I guess that we’re all now gearing up for the busy Christmas season and I’m curious what you all think about the posting / shipping challenges we might face with the Covid pressure building, added to the usual pressure on Royal Mail and the couriers.
I’ve had a few delays and non-deliveries of items overseas over the last month, which got me thinking. Of course, whenever something doesn’t arrive where we send it, not only do you lose an item that you spent time and care making with your own paws, you then also have to either replace it or refund the buyer too, which could get very costly for makers very quickly.
I must admit that my stomach dropped when I thought what kind of impact on me it would have if just a few larger orders went missing over the season. I’ve now added the cost of the ‘signed for’ service to most of my items for the UK here and for the tracked service to overseas orders at ‘the other place’ (I don’t list for non-UK shipping here on Folksy).
What are your thoughts about this as makers and as buyers? Do you have plans to change anything about how you ship over the rest of this year and do you have any thoughts on what the challenges might be with RM and couriers?
I stopped selling to the USA months ago, on another site and am glad to say UK sales have picked up enormously. Most of my sales were to the US, Australia and Canada so was worried I wouldn’t have many sales but I am playing catch up all the time.
I would be worried that items would be delayed meaning xmas presents wouldn’t get there in time which could mean bad feedback which does affect your account.
I am hoping that all the new buyers to handmade will keep on buying them rather than mass handmade once this time is over which will be good for everyone.
I’ve had a few sales to Australia during Covid and use a tracked service. I got mistaken at one point and used a signed for service, which is no longer available. It’s only that the customer contacted me to say that it has arrived, that I know. The RM website still say it on its way. It seems to be taking anywhere between 2-4 weeks at the moment.
If customers want an item, they’re happy to pay for it. Our prices in the UK are far cheaper for a lot of things than in Australia.
It does annoy me that RM are taking 3 months to refund lost post for international postage though.
I think I’m going to turn off my international shipping now.
I’ve had parcels arriving to most desitnations Worldwide OK but I’m having problems with USA deliveries at the moment.
I’ve forked out twice for tracked delivery for the same order (first shipped in August and then replaced again in September) and the 2nd one still hasn’t arrived - USPS have told me it arrived with agent for final delivery on 17th October but it hasn’t moved since!
I didn’t even bother claiming for the first one but think I will have to claim if it doesn’t arrive this time as that’s over £20 on shipping (plus lost products) down the drain!
I’ve got another parcel in the system to USA at the moment too, so I’m keeping my eyes on that one as well. It’s all extra stress honestly - not sure if it’s worth it!
Yes, it would be great if something so positive came out of the whole shenanigans! I do feel like things have been moving that way for a while now though - way before the pandemic.
Yes, you’re right - Australia and the US have ridiculous postal prices, even within the US, state to state. I was amazed to have a customer on Etsy prove your point today when she ordered one of my £10 cat toys and paid £15 for shipping!
Not sure if you know this already, but in case you don’t, when you track on the RM site, there should be a link to take you to the local carrier’s site to continue your parcel’s journey in the destination country. Also, RM often show ‘delivered’ on a package at the point where it passes to the local postal service.
Just out of interest, when you apply for a refund from RM, do you just claim the materials cost for your item, or do you structure additional costs for your ‘manufacturing’ process as well?
Oh no! So sorry to hear about this Sarah - it’s so upsetting and stressful, as you say. I hope the latest parcel makes it safely.
It’s particularly frustrating because I had years of shipping hundreds of items to the US and had only 1 item that ever went genuinely missing. There were a few delays with customs here and there, but the service was AMAZING and outside of busy holiday periods, so fast too, with most things arriving within 4 or 5 days. I’m lucky enough to have lots of lovely repeat US customers and feel like crap that I have to increase the cost of shipping so much for them.
The reason why I don’t list worldwide here on Folksy is that the way the country groups are structured means that you can’t really accurately cost for shipping between the US, Canada and Australia because the prices for those territories are quite different these days. Before the latest renegotiation of rates between RM and US Post (this article is interesting if you want to know more about what went on there: https://www.theamerican.co.uk/pr/ne-US-Mailing-Price-Rises-July-1), they were pretty similar, but I always wanted to split the US from Canada as I would never send anything to Canada without tracking because Canada Post is so unreliable.
