Royal Mail 2nd class letter & VTR
so I had this problem probably 2/3 years ago then with the 1st and 2nd class franking / stamps it was sorted now its raised its head again and im back down to 19% I haven’t changed anything but obviously amazon have I have spoke to them and 3 days later im waiting for a link they were going to send me i use drop off at the Royal Mail as when we joined Royal Mail pick ups it just wasn’t viable for our business we don’t get tracking numbers for our letter post only large letter how can I sort this ?
37 replies
Seller_SITNVuZK87zGK
If you have been marking your shipments as stamps/franking or similar, you now can’t as it will negatively impact VTR. The policy change was about a month ago.
For Royal Mail letters, where there is Ono tracking numbers, you basically need to purchase via Amazon buy shipping.
Large letters or parcels, you can provide the Royal Mail tracking number and it should be ok (though you will still receive warning emails of low VTR if Royal Mail fail to scan the parcels on delivery, Amazon state they are validating the tracking codes are genuine in these instances)
Seller_OwG9GSKW67FuC
Just jumping in on this one as I’m a new seller and was concerned about VTR as for our first couple of orders we used 2nd Class stamps bought from the Post Office and was told by support that as long as we use Franking as the option it won’t affect our account health so I’m confused here. This is the reply I got from support:
Kindly note that the VTR is exempted for Domestic Orders delivered through a carrier which is not integrated with Amazon and Domestic deliveries dispatched through untracked delivery methods, for example Royal Mail Stamps/Franking and hence should not affect your account health.
Seller_OwG9GSKW67FuC
I agree it’s very confusing especially for a new seller 
Okay so I need to buy my 2nd class postage direct through Amazon then goibng forwards and hope that the 2 deliveries I’ve already made don’t get my account shutdown before I get going.
Where it mentions buying your postage from Amazon at no extra charge is that actually true? I.e. Does a 2nd class stamp only cost 75p through Amazon as it does direct from the Royal Mail?
Apprechiate the help so far.
Seller_3b0QT0C3NZILD
Hi there,
Sorry to jump on this post. I thought I had an understanding of this but as my VTR % isn’t moving I clearly don’t either.
We send everything large letter second class through the Royal Mail OBA portal to get the reduced price using the BPL2 service which does provide the 2D scan when delivered. I thought this would cover it from reading the forums but I am currently sitting at 8%.
I have linked by Royal Mail account with Amazon but Is my understanding correct that if I buy direct from Amazon for Large Letter that I will not receive the same discounted rate of postage? So is my only option to take the hit and pay more postage direct from Amazon.
I’m not in the VAT threshold so RM48 isn’t cost effective.
Seller_xCICcqznMbTGC
just a quick heads up on this subject I post mostly 2nd class letter post items my VTR went down to 16% when I phoned amazon it seemed the only way around it was to buy the postage from amazon I spoke to my post master and explained the problem and that we need a tracking number for everything posted he’s come up with a solution he puts our postage through as large letter post which produces a tracking number then adjusts the charges to a 1st or 2nd class fee im back up to 44% now so it definitely works
