Courier delivery times / Royal Mail / eBay seller reputation

[hayfield]

Sorry to drag this topic up but I think all eBay sellers should be aware that by using a delivery company rather than the Royal Mail may result their feedback being affected 

 

I have bought something off eBay, the seller took it immediately to the pick up point of the delivery company and was collected by the courier that day, within 2 days it had travelled to my local depot where it now has been for over 2 days and they seem to think it may still take till Monday to deliver.

 

I had similar issues back in Hertfordshire, which in the end seemed to be down to the quality of the final delivery staff. Who I must say turned up not in uniform and in a beat up old car

 

Why do people risk their seller feedback by using these types of service, when for items under £20 in value with proof of postage, the cost of Royal Mail is the same, and delivered in 2 days. This time I paid £5 P&P, not a cheap option for me and I have no issues with the price providing the item arrived well packed within a reasonable time frame, the seller had sufficient funds to pay for a tracked service and still had money to cover fees and packing

 

Sellers on eBay and any other platform, the service you provide to your buyers is as good as the weakest link, is it worth squeezing every last penny out of a deal risking a decline in your feedback ?

 

No I am not a postie or have any connection with the Royal Mail other than being a satisfied customer

 

Needless today I have both encouraged them to step up their game and emailed their CEO with my dissatisfaction 

[Metr0Land]

 

Why do people risk their seller feedback by using these types of service, when for items under £20 in value with proof of postage, the cost of Royal Mail is the same, and delivered in 2 days. This time I paid £5 P&P, not a cheap option for me and I have no issues with the price providing the item arrived well packed within a reasonable time frame, the seller had sufficient funds to pay for a tracked service and still had money to cover fees and packing

 

Not having a go at you but out here in the sticks some sellers will be between a rock and a hard place.  Nearest PO is 4 miles away which isn't bad when you consider how far some people have to travel to get to actual PO, but isn't on a direct bus.  Nearest PO on a direct bus is 7 miles away.  So a courier who collects from house (especially if you have infirmity etc) can seem more attractive, at least intially.

 

I've seen sellers inluded the description like 'I can only post Weds and Sat' or somesuch.  No idea  if buyers are sympathetic when they give feedback - I suspect not all are.

 

When I was a seller (not sold for about 5 years now) I never failed to post either the day it was paid for, or next working day, and sent buyers updates, yet still some scrotes don't give you a 5 when answering the question 'how quickly did seller dispatch item?'

[Guest]

I don't really care about ebay feedback and "reputations". If I sell something, I leave feedback for the buyer straightaway and always have done as a matter of course. A lot of the time, the buyer doesn't bother to reciprocate. That used to niggle me, but I got over it. As for not using Royal Mail, the poster above hits the nail on the head. If you have a post office in your town, consider yourself lucky.

It's often easier for me to use a service like Hermes which, for a little extra will collect from my door. I've not had any problems yet, and the items always arrive. Maybe not as fast as I (or the buyer) would like, but I'm sorry, that just isn't my problem. A slight "knock" to my so-called "reputation" isn't going to cause me any lost sleep.

Everyone now wants free postage and for the item to be delivered instantly. I constantly read about the woes of the buyer but it's not all plain sailing for the seller either. To actually make a small profit, rather than a loss, if something takes 5 days to be delivered by a non-uniform-wearing car driver, so be it.

Apologies if that sounded a bit like a rant... it was.

 

Edit: Living in a somewhat rural backwater, 1st Class hardly ever arrives next day and 2nd Class is more like 4-5 days instead of 2-3. Royal Mail is far from perfect, and we often go a couple of days without any delivery at all.

 

Edit edit: This has nothing to do with the OP at all, but goes to show that Royal Mail prices aren't exactly the most competitive. About a week ago I visited our nearest post office which had been shut for a week for a "makeover". The so-called "improvements" included turning everything open plan and reducing the number of windows from 4 to 3. A German lady next to me was attempting to send a small parcel (about the size of a mobile phone box) to Germany. When asked the contents and value she confessed that it contained jewellery and was valued at just over a thousand pounds. Imagine my surprise (and her face was a picture) she was quoted over £250 for delivery by courier, insured to the full value and trackable. HOW MUCH??? The thought occurred to me that she could have caught the train to Stansted and flown to Germany and hand-delivered the item for much less, including a night or two in a city centre hotel... Madness.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Pete 75C

[hayfield]

Not having a go at you but out here in the sticks some sellers will be between a rock and a hard place.  Nearest PO is 4 miles away which isn't bad when you consider how far some people have to travel to get to actual PO, but isn't on a direct bus.  Nearest PO on a direct bus is 7 miles away.  So a courier who collects from house (especially if you have infirmity etc) can seem more attractive, at least intially.

