Any problems sending packages from UK via Royal Mail?

[Veloo]

I had an eBay seller cancel a purchase without prior notice with the reason being "Something was wrong with the buyer's shipping address."

I've never had this happen.

Got in touch with the seller and he told me:
"There seems to be a problem with buying postage for your address.... I have tried 5 times now!"

"Very strange. I tried to buy postage on the Royal Mail website 5 times and it didn't work"

I just received shipments from the Netherlands and Asia in the past week so I can't imagine covid is blocking his attempt to purchase postage from Royal Mail.

This is coming from the UK to Canada.

Anyone ever have this happen or know of any current blocks?

[ultraman6970]

Dude might got scared and bailed out?

[Veloo]

Suspected that.
Time Criterium pedals for 2.20 GBP and 13 GBP shipping. Won fair and square.

Seller does however have 100% and 6570 transactions.

Dude might got scared and bailed out?

[thirdgenbird]

I don’t know about a block, but I’ve been “waiting” for a package from the UK since early March.

[Toddtwenty2]

I ordered some Fishing gear from the UK via Royal Mail a couple months ago. They sent via Royal Mail, then it gets transferred to USPS stateside. It just arrived yesterday after getting stuck in customs for a month and the local hub for another 2-3 weeks.

Perhaps the backlog in customs just got too large that they stopped?

[htwoopup]

Not necessarily a block...as was mentioned above the backlogs are crazy. My daughter who runs supply chain for a very large company said that everybody's supply chain/ inventory/ shipping corporately and personally around the world is totally fubared in ways you can't even imagine. She said this to me when I was asking advice on what to do on something that I had ordered on March 15 from Japan that was shipped that I hadn't received. Of course, it finally showed up today.

I know of one other package from the UK to Quebec that my wife managed to track to the truck it left on to the airport but can't find it and haven't received it. That was ordered on April 5.

Remember, flights are backed up, customs is backed up, in places that are working like shipping companies the protocol on how to handle things/ social distance/ etc is necessary but necessarily slowing down the process. This virus has done a lot to commerce. Oh, and it's killed people too so I am not so worried about my packages. I figure under the umbrella theory, once I am not expecting them and I don't even care if they ever show up is when they will magically appear.

Of course, your situation of "I can't buy postage" seems incredibly hard to believe. Perhaps if you offered to have send the postage preprinted or something that might get him to get it done or fess up. Then again, a deal that's too good to be true...


And, because this bugged me, I reconnected to the internet using my vpn set to London. I went to the Royal Mail website and was able to buy postage from London using a friend's address to send to my address in Mont Tremblant QC Canada with no problem.

So, methinks the guy is fos.

[Veloo]

I think he wants to relist in the hopes of getting more than a couple quid.

I was also able to complete a Royal Mail shipping transaction twice.

He's refunded me already before even reaching out to me.

[MikeD]

I don't know what is going on with the USPS right now, but they are very slow with their deliveries. I'm still waiting for a package that was shipped on June 4th.

[Brian Cdn]

I think he wants to relist in the hopes of getting more than a couple quid.

I was also able to complete a Royal Mail shipping transaction twice.

He's refunded me already before even reaching out to me.


Pretty lame on part of the seller. I wonder if you could lodge a complaint with eBay?

[vitaly66]

I dunno, could be legit. I wanted to order something from SJS in the UK a few weeks ago. Have ordered from them before last year, good prices and reasonable shipping to the US via Royal Mail.

This time around though, Royal Mail wasn't even given as an option, and the alternative was exorbitant. As a result, I did not complete the order.

So yeah, I think something could be up with the Royal Mail option not being available.

[jkbrwn]

RM have upped their costs to the U.S. by 100%. Probably not worth the cost versus using a courier from the retailers perspective. The chance of a lost parcel at the moment is very high using RM versus a courier, leading to customer dissatisfaction and a damaged reputation.

My mum has sent me a few packages over the last few months. Each has taken *over* four weeks to reach California from London. I was sent a few birthday cards in April and they all took over three weeks. For a card.

[thirdgenbird]

I don’t know about a block, but I’ve been “waiting” for a package from the UK since early March.

Hey! this arrived Friday. I had given up on it quite a while ago.

[Veloo]

Seller replied.
He was able to enter in address but when it came time for payment, he was getting some kind of rejection.

Cleared it out somehow as I got a shipment notification today from eBay.