Thanks Debbie, I know about the local carrier site.
When I’ve made a claim, I’ve claimed either the cost of the item that the buyer purchased and postage or, if it’s personal, I’ve added costs of materials plus work time etc. I haven’t heard back from them yet, so not sure how it will be processed.
I think the local Post Office mentioned prices rising again in the new year too.
In a normal year I ship close to “last posting” dates, but not this year. The extra stress of factors outside my control is just not worth an extra few ££s of orders.
I’m planning to stop accepting custom orders (and also international shipping on E***) about mid-November. I’ll keep on selling in-stock items to UK customers up to the first weekend of December, for posting the start of the second week.
Even with seasonal postal delays the parcels should arrive at least a week before Christmas, so the customer can leave it unopened for 72 hours to be safe, and still have it for the big day.
I’ve used tracked/signed for postage for everything for several years now. My international customers spend £12-£15 postage every week, no problem. It’s great to know how far the parcel has got. I’ve even had a parcel returned by the postal service from California because of the wildfires, so although I had to refund the customer at least I had the item back.
I’m really interested to see what impact the tracked only postage has on my orders - have already had 3 orders from the US on Etsy since changing, so perhaps I should be more confident about it
I saw Royal Mail have got their recommended posting dates on the website now and was really surprised they don’t look any different to normal. Similar to yours, mine are definitely earlier this year and I’ve already announced them so my customers have plenty of warning, as my international commission deadline will be gone this weekend.
I used to send orders outside UK as international standard up to £30 and tracked/signed over £30. A couple of months ago I changed that so that I now send all international orders as tracked/signed. I was worried at first that the additional cost might put some people off. Instead my international orders have increased and I’ve had many customers (mostly from USA) thanking me for using a tracked service as they feel more confident buying when they can follow their order. I’ve also noticed that people now tend to buy 2 or 3 things at a time rather than just one, to justify that additional postage cost. I’ve always quoted 2-3 weeks for delivery to USA/Canada and 3-4 to Aus/NZ. Mostly they arrived in 7-14 days, in which case I get good feedback about quick delivery. I think as long as you manage customer expectations it should be ok .
I am gutted today after receiving my first ever non 5* review… 4* s is good but when I asked the customer how I could improve she said that it didn’t arrive on time for a recipients birthday. My records evidence I posted the item well, well before my shipping deadline terms on my shop… I’m quite annoyed that delays with Royal Mail has effected my reviews. There was nothing else I could have done. I went above and beyond wrapping it really nice for a birthday with those little extras and shipping the item very early first class signed for … I think I’m going to have to put an announcement or edit each listing informing customers of possible shipping delays with royal mail again. Humph! At least it’s Bake Off tonight that will cheer me up! P
A shop announcement is the best way to do it, because that helpfully shows up at the top of all the listing pages too.
Don’t feel bad though, the review still reads really positively, and there’s nothing you could have done about the slow post. I fear there’s going to be a lot of those kinds of reviews if people do just go by Royal Mail’s recommended dates.
Thanks Jess, I’m umming and arrrhing about contacting them… Tbh not sure what folksy would be able to do. I’m all for reviews but the reasoning for this one feels a tad unfair for sure. Anyways your paper is divine and I hope your having an awesome time on Folksy right now. Sending a Big High five for ya!! Xx
Thanks, I’m trying to keep my chin up … I’ll be honest it got me a little upset but tomorrow’s a new day. I read your previous posts on chats about this before and your advice really helped. It’s just nice to know there are people to talk to about it. Xx
As Kim says, it is a positive review overall, and most people would read it and say well the delivery was out of your hands!
See how you feel tomorrow as I always find when you get something unexpected like this our initial reaction is to feel quite upset when actually after a while we see it as not quite so bad as we first think.
Thanks for the high five! I still can’t believe that Folksy wanted to feature me…me!
I course they wanted to feature you! Your paper is beautiful and brightens up my Instagram daily… I keep imagining collaging birds using your papers xx
I do feel like things have been moving that way for a while now though - way before the pandemic.
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