 

I've seen sellers inluded the description like 'I can only post Weds and Sat' or somesuch.  No idea  if buyers are sympathetic when they give feedback - I suspect not all are.

 

When I was a seller (not sold for about 5 years now) I never failed to post either the day it was paid for, or next working day, and sent buyers updates, yet still some scrotes don't give you a 5 when answering the question 'how quickly did seller dispatch item?'

 

 

If the seller is upfront with their issues over only sending the items on certain days I have no problems, I would suggest that if you are dependant on a company collecting the items from you again be upfront and warn folk

 

In my latest instance the seller took the item extremely quickly to the collection point, the item was picked up that day, national hub the following day and arrived at the delivery depot in the early hours of Wednesday, where it was still languishing this morning with an expected delivery date of Monday. The seller could have just as easily taken it to a post office

 

I did not expect free delivery and paid a reasonable P&P fee which was more than enough to cover Postage, packing and a bit over to cover fees etc. The seller reacted extremely quickly but the service fell down with their choice of courier. If I am to give an honest feedback appraisal as far as posting is required how can I give top marks

 

Low and behold after an email to the CEO and telling their customer service rep that a Monday delivery is unacceptable its being delivered this afternoon

[hayfield]

I don't really care about ebay feedback and "reputations". If I sell something, I leave feedback for the buyer straightaway and always have done as a matter of course. A lot of the time, the buyer doesn't bother to reciprocate. That used to niggle me, but I got over it. As for not using Royal Mail, the poster above hits the nail on the head. If you have a post office in your town, consider yourself lucky.

It's often easier for me to use a service like Hermes which, for a little extra will collect from my door. I've not had any problems yet, and the items always arrive. Maybe not as fast as I (or the buyer) would like, but I'm sorry, that just isn't my problem. A slight "knock" to my so-called "reputation" isn't going to cause me any lost sleep.

Everyone now wants free postage and for the item to be delivered instantly. I constantly read about the woes of the buyer but it's not all plain sailing for the seller either. To actually make a small profit, rather than a loss, if something takes 5 days to be delivered by a non-uniform-wearing car driver, so be it.

Apologies if that sounded a bit like a rant... it was.

 

Edit: Living in a somewhat rural backwater, 1st Class hardly ever arrives next day and 2nd Class is more like 4-5 days instead of 2-3. Royal Mail is far from perfect, and we often go a couple of days without any delivery at all.

 

Edit edit: This has nothing to do with the OP at all, but goes to show that Royal Mail prices aren't exactly the most competitive. About a week ago I visited our nearest post office which had been shut for a week for a "makeover". The so-called "improvements" included turning everything open plan and reducing the number of windows from 4 to 3. A German lady next to me was attempting to send a small parcel (about the size of a mobile phone box) to Germany. When asked the contents and value she confessed that it contained jewellery and was valued at just over a thousand pounds. Imagine my surprise (and her face was a picture) she was quoted over £250 for delivery by courier, insured to the full value and trackable. HOW MUCH??? The thought occurred to me that she could have caught the train to Stansted and flown to Germany and hand-delivered the item for much less, including a night or two in a city centre hotel... Madness.

 

 

I don't tend to sell that much, but having a big clear out, judging by the feedback that is left more often than not Royal Mail delivers the next day, this includes several rural addresses and one which surprised me was a rural address in the Scottish Highlands, the same goes for what I recieve which is usually next day for 1st class and 2 days for second

 

I to live in a village where the post office section has been revamped (2 open plan counters, one closed in counter) excellent service is provided.

 

Some items are expensive to send, and if I sell something that reaches that value I am happy to subsidise the postage cost. When I am buying I work out the maximum something is worth to me and deduct the P&P cost, I guess most others do the same

[Revolution Mike]

With the recent weather related problems there may well still be a backlog that companies are working through.  The seller may well not have many choices (it is rarely as simple as saying just take it to the PO if that isn't near/open when you can get there - one of the big advantages of some of the newer services is being able to drop things off in a local shop with longer opening hours).

