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Royal Mail International Shipping Updates

Update, 30th January 2023 @ 12:03

  • Royal Mail have now fully-resumed their International Tracked shipping service.
  • All International orders continue to be despatched as normal.

Parcels shipped via Royal Mail International may face slight delays in the shipping network and they may also offer fewer tracking updates than normal whilst the carrier recovers from the recent Cyber Attack, but other than that it’s business as usual.

Update, 28th January 2023 @ 12:16

All International orders continue to be despatched as normal, however parcels that weigh under 2kg are likely to face delays in the delivery network since these are shipped via the Royal Mail International Tracked service.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY ORDER WEIGHS UNDER 2KG?
If your shipping charge is less than £12.00 – your order weighs less than 2kg.

WHY ARE THERE DELAYS WITH THIS SERVICE?
Although their International services have now resumed, they are currently working around the clock to clear any backlogs in their network that were caused by a recent Cyber Attack on their export systems. Due to this, delays are very likely to occur until those backlogs are cleared.

HOW LONG ARE THE DELAYS?
Unfortunately we have not been provided with any timescales of how long these delays are likely to last — but we will keep this page updated with any news that may come to light. Additionally you can check the Royal Mail website for updates.

INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING ADVICE
If you are prepared to wait a little longer than the usual 2-10 business days for your order to arrive – go ahead and order.

If you need an order more urgently — we can ship your order via another carrier (UPS, DHL, FEXEX and DPD provided shipping services to most locations). Please reach out to us with a note of the products & quantities required, as well as your full shipping address and we will provide a quote.

Additionally, we are currently in the process of adding these additional shipping options to our website, so that you select your preferred carrier during Checkout. We hope to have these new options added by early next week.

Thanks for your continued patience and understanding.

Update, 26th January 2023 @ 17:41

As a brief recap of our earlier announcement, and in a fresh and finally positive update — Royal Mail (our chosen Shipping Partner for International parcels weighing under 2kg) have been undergoing a Cyber Attack on their parcel Export systems.

This meant that parcels could not be exported from Royal Mail’s International logistics centre here in the UK, since they were unable to electronically transfer Customs data to the receiving country.

Although this Cyber Attack has since been well-documented in many mainstream media outlets, and additionally in daily updates released by Royal Mail — we were not advised of any such issue until January 18th.

WHICH ORDERS ARE AFFECTED?
All parcels weighing under 2kg, with shipping addresses outside of the United Kingdom.

IN MORE POSITIVE NEWS…
Royal Mail have today resumed the export of shipments to all International destinations.

Although the ‘International Tracked’ service has not yet been reinstated — the ‘Tracked & Signed’ service has. This is effectively the same service that we normally use, but it also requires a signature at the time of delivery. To help avoid adding any further delays to orders, we have therefore upgraded all International shipments to the ‘Tracked & Signed’ service.

Orders placed between 11th-17th January: these orders were already in the shipping network awaiting Export from Royal Mail’s International logistics hub. For technical reasons, these parcels have been re-admitted under a new tracking number. Your tracking details (if not already issued) will be sent via email once the first tracking scan occurs — we expect this to be within 24hrs of this update being published.

Orders placed between 18th-26th January: these orders have been despatched today, 26th January. Tracking details will be emailed to you once the first tracking scan has occurred — we expect this to be within 24hrs of this update being published.

Kindly note: Although Royal Mail have now resumed exports, processing of parcels is still likely to take longer than usual whilst they work around the clock to overcome backlogs. Additionally, they have advised that limited tracking information may be available until your shipment reaches its destination country — so do not be alarmed if you see fewer tracking updates than usual. We continue to ask for your patience.

OUR SINCEREST OF APOLOGIES…
This is certainly not the usual level of service that we set out to provide to our customers.Whilst shipping delays can occur at any point and we do not take responsibility for any such issues that may arise…
On this occasion we have decided to reach out (via email) to those that have been severely impacted by these delays, offering a partial refund as a gesture of goodwill. This applies to all International customers whose order was placed between 11th-25th January, and not despatched within 1 business day.

QUESTION: CAN I STILL CANCEL MY ORDER?
Unfortunately orders can no longer be cancelled. All orders have now been despatched/ are in the shipping network, and we have no way of recalling them.

QUESTION: HOW MUCH LONGER WILL I NEED TO WAIT?
This will vary based on destination, and also depending how quickly Royal Mail work through their backlog of International parcels. The only thing we can say for sure is that the carrier is working around the clock to ensure services return to normal as quickly as possible.

QUESTION: HAS MY DATA BEEN LEAKED?
The Cyber Attack on Royal Mail’s systems is not believed to have resulted in a data leak. In any case, even if it did later come to light that there was a data leak – please rest assured knowing that no customer payment details are ever passed on to our carriers.

Original announcement, 18th January 2023 @ 13:28

IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING THE ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL TRACKED SERVICE
(Applies to all parcels being shipped outside of the United Kingdom and weighing under 2kg)

As you may have seen in the major media outlets recently, our International delivery partner (Royal Mail) are currently facing an ongoing Cyber Incident. Unfortunately this means that International Orders shipped via Royal Mail are subject to delays.

The Carrier has yet to announce the date of which they expect normal services to resume — but they are working around the clock to rectify and have now started to roll out exports again to some destinations.

Already placed an order?
Orders placed between 11th-17th January are currently in the delivery network awaiting processing by the carrier.
Unfortunately there’s not a great deal we can do except ask you to remain patient, since your parcel is already in the network.

Orders placed from 18th January onwards cannot be despatched until the carrier begins accepting International parcels again. Unfortunately we do not yet know when this will be. If you cannot wait, please reach out to us & we can either cancel & refund your order, or we can look at alternative (paid) shipping options for you.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this incident may cause. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact us. You can also view updates on the Royal Mail website, here.