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Royal Mail unveil Christmas delivery plans

Royal Mail have unveiled a package of Christmas initiatives designed to cope with the estimated £13.16 billion* online spending by 28 million buyers in the run up to Christmas.

Across most parts of the UK, Royal Mail will undertake extra delivery rounds on the morning of Sunday 21st December and between 6pm and 9pm on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd December to give customers a second chance to take delivery of parcels we were unable to deliver during the standard deliveries.

Opening hours at delivery offices will be extended from the 15th December and for the first time ever will open on the afternoon of Sunday 21st December. Customers waiting for parcels can also arrange redelivery to a neighbour or local Post Office.

“Royal Mail is prepared for its biggest online Christmas ever and has taken steps to help people get their items as quickly as possible – even if they are not at home when we first try to deliver.”
Mark Higson, Royal Mail Managing Director

Royal Mail is sending an information card to every UK address, with the first landing on doormats from Monday 17th November, telling them of the seasonal delivery initiative. Customers will receive more detailed information on the options available to them, including the opening hours of their local delivery office if they are not in to receive an item when Royal Mail attempts delivery.

It’s all good news for online sellers both on and off eBay. Even with the Credit Crunch people are still spending, but more than ever before that spending is online as buyers look for the best deals available.

* Source: IMRG predict online sales in the final quarter of 2008 will rise 15% on the same period last year to £13.16bn

Royal Mail begin preparations for Christmas

Summer is hardly over but already Royal Mail are well underway in preparing to deliver eBay purchases in time for Christmas.

Royal Mail will step up operations for Christmas deploying the largest double-deck trailer fleet in the UK, hiring three extra trains per day, recruiting 17,000 casual staff and hiring 50 additional buildings. They will also be expanding delivery time slots in December.

In some areas from 17th December Royal Mail will introduce evening deliveries between 5.30 - 9.00pm. This will be expanded nationally on the 22nd and 23rd December and will include items they tried to deliver earlier in the day. Packets will be redelivered on Sunday 21st December as demand requires. For those buyers who still weren’t home to receive their purchases local sorting offices will work expanded hours to allow them to collect their parcels or signed for letters.

For eBay sellers this is great news, items posted right up to Saturday 20th December should be delivered in time for Christmas. Items posted later than this will need to be sent on a next day service such as ParcelForce or Special Delivery.

The last posting dates for Christmas 2008 are:
2nd class - 18th December
1st class - 20th December
Special Delivery - 23rd December
International Airmail starts from 5th December depending on destination

Which is the best courier to use?

When sellers choose a courier more often than not their main and only criteria is price. Next they’ll look at reliability and service, but the service considerations are normally will the courier collect reliably in a regular convenient time slot.

Other considerations include elements such as the maximum size and weight carried or hidden costs for insurance, fuel surcharges, redelivery charges and return costs.

So what is the most important criteria for choosing a courier? Well the answer is none of the above - when choosing a courier you should be thinking which will provide the best delivery experience for your customers.

If the customer is at the delivery address when the item arrives most will give the same standard of service, i.e. collect a signature and hand over the parcels. It’s when your buyer is unavailable that service really kicks in. Most businesses will be available to sign for items but for domestic deliveries it’s a different story.

Most couriers will attempt a second collection the following day, but if your buyer is out at work the first day they’ll probably be at work the next day too. Generally for a missed delivery it’s down to the buyer to collect from the nearest courier depot and that’s what I had to do recently which meant an hours drive to retrieve the parcel - not a great delivery experience.

ParcelForce are the only courier who can leave the parcel in a secure location generally within a mile or two of almost every house in the country. 99% of the UK population live within 3 miles of a Post Office and that’s where, in the worst case scenario, Parcelforce will leave undelivered packages.

For myself two of the nearest couriers depots are in Reading and Oxford both of which entail a 50 mile round trip to collect a package. My heart sinks whenever I see “Seller’s Standard Rate” as the stated postage method for heavy items - it’ll probably cost me more in petrol to collect the item than it cost the seller to send it.

Convenience for the customer should be the biggest reason to choose a courier and that’s why I consider Parcelforce to be the best option for a UK courier.

Which courier do you use and why did you choose them? Did you choose the best courier for you, or the best courier for your customers? What services does your courier offer that makes them stand out from the crowd?

As a buyer which delivery method do you prefer sellers to use and, given the choice, which would you avoid and why?

Parcelforce PM & Parcelforce 48 Large services launched

Parcelforce are launching two new services - Parcelforce PM and Parcelforce 48 Large.

