any sense though ,if I wanted to send something to say Cornwall from the Highlands I wouldn't be allowed to call it remote ,despite the fact it is just as remote to me as the Highlands are to them .

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[mahpetsupplies]

That's nuts!  If, as a seller, you have priced in the cost of RM postage, I see no reason you would not ship an order anywhere when it makes no difference to the costs. Unless of course they are saying they post RM and in actual fact they don't.  That's just losing sales and customers for no reason 

[mahpetsupplies]

Wait til the new General Product Safety Regulation Regulations come into force in December... you can add Northern Ireland to the places that won't be sold or shipped to as well..

I'll be blocking NI customers as soon as that comes in, as well as completely switching off GSP to EU

Utterly mental legislation 

[fargvs]

 '' I'll be blocking NI customers  ....'''

Why do that and deny potential sales to more than 1.9 million people ?... Using Royal Mail BT Postcodes for delivery to Northern Ireland will cost exactly the same as to UK mainland addresses .

Considering the additional premiums charged, it is often cheaper to use Royal Mail than Couriers who will charge extra for delivery to so called 'remote locations' (nonsense) in Highlands,Islands and NI.

[mahpetsupplies]

nothing to do with the costs of posting there.. completley agree.. no extra cost to post there... but the new legislation coming in December is massive amounts of unnecesssary work .. check it out.. you have to provide name address and contact details of a "repsonsible person" for the manufacturer /supplier for EVERY product you sell to NI or EU...  and publish it on the listing... nope, not happening. I do not have the time or resource to do that. 

[lewismacdonald]

I have been trying to get sellers who post by Royal Mail to send to my address but mostly they can't be bothered. Really annoying

[mahpetsupplies]

I can only assume that they were never going to send anything RM.. there is no other reason to fail to send to H&I if you are shipping via RM, it's no different to any other address in the UK.. unless they are completely uneducated and oblivious to the fact

[central-lo_96]

I'm an Ebay seller. If I sell an item at say £8.99 with free delivery the delivery company charge me £2.94 to most of UK. But islands cost more £5.63 so I won't be in business long as I have to buy the stock too. The main cities are covered but stock and delivery has to be paid for .

[adavi01]

Hi,

Just to be clear you are referring to " the islands" this post is referring
to the Highlands IV2 etc
I could understand a wee price hike for the islands, but we are on the
mainland and pretty much the same distance from Lancashire as Cornwall.

I think sellers and delivery companies need to have a Geography lesson.

[mahpetsupplies]

So do you just not post to H&I?  or have you set up rate tables to charge the extra postage for the affected postcodes? 

[f130dt]

I think you are right ,and I think the reference to "Highlands and Islands " is part of the problem . As you say many sellers and courier companies need to do a crash course of geography ,I think many  do think the Highlands is an island 🙄.

[lotnumber73]

Sellers cannot split the UK into regions and offer separate pricing in their listings. All they can do is block those highlands and islands addresses for shipping and put a note in the listing that they are available to ship to at an arranged cost depending on postcode and address... Same as Northern Ireland. To give some perspective, most Uk couriers are now charging a £20 premium for Highland and islands and NI

It has made shipping to those locations impossible for lower priced or heavy items using standard terms which is usually FREE in most categories. Sellers can't be expected to shoulder this cost so many just sadly have to turn down good business from good customers unless its something that can go in a small packet with Royal Mail

[lotnumber73]

Hi

Devon and Cornwall don't incur any extra charges from the majority of UK couriers as they are Mainland and will not reqire anything other than road transport using their hub network