 

Having said all of which is waiting a few days really worth marking down the seller? Unless you were promised next day delivery or a timed delivery, I'm not sure it is.  When I buy from Hattons/Rails/Kernow/wherever I'm typically given the choice of next day delivery/same day dispatch or 2-3 days plus any time until it is picked and sent etc.

[Ryde-on-time]

OP, out of interest, when you purchased the item what was the estimated delivery day given by ebay? Your expectations should be based on the info given in the listing, not how long a different delivery company would take. If the listing stated they would use a courier which could take perhaps 8 to 10 working days then you purchased on the basis of that?

 

I would only mark someone down if they failed to deliver what they promised, but as stated above it seems only fair to cut sellers some slack considering the recent bad weather

[Sir TophamHatt]

I rarely, if ever send with Royal Mail.

I haven't noticed a decline in my feedback.

[hayfield]

With the recent weather related problems there may well still be a backlog that companies are working through.  The seller may well not have many choices (it is rarely as simple as saying just take it to the PO if that isn't near/open when you can get there - one of the big advantages of some of the newer services is being able to drop things off in a local shop with longer opening hours).

 

Having said all of which is waiting a few days really worth marking down the seller? Unless you were promised next day delivery or a timed delivery, I'm not sure it is.  When I buy from Hattons/Rails/Kernow/wherever I'm typically given the choice of next day delivery/same day dispatch or 2-3 days plus any time until it is picked and sent etc.

 

Unless you dig into the postal descriptions it just said economy delivery, the fact is both the seller delivered the item and courier got it to the delivery hub in reasonable time. But then it just sat there doing nothing for nearly 3 days with an expected delivery date of Monday. They are a delivery company not a storage company. Weather has been fine down here since I won this item. The thing is that in the past I have had issues with this firm, especially when the driver claimed to have had a failed delivery attempt, when the packet had never left the local hub !

 

Quite often as well as receiving feedback I get messages confirming delivery some thanking me for the speed, whilst to cover my own back sometimes I quote economy delivery, I send all items 1st class. I appreciate good service, so I aim to give it. In this case the seller sent the item very quickly, but both of us in my opinion were let down by the courier 

[hayfield]

OP, out of interest, when you purchased the item what was the estimated delivery day given by ebay? Your expectations should be based on the info given in the listing, not how long a different delivery company would take. If the listing stated they would use a courier which could take perhaps 8 to 10 working days then you purchased on the basis of that?

 

I would only mark someone down if they failed to deliver what they promised, but as stated above it seems only fair to cut sellers some slack considering the recent bad weather

 

If it said 8 to 10 days then fine, recent weather was not an issue, it arrived less than 20 miles away 3 days ago !!. Other items I bought after also on economy delivery (and cheaper postage rates) arrived earlier. Don't these sellers deserve better marks ?

[hayfield]

I rarely, if ever send with Royal Mail.

I haven't noticed a decline in my feedback.

 

 

Why not try, you might get better feedback or messages

[40F]

I can`t see what all the fuss is about.

[TheSignalEngineer]

I use Royal Mail and two couriers who have drop off points closer than the Post Office. I had an issue with Royal Mail who have currently lost one of my postings and previously with DPD losing a parcel to me and Yodel leaving a box of books out in the rain outside my front door. My biggest gripe lately has been tracked deliveries which have reportedly been handed to me when I was 50 miles away.

[Revolution Mike]

Unless you dig into the postal descriptions it just said economy delivery, the fact is both the seller delivered the item and courier got it to the delivery hub in reasonable time. But then it just sat there doing nothing for nearly 3 days with an expected delivery date of Monday. They are a delivery company not a storage company. Weather has been fine down here since I won this item. The thing is that in the past I have had issues with this firm, especially when the driver claimed to have had a failed delivery attempt, when the packet had never left the local hub !

 

The recent weather since you won the item is irrelevant if there was already a backlog in the hub! Or a shortage of drivers again causing a backlog.

 

Whatever the reason I'm not sure that it matters - you weren't promised and you haven't paid for a particular service.  Yes, it is frustrating but I don't see that as the seller's fault - he can't know how a particular carrier behaves in your area.

[TheSignalEngineer]

I won an item the day before the bad weather started so wasn't expecting it to arrive until sometime this week. I was surprised by a knock at the door last Sunday lunchtime and there was the local Hermes man with my parcel.

