Technical issue affecting Simple Delivery Evri Ship-to-Store labels.

[cmtr29]

Firstly my apologies if there is already a thread on this topic (I’m surprised that there doesn’t appear to be any given that I am assuming this issue is widespread). 

I have just been to a parcel shop to drop off two parcels however upon scanning the first QR code received an error message on the screen to advise that the code was invalid, possibly because the label has already been used. 

upon checking my emails I received an email from eBay at 1550 this afternoon which said

”

We’re writing to let you know that we are currently experiencing a technical issue affecting Simple Delivery Evri Ship-to-Store labels.

You’re receiving this email because you recently generated one of these labels.

• If you haven’t yet dropped off your parcel at an Evri drop-off location, please hold off for now and wait for further communication from eBay.”

Firstly I am not sure what they mean by ship to store labels, as the item is being delivered to someone’s house, But nonetheless, I have checked and yes, it is not working. 

Secondly I’m wondering is there any resolution to this in sight as I’m soon going on holiday? Therefore if the issue is not fixed by Thursday I will be unable to dispatch the item for two weeks.

And finally why our buyers not being advised by eBay officially that there is an issue with labels. I have taken it upon myself to message the two buyers but both of them have replied seemingly highly suspicious of my intentions given that there is no evidence of this system outage on the eBay website nor on any news website

[tho875200]

I've got a number of eBay evri parcels also being returned to sender and bounced around with no explanation sent by either evri or eBay to the buyer and only an email from eBay telling me not to post the items after I already had. EBay support don't seem to understand / believe me.

[bougbawi]

Hey, same here 

[siojones109]

I'm having same issues.   I got the email from ebay a couple of days after I sent the item.  The tracking says the buyer has returned my item so it's apparently on it's way back to me.  I haven't contacted the buyer yet.

[thrifty-girl-25]

I received the same email yesterday, but in my case I had already dropped the item off at the parcel shop on Sunday. It made its way to the local depot and then the hub without any problems, but last night Evri's tracking changed to "The sender's asked us to return your parcel. Please contact the sender if you need help." Which isn't very helpful seeing as I'm the sender and I certainly hadn't asked for the parcel to be returned, nor do I have any answers! The tracking on the eBay app itself now states "Unable to deliver" and that its been posted back to me. Some information from eBay on what we're meant to do now would be helpful!

[stormcaststudios]

I am seeing exactly the same issue as thrifty-girl-25 with an already posted item being returned to me.  It is all very well eBay saying that they won't mark our accounts down for delayed deliveries but poor feedback from our customers will most certainly have an impact.  I have reached out to each of my affected customers (both with packages in transit and those whose shipping I will have to delay) to explain what has happened.  eBay has not informed them of the issue outside our control which is disappointing.  We are now getting on for 20-odd hours since the email with no further updates - not great from the platform.

[thrifty-girl-25]

I do wish eBay had sent an email out to buyers too, would have likely helped manage their expectations

[aliastherabbit]

Luckily I saw the e-mail just before dropping off a parcel. Absolutely hopeless communication from eBay. At the very least they should be contacting affected buyers as well as sellers and posting an update on the situation on the homepage. After speaking to Customer Services there is no clarity on when it will be fixed. This must be affecting large numbers of sellers and buyers. "Simple Delivery" it isn't.

[martian_sunrise]

I have the same problem too - I posted a (so-called) Simple Delivery package on Monday and it reached Evri's national hub on Tuesday before being marked as "The sender's asked us to return your parcel. Please contact the sender if you need help." at 16:24 yesterday. I didn't request this so Ebay or Evri must have done this, but it reflects badly on sellers if buyers think they have unilaterally arranged for a parcel to be returned.

I've just phoned Ebay CS and they're none the wiser about how we resolve this, but at least the person I spoke to was aware of the issue. She said that both sellers and buyers will receive a further email from Ebay but she couldn't say when this might be. I did ask why Ebay couldn't resolve this with Evri and allow the packages to be delivered, but she didn't know.

Parcels are apparently being returned to sellers but it's not clear what happens to the Simple Delivery postage i.e. do Ebay refund the buyer and they then buy a new label? It looks as if both buyers and sellers have to do extra work to resolve the label problem caused by Ebay's incompetence, and I think this is a total failure of Ebay's customer service - they should have done everything possible to avoid inconveniencing sellers and buyers. What an utter shambles!

