With ongoing industrial action, eBay Royal Mail strike protections have been extended to cover today’s strike and further days in the final approach to Christmas.
Royal Mail and Parcelforce have confirmed their intention to take national strike action today the 9th of December and then on the 11th, 14th and 15th December, with the 23rd and 24th of December dates still to be confirmed.
eBay Royal Mail Strike Protections
To help reduce the impact on your business, eBay will automatically protect your performance until the 31st of December. If you believe seller protections haven’t been applied to your account eBay request that you hold off contacting them for 10 days to allow automatic removal, but then ask that you contact them.
- Your late delivery rate, which will be removed for transactions with estimated delivery dates until Saturday 31 December.
- Your “item not received” count in your Service Metrics dashboard will be automatically removed.
- eBay will also remove any negative and neutral feedback relating to or arising from late or non delivery during this period.
- As always eBay request that you upload tracking details when you dispatch an item. This helps to keep your buyers informed, and adding tracking details gives you additional protection.
Last Post Dates
Last posting dates for both domestic and international Royal Mail services will be brought forward as a result of the strike action. You can monitor Royal Mail’s Service Updates page for the latest last posting dates.
In addition to the eBay Royal Mail strike protections, estimated delivery dates for eBay listings will be adjusted in accordance with the updated last posting dates for Christmas deliveries.
Use alternative carriers
To support your sales and minimise disruption over the peak trading period, both Evri and DPD are offering discounted rates when you buy labels on eBay.
New EVRI reduced rates
- 0-1Kg Postable: £2.64
- 0-1Kg: £2.75
- 1-2Kg: £3.58
- 2-5Kg: £4.99
- 5-10Kg: £4.99
- 10-15Kg: £4.99
New DPD reduced rate:
- £6.14 from £8.37
Item not received cases
eBay are aware that some sellers are seeing an increase in “item not received (INR)” cases being opened while the item is still in transit or showing as delivered. If this applies to you, they advise taking the following action:
- Tracked: Respond to your buyer and let them know that the tracking shows the parcel is still in transit and should be with them in due course, or has been delivered.
- Untracked: Remember that you need to respond to the case and the buyer. If the item doesn’t arrive with the buyer within 3 business days of them opening the case, you’ll need to refund.
eBay encourage all sellers to use tracked services where possible and to upload tracking information before the latest estimated delivery date. See the help page to learn more about how to help a buyer with an item they didn’t receive.