Parcelforce PM is a next day services promising delivery between 12 noon and close of business. The service enables you to promise an afternoon delivery to buyers who then don’t have to wait in all day for a delivery. ParcelForce already offer services with delivery by by 9am, 10am and 12 noon so sellers can now offer early, morning or afternoon delivery slots if they wish.

Parcelforce 48 Large is designed for oversize parcels which will be delivered within two working days. Items up to 2.5m length and 1.5m width and a maximum of 5m length and girth combined can be sent on this service. (Up to now the limit has been 3m length and girth combined). Individual parcel limits of 30kg still apply, but for those selling larger items this service is a great addition.

As with all Parcelforce services full online tracking is provided and most importantly both new services qualify for PayPal seller protection.

PDF documents describing the services are available for Parcelforce PM and Parcelforce 48 Large, or you can contact Parcelforce on 08708 50 11 50

eBay add new postage options

eBay have at long last listened to sellers requests and added in new shipping options to allow for use of various courier companies.

In the past it’s often been a bone of contention that only ParcelForce was available, with the remaining option to cover all other courier companies as “Other Courier”. This meant buyers had no indication of the delivery time (24hour, 48hour, longer) and sellers using alternative carriers were excluded from promotions such as Get It Fast.

Now the new options for “Other 24 Hour Courier” and “Other 48 Hour Courier” give better guidance to buyers and should enable more sellers to participate in Get It Fast.

Great news for both buyers and sellers alike, sadly the options don’t appear in the latest TurboLister update but should be added in the very near future.

ParcelForce affected by postal strike action

ParcelForce are not on strike, the action is limited to the Royal Mail. However ParcelForce are struggling to keep up with the extra demand from customers who would normally use Royal Mail services. ParcelForce are unable to accept bookings for courier services except from their existing acount customers. They’ve made the following announcement on their website:

If you’re looking for an alternative service for Monday morning to get ship your eBay sales to your customers Royal Mail are attempting to delivery Special Delivery items, or check out alternative courier services.

Royal Mail strike for next five days

For anyone who’s not realised up until now there’s a nasty shock in store when they go to the post office today. Royal Mail are striking from midday today until Wednesday next week. Officially the strike action is Thursday 4th – Saturday 6th October and Monday 8th - Wednesday 10th of October, any postal worker whose shift starts after midday today is unlikely to be working if they’re a member of the CWU union.

This is going to be a tough time for eBay buyers and sellers alike, and the best advice is to keep in touch with your trading partners and keep them informed of when their parcels are posted.

If at all possible use a courier in preference to traditional mail services. ParcelForce can be accessed through eBay’s own PayPal shipping, they won’t be striking. For a lower cost service Pay Per Parcel launched this week offering services through DHL. Both companies will collect from home and you can book parcel deliveries online without needing an account.

If you are subscribed to Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro it’s possible to bulk email buyers each day to keep them updated on the days you’re posting, if you’ve diverted their parcel to a courier delivery and of course just to remind them there is likely to be a severe delay with their mail.

eBay.ie sellers get postal discount

eBay Ireland have launced an “e-Parcel Card” which gives preferential postage rates at local automated post offices via An Post. Currently it’s a pilot program which will run until 30th April 2008. This is fantastic news for Irish sellers, I just wish eBay in the UK could negotiate a similar discount!

Currently in the UK, PayPal postage gives no savings for Royal Mail postage, but Parcel Force deliveries booked through eBay gives a saving against their normal rate card.

I’m really impressed to see eBay Ireland leading the way with benefits for their sellers. For a smaller eBay territory they’re working hard to make selling on eBay an attractive proposition.

Royal Mail strike floods ParcelForce

eBay have warned buyers and sellers alike that there may be delays in Royal Mail post for payments and deliveries of purchases due to Friday’s Industrial Action. They’re asking eBayers to be patient over the next few days.

There are already knock on effects, many companies have already made alternative arrangements and so many have switched to ParcelForce for the day they’re about to stop taking orders. There’s a notice on the ParcelForce website warning they’ll be unable to accept more collections requests after Wednesday this week.

This comes on top ParcelForce cancelling collections from Doncaster, Sheffield and parts of Yorkshire due to adverse weather conditions.

So what can eBayers do to minimise postal disruption? Well firstly of course post early wherever possible. Make use of services such as Special Delivery - although Thursday collections won’t be guaranteed for delivery on Friday any Special Delivery items posted Friday will be delivered by Monday. Post early in the day - There will be a single collection from street pillar boxes and some 14,000 post offices that will remain open, although this may be at an earlier time than normal. Unfortunately business collections will be cancelled on Friday so sellers who normally have mail collected will need to use a post office.

