eBay extend seller protections for Royal Mail strikes

As you are probably aware, there is a chance we will be seeing Royal Mail strikes for up to 8 days over the next few months. Following this, eBay have announced that they will extend seller protections to cover merchants who use the affected services.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Royal Mail and Parcelforce has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and mail to take strike action on Friday 26th and Wednesday 31st August and Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September 2022.

– eBay

The bad news is that postal strikes could be a common theme for a while and further postal strikes are likely as the fight for working conditions continues.

The good news is that sellers on eBay, who continue to use Royal Mail and Parcel Force will be protected. You can also use other courier options available during the strikes including, Evri, Yodel, UPS, DHL & Fedex.

eBay extend seller protections

eBay will automatically protect your performance between Monday 22nd August and Monday 18th September for transactions for:

• Your late delivery rate, which will be removed for transactions with estimated delivery dates between the above dates.
• Your “item not received” count in your Service Metrics dashboard will be automatically removed. We will also remove any negative and neutral feedback relating to or arising from late or non delivery during this period.

All sellers who drop off parcels at Post Office, Royal Mail/Parcelforce parcel points and postboxes:

• There will be very limited collections from these locations on strike days.
• Post Offices, parcel post boxes and post boxes will still be available for drop offs.
• There will be no Parcel Collect available on strike days.
• Items posted before, during and after the strike days will be subject to delay.
• You may experience longer than usual waiting times for Royal Mail Customer Service.

What can you do?

• If you already use other carriers, it is advisable to use them to send your items during this time & contact them in advance to update your forecast volumes. Please also ensure you use the carrier you specified on the listing.
• If you currently only use Royal Mail to send you items, then please consider switching to an alternative courier during the strike period.
• If you buy your delivery labels elsewhere, remember to upload tracking numbers to your transactions to allow your buyers to see where their items are. By doing this you’ll also be better protected in the event of delays.