French Postage Trends

I have sold items to France and the rest of the World for quite a while now. About 18 months ago I noticed a trend where French customers seemed to claim more frequently than any other nationallity that items had not been received.

Over the last year I have been keeping a close check on items that have been claimed to be undelivered with some startling results. My records indicate that 16% of French customers who bought from me reported that their item was not received, this includes 1 'signed for' recorded delivery. Possible reasons for this could be:

• I was just unlucky
• The French may have the worst postal system in the World
• The items were delivered but reported as not

How can you get round this:

• Send all items recorded delivery to France
• Stop selling to France

After France, I found the next worst place to send items is Holland with 3% reported as not received followed by Belgium and Argentina on 2%. Internal UK postage had just 0.3% reported as lost in the post. USA, Australia, Germany and rest of World less than 0.5% combined losses.

Changes in trends.

I have noted that since E-bay changed the feedback policy (sellers no longer leave negative or nuetral feedback) items reported as not delivered have greatly escalated to all destinations in particular Western Europe. I have given more refunds for this reason over the last 6 weeks (since this came into force) than over the previous 18 months. Sadly, I find myself shifting towards a 'Seller' policy where by all items will have to be sent by recorded delivery regardless of value.  

Update on Recorded Delivery Outcomes

As of 10th Sepember I have been sending all items by recorded delivery for about 2 months - since shifting to this policy zero items reported as missing.......and yes this does include items sent to France.......conclusion - RECORDED DELIVERY SOLVED THE PROBLEM AND BUYERS DON'T SEEM TO MIND PAYING THE EXTRA COST.