It’s been a harder than normal winter in the UK but late February has seen weather reach an unpleasant nadir both north and south. With the Siberian weather, and some unusual meterological conditions, there has been some disruptions to transport and logistics. Doubtless some Tamebay readers north of the border, or not far away from it, will remark that this winter has been snowy and cold before now but only when London is affected does it warrant our attention. (Seeing as neither Chris, Paul nor I live in London, we naturally reject that accusation.) But even the marketplace has acknowledged there may be some eBay UK snow disruption.
As they say in the announcement:
Severe weather conditions from snowfall are currently affecting many parts of the United Kingdom and are causing delays to postage deliveries this week. We’re in contact with delivery providers to understand where and how their delivery services are affected.
In order to prevent negative impact to seller accounts caused by the adverse weather, we’ll take the following measures for affected transactions by:
– Reviewing and removing Feedback and low Detailed Seller Ratings if sellers feel they’ve been unduly affected by the adverse weather and have supporting evidence.
– Monitoring Detailed Seller Ratings and taking corrective action in cases where there’s an abnormal increase in low Dispatch Time ratings across all impacted sellers.
Details to follow.
– eBay UK announcement
It’s good that eBay UK recognises that there will be delays and problems related to snow disruption. And it is also good that they are being proactive about communicating with sellers with such an announcement. Royal Mail has noted that delays are inevitable.
But the proof is in the pudding. It will be good to hear from sellers in the weeks to come that they have been protected from snow related delays. Do let us know.
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Amazon have put a 5 Day Delivery on One-Day Prime Orders
DPD have added 2 days to their Next Day Service on anything north of Leeds
FROM ROYAL MAIL YESTERDAY [WERE IN THE RED ZONE]
Due to the current weather conditions, we’re really sorry to say we may not be able to collect from you today.
Our people are out collecting today in areas where access is possible and it’s safe for them to do so. Access may not be possible at different parts of their journey which could also prevent us getting to some seemingly unaffected areas.
If safe and possible to do so, you may prefer to take urgent items to your local Delivery Office or Mail Centre.
We’re very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the adverse weather conditions.
We’re endeavouring to keep any disruption to a minimum, and we’re working hard to return service to normal as quickly as possible.
Regards,
Royal Mail Customer Services
never mind black friday
were looking forward to White Friday
all those bored people who cant get to work buying
Define “and have supporting evidence.” From experience Ebay customer service treat this metric as a delivery KPI not a dispatch measurement and will not accept Certificate of Posting as proof of a dispatch! So another kicking for us on DSR!
What’s a KPI ?
Glad I read this update, it would be nice if ebay sent a message to all business sellers to advise/reassure of this advice… My experience of their “offer of protection” during the pre Xmas rush is posted elsewhere, summerised below
“the system is skewed to mis report on your delivery stats… Just had eleven removed last week, they were rejected by email from the USA as they said the tracking showed late delivery, this is inspite of my request stating the tracking showed items shipped on time…. therefore I should be protected/not even needing to write to ask for removal…
Four of these defects were from despatch on 18/19/20 December… why oh why were they EVEN included when we are told we are protected from festive post late deliveries…
If only the ruddy basics worked for the monthly fees paid, IF ONLY THE BASICS WORKED!… its not asking a lot..”
to be honest we dont think a few defects or late packages are that important
when you see the dedication of the medical and emergency services and the conditions they endure
I have a late despatch of 136 hours marked because we received an order late on friday 22nd December after post offices closed on the last day of posting 1st class and we only sent it out on the 27th. They were only open on the 23rd that is 24 hours on my book.
I am currently being abused by an Ebay customer because her order from Wednesday that was free 2nd class postage has not arrived.
Probably gonna lose Top Rated status cause of the snow and the amount of people ticking that little box that says late delivery.
There’s zero empathy with this system. Appeal was refused cause I had no proof of delivery on 2nd class post.
@Paul have you not got proof of postage at least?
I’m getting inundated with messages from eBay members that haven’t received their parcels. I’m literally just having to refund the ones that can’t wait. It’s a disgrace. EBay have not kept members updated enough, they probably think sending delay messages to members will deter them from buying from eBay and go to other retailers.
I can’t get through to my local southwest sorting office still and I’m just getting further and further into losses to the point where I’m considering closing my eBay shop until it’s all sorted and the backlog is sorted.
This press release from Ebay is complete nonsense. I’ve received 4 ‘late delivery’ ticks already from buyers, for purchases made on 27th and 28th February. Whilst I am still below the 3% threshold, it does put more pressure on my Top Seller status and I may lose my associated 10% discount.
Customers are not even unhappy, they just answer the Ebay question ‘thruthfully’.
Post was not leaving or coming into Cornwall for 4 days. Was I supposed to hire a snow plough and deliver the items myself?
This part of Ebay’s metric is just another ploy to avoid giving sellers a 10% discount.