[newbryford]

Sorry to drag this topic up but I think all eBay sellers should be aware that by using a delivery company rather than the Royal Mail may result their feedback being affected 

 

I have bought something off eBay, the seller took it immediately to the pick up point of the delivery company and was collected by the courier that day, within 2 days it had travelled to my local depot where it now has been for over 2 days and they seem to think it may still take till Monday to deliver.

 

I had similar issues back in Hertfordshire, which in the end seemed to be down to the quality of the final delivery staff. Who I must say turned up not in uniform and in a beat up old car

 

Why do people risk their seller feedback by using these types of service, when for items under £20 in value with proof of postage, the cost of Royal Mail is the same, and delivered in 2 days. This time I paid £5 P&P, not a cheap option for me and I have no issues with the price providing the item arrived well packed within a reasonable time frame, the seller had sufficient funds to pay for a tracked service and still had money to cover fees and packing

 

Sellers on eBay and any other platform, the service you provide to your buyers is as good as the weakest link, is it worth squeezing every last penny out of a deal risking a decline in your feedback ?

 

No I am not a postie or have any connection with the Royal Mail other than being a satisfied customer

 

Needless today I have both encouraged them to step up their game and emailed their CEO with my dissatisfaction 

 

 I had a discussion (more listening to) with a customer last week who was enquiring why his Royal Mail 48 package hadn't been delivered by the third day [*] - despite my observations that a large proportion of the UK was under snow didn't seem to wash as he was in one of those areas where there had been little or no snow.

We had no deliveries or collections for two days last week - his parcel had been collected the afternoon before the Beast from the East landed.

 

He was most adamant that we should be claiming a refund from the Royal Mail and that he never uses them.I never got chance to ask who his favoured delivery company was.

 

So there's a Royal Mail unsatisfied customer.

 

I don't think you'll find a delivery company with 100% satisfied customers as the British way  (and not just in the parcel delivery business) seems to be more complainants than praisers.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

[*] His parcel arrived about 20 minutes after the phone call so didn't require any messages to CEOs.

[adb968008]

Sorry to drag this topic up but I think all eBay sellers should be aware that by using a delivery company rather than the Royal Mail may result their feedback being affected

 

I have bought something off eBay, the seller took it immediately to the pick up point of the delivery company and was collected by the courier that day, within 2 days it had travelled to my local depot where it now has been for over 2 days and they seem to think it may still take till Monday to deliver.

 

I had similar issues back in Hertfordshire, which in the end seemed to be down to the quality of the final delivery staff. Who I must say turned up not in uniform and in a beat up old car

 

Why do people risk their seller feedback by using these types of service, when for items under £20 in value with proof of postage, the cost of Royal Mail is the same, and delivered in 2 days. This time I paid £5 P&P, not a cheap option for me and I have no issues with the price providing the item arrived well packed within a reasonable time frame, the seller had sufficient funds to pay for a tracked service and still had money to cover fees and packing

 

Sellers on eBay and any other platform, the service you provide to your buyers is as good as the weakest link, is it worth squeezing every last penny out of a deal risking a decline in your feedback ?

 

No I am not a postie or have any connection with the Royal Mail other than being a satisfied customer

 

Needless today I have both encouraged them to step up their game and emailed their CEO with my dissatisfaction

 

If you charge someone £5 for p&p and it’s a regular loco worth £20 i’d Be expecting a decent courier service for that price.

 

I think the issue is the seller is squeezing a few extra quid from postage.

 

I used to charge £4.50 and used 2nd class signed for RM, (£3.95 and ebay / PayPal charges 68p in fees = 13p less than i’m Being paid), but it wasn’t insured and people used to grumble and complain my p&p charges were unfair... it affected my seller ratings on p&p. The end sales price tended to be lower as buyers take postage into account of final price.

 

I now moved to Hermes, it costs £2.97 and is insured to £25, with tracking, and full value for a loco insurance with end to end tracking & signature is around £4.10.. I also changed my listings to free p&p. So far everything arrives in 2-3 days.

 

I have end to end tracking, even if it’s not fully insured. To date they lost 1 (though I suspect foul play by the buyer), Hermes refunded me the full cost of loss and the postage within 10 days. My seller rates are intact as you can’t denigrate a seller’s record on shipping when they offer free postage..and buyers tend to bid that few £ more because the shipping is free.

