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What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

So im considering no longer using royal mail recorded delivery, which costs a tad bit extra, for items I sell around a value of about £20 to £30.

I want to find out if its worth risking. A little bit of extra profit, but if there are too many fraudulent buyers about, they will take me for a ride.

So, what % of your buyers report item as not received? (obviously some will be genuine cases).

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Are you shipping internationally?

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Nope. Just within uk.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Less than 1%. Sometimes, impatient buyers send me a message and then get the item 1 or 2 days later.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Have had very few, and in most cases the ones that did tell me it didnt come, the tracking never updated to delivered so I assume they were being honest

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

I still get them 24/7, even when USPS.com says they have been delivered. There are just too many piece of sh*t humans in the world. The only way I combat it is to avoid PP and stick to cheap items with high volume.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

USPS is a total failure nowadays.

Causing us to rethink using them.

:deadhorse:

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

I could'nt put an exact percentage on it, but it is very low. Certainly around 1%.

The £1.10 savings i make per parcel by not sending tracked far outweighs the benefits of sending mail tracked to counter INR claims.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

The % of scammers I get varies from item to item. Catagories like electricals seem to have a higher %.

I have shifted towards only getting a sign on anything worth over £45 now, unless they are new to eBay and then its £30 or more. Overall works out better although I loose the odd item to a scammer now and then but that is eBay for you

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

But, here's the deal. The amount of people claiming not delivered when PP is involved is 10x that of my other stores that don't use PP. I'll never understand how I, personally, have never had a packaged NOT delivered when USPS says it is in my entire life. So, why, over the years, have I received hundreds of people claiming stuff is not delivered when I know d*mn well it is. Couriers just can't be THAT horrible.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

I agree, USPS, has slumps a few times a year but for me at least they have been overall a good service

I ship mostly priority and some first class , and just within 48 states

Even the periods during the year where there may be a week or 2 where their shipping is way off the projected times, the packages always arrive.

I rarely have a package that doesn't make it to the destination and when it does happen the tracking never updated its like it was just lost

I know you mentioned it's a low price item but is it something that is going to a demographic that would be not paying and claiming INR , I don't know like maybe teenage kids or something ?

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Someone tried to claim not received once from me when it showed delivered. Ebay gave the case to me...saying it showed delivered so thats that. I printed the label with ebay shipping so thats probably why....they know the right shipping address was on the package, etc.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

This.

What I can tell, based on my personal experience only, is that Royal Mail second class is as reliable as any other service out there, if not better. I believe this year alone I have sent around 2000(Might be just under, cant remember exact figures) parcels in the UK alone and from all the orders put together, I have "lost" 3 orders.

One item worth £22.50
One item worth £47
One item worth £3.99

I know these cases so well because they have been literally the only orders that have not reached the buyer.

Considering how much I save with each parcel, I will continue to use Royal Mail 2nd Class delivery, unless something is worth more than £50 or so. Obviously if you are sending expensive items, it's not worth sending it with no record what so ever but for my stock, the 2nd Class service is perfect.

When it comes to other courier companies, I have experienced probably the ****tiest service out there.
I sometimes need to send items that are heavier than 8kg and I use Hermes/Yodel next day service and out of 10-15 orders, I have had courier not picking it up on the given day FOUR times and that causes the first initial delay.
Last time I used them, three parcels went out on the same day, all three parcels were delivered a day late.
Just ****ing annoying, you know.


As far as tracking goes, only use it when you send items overseas. I have had problems with overseas customers, Greece and Turkey being the worst. Even Asian coutries are better than tho two.
There have been few cases where even with tracking PROVIDED they have tried to argue that the item has not been delivered.

So yeah, for UK 2nd Class not recorded has never caused me any issues and out of 3 cases that I've had, 2 happened over Christmas period.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Thanks for all the responses. I must say, I am amazed at how low the % of cases are. I was assuming it would be on a much larger scale. I guess the majority of the eBay community are trustworthy then!

I guess my verdict is, start sending out non-recorded for low cost items :)

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

Yes, they can be won. But, it's also a please the customer/feedback issue I'm trying to avoid. Luckily, a handful of marketplaces are now allowing me to have negative feedback removed.

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

2.5% on ebay, 0.5% on my website. Makes me sick. Send everything over £20-25 recorded personally, slightly worse off but helps my sanity levels

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

That is what bugs me too.

:pout:

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

One thing thats starting to bug me a lot is A LOT of my royal mail recorded deliveries are being delivered, positive feedback being received, but no tracking information being updated to state delivered / proof of delivery, just says progressing through network for months!

Luckily buyers are genuine. But if I had scammers, they would use this to their advantage.

As for Royal Mail claims, forms, proof of postage, receipts, supplier details, I dont think anyone bothers!

Re: What % of your sales constitute as item not received?
 

I feel like we have the opposite with USPS. They were horrible with origin city scans last year or the year before, especially during holidays. Haven't had it happen this year.