Finally if you want to keep up with the latest postal arrangements visit the special page on the Royal Mail Website.

Underinsured - Undercompensated. What did you expect?

An eBay seller is furious because Royal Mail lost a set of bagpipes he sold, and subsequently they turned up on eBay again when the Royal Mail disposed of missing items. The Daily Mail reports that the police are now involved to decide who the rightful owner actually is.

The story doesn’t really touch on the main issues however. It goes to great lengths to point out the shortcomings of Royal Mail, which in truth are inexcusable. The seller user the International Signed for service to ensure the £1500.00 bagpipes would be tracked and yet they still managed to lose them.

There really is no excuse for items on premium trackable services to be lost, and if they are when they reach the Dead Letter Office - the national undelivered mail centre in Belfast it shouldn’t be too hard to locate the sender from return address information. In this instance it’s not known quite how bad the service was and if a return label was on the package or what identifying documents were enclosed. Either way Royal Mail can’t lose that many sets of bagpipes, how hard would it be to tally a claim for a lost set with the set sitting in the lost and found store?

Royal Mail dispose of items they’re unable to re-unite with the sender through an auction house and the public can then bid for them and the new owner paid a paltry £60.00. John Beattie, the original seller, is irate because he only received £500.00 compensation. That however is his own fault as it’s the maximum payable on Royal Mails International Signed for service.

Under insuring items is a risky practise and one that will always come home to roost when a parcel is lost or damaged. Beattie is now complaining to Post Watch that he’s £1000.00 out of pocket, but how Royal Mail can be held accountable for that is beyond comprehension - he didn’t fully insure for the £1500.00 the bagpipes were worth. If they’d been delivered but damaged he’d have been in the same position, £1000.00 out of pocket!

Why the police are involved is uncertain. Beattie has been fully compensated to the maximum amount on the service he paid for so the bagpipes no longer belong to him. Royal Mail having paid full compensation can hardly be expected to hand over the bagpipes themselves or Beattie would have the compensation and the item. The item was legally disposed of and legally purchased by a new owner who is well within his rights to resell them. If Beattie had selected and paid for a services such as International Datapost or other courier services, with full insurance, he’d have received the £1500.00 they were worth and wouldn’t now be complaining.

Through underinsuring Beattie should have no recourse to further complaint, although Royal Mail haven’t made themselves look good with their inability to track premium service items.

USPS advise Royal Mail at eBay Live!

The Royal Mail are visiting eBay Live! to discuss ways to improve printing of postage labels through eBay and PayPal. The United States Postal Service handle postal deliveries differently. Robert Kopczynski, the Senior Business Service Network Specialist who has been advising Royal Mail explained that all USPS delivery workers carry a hand held scanner which stores proof of deliveries until they return to the depot where they can be uploaded onto their tracking systems. He’d love to see Royal Mail implement the same to enable tracking and full PayPal Seller Protection in the UK.

The big improvement that Kopczynski demonstrated to Royal Mail was how USPS are intergrated into PayPal to enable bulk printing of postage to enable large sellers to process shipping efficiently. We should be seeing more developments and improvements in PayPal postage in the future. The one I’d really like to see is the ability to use your own Royal Mail and ParcelForce account information to enable easy printing of postage labels coupled with the discounts that come with having a Royal Mail and ParcelForce account

Royal Mail Tracked service launches on 11th June

Royal Mail are to launch a new tracked service on 11th June this year. Named “Royal Mail Tracked” it is designed as a home delivery service to compete with courier companies. It will be a 2-3 day delivery service and will be suitable for sellers who regularly post items that fall into the new large letter and packet rates. Sellers will have to ship a minimum of 5000 parcels a year by the new service to qualify.

A sample profile of 5-19,000 parcels per year weighing up to 1kg, with 5% going to Scotish Highlands and Islands and 5% going to Northern Ireland and off shore Islands would cost £2.64 per packet. This is a considerable saving over Recorded Signed for services, with better tracking. With 50% of parcels in the highest 2-5kg band the price only rises to £3.85. These prices are very competitive in comparison to courier services such as ParcelForce.

Sellers will need to weigh up several factors before signing up for the new service however. Those with Royal Mail PPI accounts will already have discounted rates based on volume, using the new service could see their volume drop and rates rise. Similarly anyone switching from a courier account may see rates rise for heavier items due to a drop in the volume of items shipped.

