VTR Saga continued - Royal Mail 2nd Class BPL with Click & Drop
Hi guys,
I’ve had my seller fulfilled listings briefly turned off again this week because of VTR. This is the third time.
As per Amazon’s policies untracked items are fine to be exempt from the VTR calculation (Royal Mail 1st and 2nd Class) as long as they are entered exactly as worded at the point of dispatching an order.
First I was told last June or July that I had to enter it as follows
Carrier = Other, Royal Mail and “2nd Class” as the service name (all manually written in when OTHER selected)
So of course they then prevailed to disable my listings. I spoke to them again in November and this time was told to use ‘Royal Mail’ but to use ‘2nd Class Stamps/Franking’ as the option to ensure not being penalised by VTR again. So I did exactly as instructed again
Sure enough yesterday morning I wake up to that mail, seller fulfilled listings gone again. This time I have again asked what they want me to enter it as, they want ‘Royal Mail’ as carrier and simply ‘2nd Class’ as the service (Where 2nd Class BPL is being used via Click & Drop with an OBA).
Given that I have literally zero trust of these people I was wondering if anyone else here who uses Royal Mail 2nd Class (BPL Vat exempt service) via an online business account with Click & Drop can confirm what is actually working for them?
Any help appreciated, thank you.
Luke
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Yes click and drop was overwriting your stamps/franking with 2nd class which is invalid unless they are parcels
Now that you’ve turned off the mark as despatched on channel, they will stay as stamps/franking and your VTR will eventually drop to n/a which is acceptable
No
If you’ve switched off the despatched confirmation, no tracking at all will go across
If sending items Tracked48 you’ll need to manually enter the details
17 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
Code BPL through click and drop is Invalid for VTR
If you are manually marking them as despatched by stamps/franking then it looks like your c&d is overwriting that.
If you want to continue using BPL you need to make sure your c&d settings to mark your amazon orders as despatched are switched off
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
Hey The Little Shop thanks for the reply, just went into RM CD and unticked Mark orders as despatched on channel for Amazon.co.uk
So you reckon that Royal Mail 2nd Class Stamps/Franking is the correct thing to select and my click & drop setup may have been overriding it? (you were right, marking orders as despatched on channel was indeed turned on)
(Will the tracking numbers for stuff that actually is tracked still be auto added to Amazon for Tracked 48 etc?)
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
They were all letter/large letter so it will have been doing all of them over then.
The vast majority of my stuff is 2nd Class BPL, so I guess the best option is indeed to manually enter tracking numbers for tracked stuff
Can I also ask what the deal is for Royal Mail 2nd Class Signed for (BPR) - should that just be entered as stamps/franking to? or should I actually enter it as Royal Mail / 2nd Class Signed for and manually adding the signed for ref should cover me?
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
True, saying that nor does tracking when they just reply “you didn’t provide sufficient evidence to prove delivery etc”.
I am VAT registered, but I use BPL over the RM48 equivalent for large letters simply because theres no compensation on the RM48 services. It’s quite rare that I will send stuff signed for, its just when stuff is in that pricing middle ground that doesn’t quite justify tracked 48 but you’d be a bit worried to send standard 2nd Class that I use it (for letters, rarely every large letters as tracked 48 LBT would cover that)
Do you guys have experience with RM48? does the delivery confirmation actually protect you from A-Z Guarantee claims in the UK?
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
“It doesn’t protect you from a-z claims but reading the forums, nor does door to door courier with photographic evidence and GPS etc”
I can fully back that, I used DPD with delivery photos etc for a while, literally a photo of the customer smiling with your item while on the phone to Amazon saying “Nah its not here” isn’t enough Lol.
My claims are volatile, but there can be quite a lot sometimes. Because of the Christmas slowdown I get battered every year so if RM48 was as slow as BPL in Nov-December I’d lose quite a lot of money, but if RM48 was still running approximately on time and was being properly delivery scanned it would help.
I will run the numbers on my Large Letters etc later and see if its viable. For now I really appreciate your responses this morning you’ve been very helpful - hopefully I’ve had my account turned off for the last time for VTR. Thanks for the help The Little Shop, and thanks also to BOB1 for replying.
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
I don’t doubt for a second that a good number of them are unjustified yeah. Wow thats incredible, it would indeed be nice to not log in to several a day so I’ve mailed my RM Account manager about what to select in click & drop and what bag tag I need to use (Assume RM48 CRL has its own type) and I will try it for large letters then.
I get what you are saying, if it stopped a load of dodgy claims and is a little more reliable than 2nd Class then what I save on the postage could actually cover the few that genuinely don’t get there. Nice one
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
Ahh so its literally treated just like 2nd Class BPL?
Just literally the green one with a manifest number on it and poster number?
If I have normal letters on BPL and large letters on CRL48 would they need separating do you reckon?
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
2nd Class Letter rate (BPL) is £0.51p I think and not subject to VAT
STL even cheaper? Assume its a + VAT service but doesn’t carry compensation?
I’ll mail account manager on that one too
Seller_P91KAof0AAOAm
Ah ok, will stick to BPL for letters for now Thanks again