eBay extends sellers’ Royal Mail protections into 2017

eBay has informed its sellers that it has decided to extend their Royal Mail Tracked / Royal Mail Signed For protections further into 2017. In a statement posted on its website yesterday (1 August), eBay said: “We previously announced in April that we’d protect transactions where sellers use Royal Mail Tracked/ Royal Mail Signed For services from being counted as late deliveries. This was because we were receiving incomplete tracking information for these services. The protection was then planned to last until 31 August.”

Now, eBay has decided to extend this protection period into next year.

“We want to make sure we’re doing the best thing for our sellers, and we’re still working with Royal Mail to make sure we have the most accurate data possible,” added eBay. “While we do so, we’ll keep these protections in place in the meantime.”

eBay said it would be “back in touch in 2017 with an update about Royal Mail protections”. For the time being, eBay advised sellers that as long they dispatch items within their stated dispatch time and upload valid tracking information when they use Royal Mail Tracked/ Royal Mail Signed For services, then it will “continue to protect these transactions from being counted as late deliveries”.

A good record for on-time delivery is an important part of  an eBay seller’s performance rating – so this protection can be a vital issue.