No tracking as hand delivered

[DottyDanglers]

I have lost 12% off my tracking star selling record because the order was just over £10 and there wasn't an option for hand deliver in the drop down list so I apparently picked Royal Mail. I'm new, so just learned about the £10 thing after this incident. The customer has confirmed in Messages that it was hand delivered and they also mention this in the review. Given I don't have many sales, this has made a huge dent in my scoring.

As a side note I'm driving an electric car and UK is not a massive place, with lots of my business cards being handed out locally, so Id prefer to drop locally rather than pay a diesel van to drive it there.

Will I continue to be penalised? And can this be retrospectively fixed so my business doesn't suffer?

[NanaLetha]

Yes, you will continue to be penalized if you hand deliver.

[ZehOriginalArt]

Below is how you mark a hand delivery as complete. NOTE: this method will negatively impact your shop score. Etsy "graciously" gave us this method, however neglected to do anything about the star scores (which is typical for Etsy, IMO). The only way to avoid losing stars if you are outside the US is to ship everything with tracking.

To mark hand delivered item as complete:

- Go to Shop Manager>Orders and Shipping.

- Click the update progress icon to the right of the order (circle & check mark icon).

- Click Complete Order.

- On the page that appears, look for the tracking number field. Under it is a line that says "This order doesn't have tracking". Click that and follow the prompts to select Local pickup or delivery.

[VintageRescueSquad]

Look at the specifications of star seller badges. Hand-delivered items simply will not count. So, if you want to hand-deliver, don't worry about the badge.

As to your last question: etsy has said that they will not manually adjust anything having to do with the badges.

[BagmakerSupply]

@DottyDanglers: "Will I continue to be penalised?" As has been mentioned in multiple threads in this forum, delivery or pickup is an allowed way to complete and order, but it will negatively affect your Star Seller stats. If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000338067-How-to-Offer-Local-Pickup-or-Delivery?segment=s...

"And can this be retrospectively fixed ..." There is nothing to fix. The Star Seller metric for shipping is very simplistic and binary - either you marked the order as complete on time with a verifiable tracking number or you did not.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Hand delivering can be problematic in the long run if done often.  Some shops have ended up on payment reserve.

Star seller information has all the information needed.  It's good to read it.

Nothing to fix sorry.

Also hand delivery lacks any sort of protection.  If the buyer opens a case, the seller will lose out since tracking is the way Etsy knows an item has been shipped.  

[Littlenameknits]

I use an old tracking code for all hand deliveries. Same one, just an old Royal Mail signed for code. Pop in the tracking box, gets accepted, end of issue. I message the customer to ignore the code as it's just for stats and that's that. I rarely hand deliver but when I have this is what I do. All other orders via tracked 48 and 24 put through Etsy shipping labels x

[5LittleSignDesignCo]

I have this problem before as well. I was told you can mark it as hand delivered but then also in the tracking put the numbers 1 2 3 4. And that way you don't get penalized and it counts as on time and also as a tracking number for hand delivery. Hope that helps.

[BagmakerSupply]

@5LittleSignDesignCo: This advice will NOT work - the tracking number entered has to be valid and verifiable to positively affect Customer Service and Star Seller stats. How can a fake tracking number be verified?

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

Yeah, not only is that incorrect but it’s also dishonest.

[NanaLetha]

@5LittleSignDesignCo  Who told you that? It will forever show pretransit.

[Natalya1905]

@DottyDanglers  Check if you need a license for your Pacman earrings. Also, as a UK seller, you must accept returns. 

[BagatellesFrance]

Send the receipt with the cheapest tracked stamp to the buyer and use that for tracking

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