 

I’m not going back to RM, it’s slow, it’s uninsured and even when it’s signed for.. it’s not fully traceable, and buyers complain it costs them too much.

Edited March 9, 2018 by adb968008

[pH]

Since the topic title includes 'Courier delivery times', I think I can post this here, even though it doesn't involve Ebay.

 

My brother-in-law lives northwest of Houston, Texas towards Dallas. He's recovering from an operation, so I thought I would send him an out-of-print UK-published book I know he would like to help him pass the time. On Abebooks, I found a good copy at a reasonable price - from a bookseller in Dallas! Even better, when I entered a US delivery address, it became 'Free postage'. The bookseller uses a courier service which is a "USPS authorized shipping partner", which means it uses the US Postal Service for final delivery.

 

So the book was picked up from the seller on March 4. As of this morning, March 9, it is sitting in a courier service depot approximately 25 miles from the bookseller's location. But the courier hasn't been idle in the meantime. The book has been to Chicago and back. A definite disadvantage of couriers with a national hub in a country as large as the USA.

[New Haven Neil]

As Newbryford Mick and myself have discussed elsewhere, there are some folk who will never be satisfied regardless of acts of God or whatever affecting deliveries.  However we (Trackshack - not Mick and DCC Concepts, they can speak for themselves I'm sure!) send hundreds of parcels out a week by Royal Mail, and 99.9% arrive next working day.  So if we can manage that from here (some of which is due to fortuitous timing with links) then is it that folk just aren't as honest about when they really actually send stuff, and blame it on the post?  It's popular to moan about it, but we have little complaint with them.  (Said occasional acts of God/weather/failing planes excepted).

 

Its only when things go wrong, then they go REALLY wrong, usually after extreme weather events which is rare. 

[hayfield]

The recent weather since you won the item is irrelevant if there was already a backlog in the hub! Or a shortage of drivers again causing a backlog.

 

Whatever the reason I'm not sure that it matters - you weren't promised and you haven't paid for a particular service.  Yes, it is frustrating but I don't see that as the seller's fault - he can't know how a particular carrier behaves in your area.

 

Had that been the case I would be understanding, but it was not. At break neck speed the item was collected, sent to the national hub and delivered to the local delivery hub (Thurrock) there it languished for nearly 3 days. WEll passed the period for bad weather in this part of the country and as per a later reply, the Royal Mail not only delivered post and packets every day during the bad weather, they also managed to keep packets coming form other parts of the country on time

I won an item the day before the bad weather started so wasn't expecting it to arrive until sometime this week. I was surprised by a knock at the door last Sunday lunchtime and there was the local Hermes man with my parcel.

 

I do understand that Hermies like other couriers are as good as their weakest link, I think I am correct in thinking that the last leg of the service is carried out by self employed contractors with exceedingly low payments per package.

 

Certainly at my previous address this was the issue and by their own admission the contractor who serviced our area was unreliable. On the other hand other contributors on here have reported that their Hermes agent was far better than their person from the Royal Mail. 

 

The other thing with the likes of Hermes is you can see where the issues are by looking at the tracking information, the few items I have received via Hermes took far longer than the Royal Mail. Conversely all but a very few items I receive from the Royal Mail arrive next day with 1st class and the following day 2nd. As far as the late items go, normally it was due to the senders actually posting the items after they have sent them

 

 I had a discussion (more listening to) with a customer last week who was enquiring why his Royal Mail 48 package hadn't been delivered by the third day [*] - despite my observations that a large proportion of the UK was under snow didn't seem to wash as he was in one of those areas where there had been little or no snow.

We had no deliveries or collections for two days last week - his parcel had been collected the afternoon before the Beast from the East landed.

 

He was most adamant that we should be claiming a refund from the Royal Mail and that he never uses them.I never got chance to ask who his favoured delivery company was.

 

So there's a Royal Mail unsatisfied customer.

 

I don't think you'll find a delivery company with 100% satisfied customers as the British way  (and not just in the parcel delivery business) seems to be more complainants than praisers.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

[*] His parcel arrived about 20 minutes after the phone call so didn't require any messages to CEOs.

