Many items are already showing post-Christmas estimated delivery dates, eBay warned sellers in the UK on Wednesday and suggested they use couriers to fulfill orders – though it didn’t suggest who should pay for the expedited delivery costs.
“By opting to use faster, tracked services, this will enable items to show estimated delivery dates before Christmas, which could help to boost last-minute sales,” eBay told sellers. “Just remember to upload tracking information before the latest estimated delivery date.”
eBay blamed ongoing strike action by members of the CWU at Royal Mail and Parcelforce for the delays.
“We recommend using eBay delivery by Packlink where you can purchase Tracked labels at a discount,” it said. “Or, non-account customers can use Royal Mail Tracked, which has a later last posting date, for the same price as untracked until January.”
Even shipping services whose employees are not striking are bringing forward holiday shipping cutoff dates, eBay said, presumably due to higher volume as shippers seek alternative services.
eBay said it would automatically protect sellers’ performance until December 31, see the full announcement on the eBay UK seller announcement board.
