Postage options locked to Hermes Standard during prime trial
I am currently in the trial period for seller fulfilled prime and all my listings were switched to nationwide prime. The problem here is that my postage options when buying through amazon are now only one thing and that is Hermes standard drop off. This is a 2-3 days service and this has impacted my on time shipment and on time delivery for 4 parcels and when contacting Amazon I was told to contact Hermes and get a pdf letter regarding the delays in service. It should be noted that Hermes cannot provide any letter for service delay because there is no delay , the parcels are delivered in the 2-3 day window that they state for standard delivery. It is a drop off service so everyday I walk to the lockers with parcels since the cut off time I set was for 3pm. Has anybody ever had a similar problem or know a way to fix it because if I don’t do 90% of my shipping through amazon then I wont be eligible and yet the shipping option I’m locked into by amazon is causing a dip in other stats thus making me also ineligible.
21 replies
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
The simple option, is to buy the shipping elsewhere.
Whilst your in the trial, there is no need to purchase via Amazon, though the rules may have changed on this.
However, have you not linked your RM account to Amazon, in order to use the RM tracked services?
Without that, or onboarding to DPD or Amazon logistics, you won’t be able to do SFP anyway.
Seller_Zm6mSLypM9kp8
I’ve been using Hermes with SFP from last few months without any issues. Hermes has 2 delivery options, including next day and 2 days although all the postage labels I’ve printed had NXDAY on it. I’ve sent over 100+ parcels in last 12 months with Hermes with no issues.
Just like with other services, you need to ensure your parcel is picked and scanned the same day otherwise it will be a defect in on-time shipment.
Seller_xP0DP0j7MUIeg
@CandleDandy Dude I have exactly the same issue as yours. 100% in your situation. All other shipping options are greyed out for me. Only locked to Hermes 2-3 day dropoff. I have to also walk 30 minutes to and fro to Hermes locker to drop packages. I did that last week for 4 orders and now I have 4 defected orders in my prime trial. I have been able to link my Royal Mail click and drop account but yet I have to go out of Amazon to buy shipping for orders which still is a fail for prime trial performance. Please kindly update your post when you find a solution. I will do same. It’s really a frustrating situation. I even have Royal Mail as my priority shipping option yet it’s grey out and can’t be selected when trying to buy shipping. Only Hermes is available
Seller_KKcTTZzy6Jd6Q
There appear to be several issues all compounding into one huge mess here.
Firstly, the Hermes drop-off option is there as a failsafe for when no other options you have onboarded with are valid, even then it is only valid for SFP orders where the customer has chosen standard (2-3 day) delivery instead of premium (next day) if you attempt to use it for any premium orders you will be hit with metric defects across multiple categories.
You MUST complete the onboarding process with a courier of choice before starting the trial, the available couriers are: Amazon Logistics, DPD, Royal Mail (RM is only an option if you have a business account with next-day tracked services added to it)
The onboarding process with Amazon and DPD takes around 2-4 weeks, with RM, if you already have the right stuff on your account it takes less than a week.
I wasn’t aware this had been a rule at any point, when we completed the trial you had to despatch 50 orders which had a 0% defect rate (including the use of buy shipping) or 100 orders with a 1% defect rate.
On the other hand you’ve never been penalised for shipping with another courier during the trial other than the fact you fail the trial and have to start over.
I just found the SFP trial help page: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/202037700?language=en_GB&ref=ag_202037700_cont_home
100% of shipments must be despatched with buy shipping, in exceptional cases orders may be excluded from this if you have begun the onboarding process but not yet completed it…, So basically you can graduate from the SFP trial without actually being elligible to then use SFP… Makes perfect Amazon Sense.