[tho875200]

Has anyone found eBay customer support are denying that anything is wrong and that I must have requested a cancellation despite that they have emailed to say that there is an issue? Unhappy buyers, unhappy seller, eBay should contact buyers and buy new postage labels at an absolute minimum

[thesmokingrunner]

For what it's worth the issue with Evri labels was mentioned in this week's Weekly Chat (Post #18 on

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea...

but (unsurprisingly) there doesn't seem to be that much actual information about what action sellers need to take.

I certainly get the impression that sellers are expected to resend the items - presumably once Evri have solved the issue - although there is no advice regarding just who should pay for a presumably new label. Nor is there any advice as to whether a buyer would need to be refunded by the seller if they paid for the original label.

It certainly seems to be a big mess and although (for once) it's not one for which eBay is responsible they don't exactly seem to be particularly proactive in helping sellers with a solution.

Good luck to anyone affected.

@cmtr29 

@tho875200 

@bougbawi 

@siojones109 

@thrifty-girl-25 

@stormcaststudios 

@aliastherabbit 

@martian_sunrise 

[cooper_a]

Having the same exact problem - I dropped off an eBay package at the post office on 21st Oct. Just a few hours later, I got a e-mail from eBay about "technical issue affecting Simple Delivery Evri Ship-to-Store labels" and today my package was returned.

When I check the delivery information on Evri, it says: 21st of October at 4:25 PM – “The sender asked us to return your parcel. Please contact the sender if you need help.”

On eBay, it says Out for delivery, but when I check the delivery history, it shows: Tuesday, 21st of October, 7:38 PM – Return to sender request.

I assume that the “return to sender” request came from Evri, since the times line up. But honestly, I’m not sure what to do now.

[siojones109]

Yes, I've had a chat with customer services too.  Items are coming back to me and apparently we'll be told what to do next and buyers will be informed officially.  Although person I spoke to in CS seemed a bit hesitant about what the next steps might be.    I'm in touch with my buyer and their tracking also shows it's been returned but they've not had any contact from ebay or evri about this.

[martian_sunrise]

I had a bit more luck with the Ebay social media team - apparently, the reason parcels have to be returned to sellers is because collection codes were not being generated, so buyers would be unable to collect from store. At least that makes some sort of sense.

But there's still no timescale for resolution, or even when Ebay will update sellers and buyers on what's going on

[cooper_a]

Just got an e-mail from ebay:

We wanted to let you know that a recent technical issue has affected the delivery of some of your orders. Unfortunately, these parcels couldn’t be delivered to your buyers and will be returned to you over the next few days.

Impacted orders:

If you have a replacement item available, please send it to the buyer using a newly generated shipping label.

If a replacement is not available, kindly wait until the original item is returned to you.Once received, please resend the item with a newly generated shipping label.

[tho875200]

I had this email too but unfortunately it only listed one of several items that have been affected by this glitch. No other emails. Not sure they have caught everything yet..

[tho875200]

Also no mention of refunding for the label or who pays now

[thrifty-girl-25]

I’ve just had the same. I notice they say not to worry about seller performance/we can request any negative feedback re these deliveries to be removed, but they don’t mention anything about them emailing buyers themselves to pre-empt this. 

[fluffandbother]

I have sold a couple of items and posted them just literally half an hour before the tech issue storm erupted. I have just been on the phone to Ebay (requested a call back) as two items are apparently now going to be returned to me. I have messaged my buyers as, curiously, Evri tracking is showing as 'out for delivery' today. It is really confusing?!  I asked Ebay customer services how long will the return back to me take (apparently 2 days) and what happens if the item is then damaged on the way back to me (I have to contact ebay).  The customer service member told me that 15,000 people have been affected.  Ugggh I am feeling pretty fed up about it!

[seashellscales]

Hi, just wanted to say I’ve also been affected. I posted an item at midday yesterday so well before the email came through but I was still affected. I’ve messaged my buyer, I’ve screenshotted the email from eBay so they don’t think I’m just trying to pull a fast one. What a nightmare. I really hope the item gets back to me safe and sound and then I can re-send. I’ve had non stop issues with Evri recently both here and on Vinted.