When a Parcel Is Late

Parcels run late. It is the most common thing that goes wrong in a small shop and it is almost never the fault of the seller, but it is always their problem, because the buyer has no one else to ask.

Answer before you have an answer

The worst version of a late parcel is silence. If a buyer asks and hears nothing for a day, they stop wondering where the parcel is and start wondering whether they have been had. A short reply saying you have seen the message and are checking is worth more than a detailed one sent tomorrow.

Check the tracking yourself

Do not send the buyer to the tracking page and leave it there. Read it, and tell them what it actually says in plain words, including when it says nothing useful. People accept bad news far better than they accept being handed a job.

Know the clock the carrier uses

Most carriers will not treat an item as lost until a set number of days have passed, and will not accept a claim before then. Knowing that number means you can say exactly when you will act, rather than saying you will keep an eye on it, which sounds like nothing.

Overseas is a different animal

International parcels can stop for customs charges the recipient has to pay, and those requests often look like a scam to someone not expecting one. If you ship abroad, say so at the point of sale, so the email arrives expected rather than alarming.

Decide your position in advance

Work out now what you do when a parcel is genuinely lost, and whether you replace, refund or claim. Deciding it while a disappointed buyer waits produces a worse answer than deciding it calmly on a quiet afternoon.

Late parcels do not damage a shop. Being hard to reach while one is late does.