For those who ship items weighing no more than 5kg and want a fully tracked and signed for 2-3 day service at competitive rates, Royal Mail Tracked will be ideal. In order to sign up for the service call 08457950950 or speak to your Royal Mail account manager.

More blunders with Postage Labels

eBay continue to promote USPS and UPS to UK sellers even though the services aren’t available in the UK. Their latest blunder is to add Postage Label information to payment confirmation emails with the statement that “You can easily print postage or a label for US Postal Service and UPS.” Sadly there is no mention of services that are actually available in the UK such as Royal Mail and ParcelForce.

Whilst it’s understandable that the new Postage Label is an additional source of revenue for eBay and PayPal the way it’s been implemented has upset many sellers as it interferes with their workflow. This could simply be solved if eBay added an option to disable Postage Labels on an account by account basis as PayPal have done. Adding insult to injury by not anglicising mail and courier services in emails is just sloppy and there really is no excuse.

We’ve noticed that since last week, when TameBay reported that help pages carried similar USPS an UPS information on their help page at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/printing-invoice.html, that eBay have put a redirect to the new eBay UK Postage Centre. Hopefully when eBay read this they’ll sort out email communications too.

Postage labels create more work for sellers

eBay have today enabled Postage Labels on the site, but unfortunately the way it’s implemented has spoilt the workflow for many sellers.

The drop down, in My eBay, used to helpfully display the next natural action in the sales process. For example when you were waiting for a payment the top action would be “Mark as Payment Received”. In awaiting postage it would be “Mark as despatched”, and if you selected the “Awaiting Feedback” view it would be “Leave Feedback”.

eBay in their wisdom have decided that regardless which view you select the top and only link you can click without selecting the dropdown is “Print Postage Label”. Having to click on the drop down before selecting the natural action slows the sales work flow down - there appears no option to disable postage labels in eBay.

Whilst this might be great advertising for their new service for professional sellers it’s a real pain. Most sellers will already have postage arrangements either with their own ParcelForce or courier contract and often a PPI account with Royal Mail. They will not want to use eBay postage labels which incidentally offer no discount on Royal Mail prices (a PPI account gives significant postage savings).

In PayPal if you wish to remove the postage options you simply click on “Auction Tools > Postage Preferences” and uncheck all the options. Sellers need a similar facility to disable postage options in eBay.

Finally the help pages on eBay.co.uk refer to the US postal service and UPS. Not really a lot of help for sellers in the UK!

PayPal shipping launched in the UK

PayPal shipping has launched in the UK giving the ability to purchase your postage with payment from your PayPal balance. Options are available for both Royal Mail services and for ParcelForce courier deliveries. For Royal mail deliveries you will need to drop your parcels to the nearest Royal Mail drop off point, and for ParcelForce you can either drop your parcels off or book a collection for the next working day.

There is plenty I like about this, such as the ability to print postage labels and customs forms, and the ability not to show the actual postage cost on the label. However currently the only options for printing is inkjet or laser printer - it would be nice to see support for common label printers such as Dymo, Seiko, and Zebra / Eltron.

For many eBayers it also gives easy pay-as-you-go access to couriers without needing a contract. ParcelForce deliveries are available to all at £11.99 for twenty-four hour services and £10.99 for forty-eight hour delivery. How this will be received by the many sellers already offering one off courier delivery services on eBay has yet to be seen, but doubtless it will not be great news for their businesses.

The really good news for the casual eBayer who may have cash flow issues is that once the customer has paid they can purchase postage using the buyers funds without a delay waiting for them to clear into their bank account!

For more information there is a demo of the service on the PayPal site.

Parcelforce end eBay offer early

It was announced this morning that Parcelforce’s discount offer to eBay sellers would be ended early, “due to unprecedented demand”. If you still want a discounted delivery, plenty of sellers are still offering them.

Parcelforce low cost Christmas deliveries

Send a parcel anywhere in the UK from just £10.99 for Parcelforce 48 and £11.99 for Parcelforce 24. The offer runs for all eBay sellers from the 13th to 21st of December 2007. Parcelforce will collect from your doorstep and deliver to your customer and you don’t even need a ParcelForce account to take advantage of the offer.

There are some terms and conditions but this is a great opportunity to sell those heavier items and qualify for eBay Get it Fast. Let your buyers know their purchases will arrive in time for Christmas. This offer was previously only available to PowerSellers but is now open to all eBay sellers.

Of course if you need to send a lot of parcels it’s worth opening an account so don’t forget the free wine promotion.

