Extremely Slow Mail Delivery to UK

[mmarway]

Hello fellow sellers. Has anyone one else experiencing extremely slow mail service with small package airmail to the UK?
I have now had 9 buyers in the last month open claims for their items not arriving. This is highly unusual for us.
Another coincidence I noticed is now eBay is collecting VAT and remitting it for UK orders, does anyone think this could be the reason for the delay?

[triber]

I mailed a package the first week in Jan to the UK. Buyer contacted me 5 weeks later that it had not arrived. I asked him if he would mind waiting a while and he agreed. 3 weeks later he said he was losing hope that it would arrive. I told him I would refund in a couple of days, the next day I got a very delighted message from him that it has arrived that day. That was over 8 weeks!

It was small package airmail rate, he didn't want to pay for tracked package, it was quite a heavy package.

[ricarmic]

Yes I too have had many more slow delivery problems with stuff going to the UK since the end of last year.....

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@ricarmic 

@mmarway 

It appears they(eBay) are still tinkering with delivery times to the UK & the rest of Europe. Today, April 22, 2021 it shows 7 to 15 business days for Intl Air Small Pkt and 10 to 18 business days from Calgary. A few weeks ago it was showing less and even less for packages to Sweden. At the time a related package took a little over 5 weeks with the air service. Once they were able to contact the customer(customs) it was delivered shortly thereafter.

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

I don't think  collecting VAT would slow down  the mail service.  I woukd think that it's more likely to speed it up since customs/postal service don't have to collect the tax on delivery.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@ricarmic 

@mmarway 

It appears they(eBay) are still tinkering with delivery times to the UK & the rest of Europe. Today, April 22, 2021 it shows 7 to 15 business days for Intl Air Small Pkt and 10 to 18 business days from Calgary. A few weeks ago it was showing less and even less for packages to Sweden. At the time a related package took a little over 5 weeks with the air service. Once they were able to contact the customer(customs) it was delivered shortly thereafter.

-Lotz

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The 10 to 18 days was for Tracked service.

-Lotz

[reallynicestamps]

What dates are the buyers being given by eBay for delivery?
The buyer cannot open a Not Received until then.

Are you using a Tracked Service?

If you are you can give the number to the customer and politely explain that it is in transit. UK customers should be more understanding than the paranoid Americans.

If you are not, try to soothe them, give them the date of shipment and the service you chose (don't mention it is not tracked), and ask for a little more time. Then cross all your fingers and toes.

But if you did not track you are going to refund. No choice.

If you are content that the buyer is truthful, and other posters seem to have the same problem, just refund with an apology for their disappointment and tell them you will re-invoice them when the item arrives. This works about half the time.

If you think there is something off about the claim, ask them to open an eBay Dispute. You won't be penalized for refunding promptly but a sketchey customer will not open the Dispute because they don't want to be on eBay's radar.