EBay Responds to the UK Postal Strike

Following the recent announcement by the Commercial Worker's Union that a national strike involving postal workers is likely to commence on the 18th October 2009 in the UK, eBay have issued the following statement with regard to their Dispatch Time DSR's for the duration of the strike, should it go ahead.

This is the eBay announcement in full.

"Today the Commercial Worker's Union has issued strike notice to Royal Mail. This means a national strike is possible from the 18th October.

We take this notice very seriously and recognise the negative impact that such action will have for sellers on eBay.co.uk and want to let you know what we are doing to mitigate the impact.

We're temporarily removing the option for buyers to rate sellers on the Dispatch Time Detailed Seller Rating from the start date of any national strike action.

We've expressed our concerns directly to the business secretary Rt. Hon Lord Mandelson that it is unacceptable many hard working small businesses selling on eBay are victims of a dispute that is beyond their control.

We're working with a number of alternative postal carriers to ensure sellers can provide the levels of service that are critical in the run up to Christmas."

Although this gives eBay sellers a little less to worry about in the run up to Christmas, the fact remains that deliveries will be severely delayed unless other, more expensive options are used.