Get it Fast in time for Christmas

Time to start adding Special Delivery or ParcelForce options to all your eBay listings. From tomorrow eBay will start promoting ‘Get it Fast‘ to buyers in the run up to Christmas.

Get it fast gives buyers the option of a guaranteed delivery time on their purchases to ensure the gifts they buy arrive in good time for Christmas. Many will be willing to pay slightly more for the peace of mind knowing the presents they buy will be there for the big day.

eBay have a ‘Seasonal Seller Guide‘ with tips on selling in the run up to the holiday period

Free wine offer from ParcelForce

Couriers! Which one to choose? which is most reliable? Which is cheapest? Lots of questions and just about everyone will have a different opinion on which courier is best to use.

Why not have a glass of wine while mulling it over with our offer in conjunction with ParcelForce? Simply open an account, spend £100.00 and they’ll deliver a case of 12 bottles of wine to your doorstep*. Of course a few bottles of wine isn’t a great reason for choosing your courier so read on to see what could make ParcelForce a good choice for you. If you send at least 5 UK items or 1 international item per week then you could become an account customer.

Price

The cost per parcel is always negotiable on a courier delivery contract and it’s no different with ParcelForce. Don’t accept the first price they offer - get a price and then negotiate using tactics like “If you could lower the price below £7.40 I could put all my Special Delivery parcels with you as well”. The larger the quantity you can ship with them the better the price you’ll get.

International

Don’t forget if you can ship one parcel a week Internationally it’s worth opening an International account as well as one for domestic deliveries.

Fuel Surcharge

Most couriers charge a fuel surcharge and ParcelForce is no exception, don’t forget to factor this in when negotiating a price.

Redelivery Cost

This is a charge which may be hidden in your courier contract. Many couriers will attempt delivery twice before charging it. Sadly with home users if they leave a card the recipient may not get it until they’re home from work. The next day they telephone to arrange redelivery but by that time the parcel is out on the van for the second delivery attempt. When the parcel is eventually delivered the sender (you!) will be charged a redelivery charge. The great thing about ParcelForce is that they do NOT have redelivery charges.

Return Charges

Many couriers will charge you to return an undelivered parcel, some charge more for returns than the initial delivery cost! ParcelForce do NOT charge for returns.

Over water and Highlands and Islands surcharges

Couriers may charge extra for crossing water to destinations such as the Isle of Wight, ParcelForce do not surcharge for this. Many couriers including ParcelForce charge extra for certain areas of the country, the good news is that with ParcelForce you can negotiate a flat rate regardless of the destination in the UK.

Insurance

This is something we hope we never have to use, but inevitably whichever courier you choose they’ll lose a parcel or one will be damaged. Make sure that their insurance covers the goods that you wish to send, e.g. for glass many decline insurance coverage.

Redirects / Saturday Deliveries / Post Office collections

Selling is all about making it easy for the customer, and ParcelForce excels at this. If a recipient would like delivery to an alternate address (a neighbour or work), or on a Saturday they can arrange this and ParcelForce will bill them a small surcharge. You the sender don’t have to pay the charge.

ParcelForce can delivery to a local post office and your customer can collect from there. ParcelForce are set up to make it as easy as possible to get your goods to your customers. If they’re home users that are out at work all day collecting from a post office or redirects/Saturday deliveries are great options.

VAT

ParcelForce are currently the only courier in the country not to charge VAT. This is a great advantage to sellers who aren’t VAT registered. Even for those that are VAT registered it still saves paying out VAT simply to reclaim it on your VAT return.

eBay and ParcelForce

Finally ParcelForce are the only courier which appear in the eBay shipping options. If you want to use a courier to qualify and appear in eBay Get it Fast searches ParcelForce is the choice to make.

Free Wine Offer!

So if you’re looking for a courier or want to try an alternative why not give ParcelForce a try? Visit ParcelForce on their website or call them on 0800 413 501. When you speak to them or register on their website quote reference number 463931 to qualify for 12 bottles of wine* as soon as you’ve spent £100 on deliveries.
(*Terms apply. Closing date to open account 31st March 2007, account spend must reach £100 by 30th June 2007)

• Recent Comments

  • ebuyerfb: If I had to speculate eBay made the initial policy for the reasons they’ve stated. Now that it seems...
  • Sue Bailey: Steve, I don’t know - I can only go by the announcement eBay make (and give em a few days to...
  • John Pemberton: #17 Hi Nick - please see my comment made( #11). 99% of our shipping is via Interlink Express. I use...
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