Posting to Orkney Islands

[jeca-1591]

Hello, a buyer has selected and paid the standard postage for Evri. However, as the buyer is in the Orkney Islands, Evri are adding a large surcharge leaving me out of pocket.

Am I able to send the parcel via Royal Mail instead? Or do I just have to pay the extra cost and lose the money?

As I can't choose who the buyer is, how might I avoid this in future? Many thanks 

[arkwebus]

There is no reason not to send by Royal Mail.  They deliver [in theory at least] on 6 days a week potentially to every house in UK including Highlands and Islands at no extra cost and probably far quicker than other couriers.

It is seller's responsibility to select a suitable service

@jeca-1591 

[susapric-68]

As soon as i saw evri i thought they will throw it in the north sea and take a photo and claim it has been delivered

[pg_kicks]

Best advice I can give is send the buyer a message and just ask if they would be ok if you were to send with Royal Mail, they may have an issue with Royal Mail and thats the reason they purchased from you because you were offering a different courier. There is a courier that I don't wish to use so if a seller/website is just using that courier I just dont buy from them as they are pretty dreadful in my area and the customer service is shocking.

don't just send it via Royal Mail though as if it was reversed and a seller done that to me they'd be left with dealing with the robot trying to figure out where their parcel had gone.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Evening Jeca

Your suggestion of using Royal Mail is a perfectly reasonable work around your problem. That's what I would do.  Just let your buyer know what you are doing and why.

Good Luck

[cobwebcottage]

For future sales, you can add a rate table to your postage which can add an additional nominal charge for the Higlands, Islands and N Ireland.

Setting up your postage options | eBay

[eastern_standard_time]

To avoid this in future, when you're creating a listing just add Channel Islands, Highlands and Islands, NI etc to your list of excluded locations. I only ship to mainland UK; I might lose the odd sale but I can't be bothered with the hassle of dealing with different postage rates etc.

[jeca-1591]

Thanks so much everyone for the replies and info-all really helpful! 

[the_book_seekers]

I posted to Orkney, Royal Mail 2nd class parcel, a week before Christmas and it arrived 2 days later, which given the time of year, was good service.

[maggie44d]

Ask the buyer first. I personally am sick of folk not sticking to what's in their listing as regards postage options.  I look at the postage options when buying and expect that to be the delivery option.

Sellers changing to a different option, for whatever reason , isn't on and is poor customer service.

[geosacha007]

That buyer is probably well aware that Evri will charge a lot more for their location. And, if so, they are trying to put one over on the seller. 

If I were the seller I would switch to RM, if it is approximately the same as the normal Evri price and not a lot more expensive, which it could be, and ask the buyer's permission.  And if they decline ask for the extra postage or cancel choosing problem with buyer's address. That does risk a neg of course.

And then I'd block all outlying areas from my listings.

[turbot80]

I did too . Last minute Christmas present presumably. Last posting day and storms in the Orkneys, but it took 2 days 24 hrs tracked. All for 4 pounds 

[cobwebcottage]

'That buyer is probably well aware that Evri will charge a lot more for their location. And, if so, they are trying to put one over on the seller.'

What a load of tosh. It's up to the seller to add additional fees on to postage for Highlands, Islands and N Ireland. Ebay provide the resources to do this (rate tables). If sellers do not use this and choose Evri, then they buyer will only pay the price on the listing.

[the-nutwood-collection]

I frequently use RM to despatch to the Islands, and everything seems to get there in double-quick time.

However, ask RM to deliver to an address within five miles of the PO where it was handed in - up to six weeks.

[tbird.uk]

whilst you are adding exceptions to Evri shipping be aware they take the term "mainland" literally to the point that the Isle of Wight is an additional cost!

  Presumably they do allow the Isle of Dogs as being mainland?

[cobwebcottage]

I don't understand why posters are suggesting to exclude parts of the British Isles when it takes the same amount of time to add a rate table and include them as it does to exclude parts of it?

[magpiecorner1]

Royal Mail to Orkney is excellent, usually next day for me - I sell Orkney jewellery and much of it finds it's way back to the Islands.  Let you buyer know it's coming via Royal Mail.

[rjwilmsi]

In general sellers should post using the courier stated in listing. However, location surcharges are a valid exception in my view. Yes, you can set up rate tables for Highlands/Islands/NI but if you do that (when Royal Mail offer a suitable service without surcharge) you will either lose the sale or get buyers sending messages complaining about the surcharge. Also, I am not convinced that there will be a 100% match between eBay's location tables and Evri's surcharge areas (the various couriers have slightly different lists of partial postcodes that surcharges or exclusions apply to), so that may not always work.

So in my view if you normally want to use Evri you put a sentence on your listing to say for example "I use Evri for GB mainland and Royal Mail Tracked where Evri don't deliver or apply a surcharge."

In this case I would post the item using Royal Mail Tracked 48, upload the tracking number to eBay and send the buyer a message to advise you used Royal Mail as Evri applied an excessive surcharge.

I would recommend to update listings to state Evri else RM, but it may be months or years before you sell to such a location again.

I doubt somebody living on the Orkney islands specifically purchased the listing because it said Evri postage. They probably did what 99% of buyers do: saw the item they wanted, were happy with the total price so purchased it. Most buyers I think don't even look at what the postal service will be.