 

Mick

 

Had the package been held up on its way to Thurrock I would have completely understood it may have been a case of a hang over from the bad weather, in our area (and we were badly hit on the 28th and 1st) the Royal Mail were outstanding. But you are talking 20 mins. My packet had been languishing for well over 2 days (in to the third day) at the delivery hub and by their own admission likely not to have been delivered for another 3 days, until I showed some interest in it.

 

If you charge someone £5 for p&p and it’s a regular loco worth £20 i’d Be expecting a decent courier service for that price.

 

I think the issue is the seller is squeezing a few extra quid from postage.

 

I used to charge £4.50 and used 2nd class signed for RM, (£3.95 and ebay / PayPal charges 68p in fees = 13p less than i’m Being paid), but it wasn’t insured and people used to grumble and complain my p&p charges were unfair... it affected my seller ratings on p&p. The end sales price tended to be lower as buyers take postage into account of final price.

 

I now moved to Hermes, it costs £2.97 and is insured to £25, with tracking, and full value for a loco insurance with end to end tracking & signature is around £4.10.. I also changed my listings to free p&p. So far everything arrives in 2-3 days.

 

I have end to end tracking, even if it’s not fully insured. To date they lost 1 (though I suspect foul play by the buyer), Hermes refunded me the full cost of loss and the postage within 10 days. My seller rates are intact as you can’t denigrate a seller’s record on shipping when they offer free postage..and buyers tend to bid that few £ more because the shipping is free.

 

I’m not going back to RM, it’s slow, it’s uninsured and even when it’s signed for.. it’s not fully traceable, and buyers complain it costs them too much.

 

 

You have hit the nail on the head, I am not complaining about the £5 P&P and the item I won was for £5. I was happy to pay £10 for the item, as you said I paid sufficient money for the item to be sent without the seller subsidising the postage

 

Royal Mail 2nd class £2.90  (£3.90 recorded) insured to £20 either way would have been delivered in 2-3 days (not 3-5 days) and fully insured (both cheaper and quicker)

 

I would have sent it Royal Mail 1st class £3,40 (1 to 2 days delivery) and far cheaper whilst being filly insured with proof of posting, or waste 30 p extra for a recorded service with delivery 4 days sooner

 

By the way the seller re-cycled the packing, which I am completely happy with. Also looking at the costs involved tracking the item no profit was made on the postage after eBay and Paypal fees. But no one answered my previous remark, why should a seller who got an item to me 3 working days earlier with a similar economy delivery service receive the same marks ?

 

Please tell me with all being equal with regard to accessing the services, why should I spend more on an inferior service ?

[Sir TophamHatt]

Why not try, you might get better feedback or messages

Meh, I'm not fussed.

 

I am above seller standards, only sell occasionally and usually get 4/5 stars anyway. Messages written are fine - haven't had a negative or neutral about slow postage before.

 

Plus, the feedback system is a somewhat sham.

It's one sided (IE, sellers can't leave negative feedback) and not overly useful.

[40F]

At the end of the day it is all down to a persons personal perceived perceptions and expectations and everybody is different

Edited March 10, 2018 by 40F

[owentherail]

People seem to get pissed when you pay/charge £3-90 for postage and the actual price RM charge is £3-90, the box/packaging and brown paper if used is not included, so £5 is fair enough, so they see £3-90 on stamp and think "I paid £5 .... I'll give 3 stars for postage"

Postal charges are advertised so if you don't like it don't buy it... Simple. RM seem OK here as do Hermes, yodel not so.

[Legend]

I do find Royal Mail pretty reliable . And if they can’t deliver they take it to my local sorting office where I can collect it, perfect for me. So I do look at the despatch options listed by a seller on eBay . If they list a courier it may put me off bidding at all, or if it’s something I really want I’ll contact them on purchase and ask if they can send Royal Mail. Most people happy to do so. I don’t mind if it takes an extra day or so to arrive, although I don’t think that’s the case , an APT I acquired on Jan 6th arrived Jan 8th . For me it’s just the convenience of collecting from sorting office if I’m not in.

[Calimero]

I'm liking the click and collect option via Argos, brilliant as it's easy to pick up and the wife doesn't know!

 

I recently sold some motorbike gear on EBay, I didn't plan it to sell abroad but the buyer came from Bulgaria. He contacted me and asked for some quotes but specifically asked for me to not use Royal Mail as they are unreliable and overpriced. I sent it Hermes which aren't the greatest but I dropped it off at despatch point and he got in two days!