Esty system does not correctly reflect Royal Mail tracking delivery status

[BoardgameBling3D]

UK seller here. I have an order that I posted with UK Royal mail 48 hour tracked service. I entered the tracking number and marked the order as complete. The buyer has received the order, but is unable to leave feedback as the system hasn't updated with the correct delivery status. If I go to the Royal mail link for the tracking number, the Royal Mail website records the item as delivered.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Etsy uses aftership to track, and aftership does not work with Royal mail.

It's rubbish

CraftyCornishMaids

[BagmakerSupply]

@BoardgameBling3D  Forgive my ignorance about the postal system in Great Britain but aftership shows that is works with UK Mail but does not list Royal Mail. Are these two different postal services?

[Marmalady]

@BagmakerSupply 

Yes, they are different

Royal Mail is the national postal service ( equivalent to USPS in the USA)

UK Mail is a private company (formerly known as Business Post Group) equivalent to UPS or Fedex etc

So whilst Aftership integrates with a large number of private courier companies in the UK, they do not integrate with the national postal service that I would imagine the majority of Etsy sellers use for their packages.

The refusal of Etsy to follow tracking on anywhere but Aftership further increases the obstacles for UK_based 

[BoardgameBling3D]

So this order will never be marked as delivered?

Don't suppose you know a way to contact Etsy support directly via email?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

you can contact etsy support, but they seem to be having problems at the moment

this is the link for callback, I used it last night, it wasn't very helpful

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling&fbclid=IwAR3XJULkao3ZPR8XcOEf2A7143n87Xt...

and this is for e-mail

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling#issue_update_account_email-contact_selec...

CraftyCornishMaids 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@CarpetCollectionAU 

It looks like I am now back in the land of CraftyCornishMaids, a

Thank you @thatregina 

and I am no longer a community curator. I had a message in my feed
You ranked up to
Community Maker

[CarpetCollectionAU]

Thank God!! You are back to your normal self @CraftyCornishMaids 

You are even a Community Maker again.

Thanks to @thatregina. I had a feeling in my gut that she would come through for you!!!

What a pity you cannot update your original Thread with this good news.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Thank you, it is a shame, I can't reply to let people know

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@CraftyCornishMaids I am sure they will see the changes to your Forum Name and status.

Now may be a good time to restore some listings as I am sure you will get a lot of support in the next days.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

hmmm , not sure,

they still haven't actually answered the question that started it off!

[CarpetCollectionAU]

@CraftyCornishMaids I Know. (Sad Face) It is frustrating but, at least, your issue has been resolved so we know what can be done even if it should not have to be done or why it occurred in the first place.

[Marmalady]

The order will never be marked delivered.

The buyer will eventually be able to leave a review once Etsy have deemed sufficient time has elapsed -- this is a calculation based on your processing time, the delivery times for the shipping method used plus a few days

Contacting Etsy will not help -- they will just look up the tracking number using Aftership again so will see no progress. They will not go to RM's tracking site.

[EngravedGlassDirect]

Is this a new thing that Royal Mail isn’t being updated?  

I’ve been shipping all of my orders with Royal Mail (2nd class signed for) and updating the tracking number - until this week these have automatically updated within 12 hours or so - of the 13 orders I shipped on Monday only three have updated even though 12 of the 13 have been delivered.

[DailyGrindd]

I am having this exact same problem 

[DailyGrindd]

.

[LeLightFantastique]

I have used Mondial Relay (from France) to domestic and most EU destinations for years with no problems with tracking.  For the last few months since Etsy switched their tracking service to 'Aftership', anything I ship with Mondial Relay now shows as 'pre-transit' when I mark the order as shipped and never updates, even after the item is successfully delivered.  Etsy's advice to me when I questioned this? 'use a different shipper'!  Why would I offer and charge for a more expensive shipping service just because Etsy uses a second-rate tracking service?!

[BoardgameBling3D]

Hmm. I added an untracked shipping entry, and very shortly after my buyer left feedback. Not sure if the two actions were related. But ultimately, don't enter a RM tracking number in etsy - message your buyer the link instead.