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Parcel says delivered but not received? A UK seller's guide

Checked on 30 October 2026 against each carrier's and platform's own pages · General information, not legal advice

A parcel marked "delivered" that the buyer says never arrived is one of the most stressful problems for sellers. The carrier's tracking says the job is done. The buyer says it isn't. As the sender, you're usually the one who has to sort it out. This guide covers what each UK carrier's own pages say about who claims, how long you have and what evidence counts. It's written for private sellers and small online sellers posting their own parcels.

Before anything else: the first 24 hours

Royal Mail's help page for items shown as delivered gives a sensible checklist that works for any carrier. Ask your buyer to check:

• The address on the order and on your label. A wrong house number or postcode is the most common cause.
• Who signed. If the service took a signature, Royal Mail says the name shown is the one given by the person who accepted it.
• Other people at the address, the neighbours and any safe place. Evri's help page says the same: "check others in your household and your immediate neighbours".
• The delivery photo. Royal Mail says "For some items you may be able to see a photo of where the item has been left on our Tracking webpage." Evri and DPD also use delivery photos.
• A work address? Royal Mail suggests checking the post room or with colleagues.

Royal Mail adds: "If the item has been scanned as delivered today but it can't be located, this may be due to a rare scanning error. Please allow an extra day for the item to be delivered before contacting us." If the delivered scan was before today, it asks you to use its online contact form. Don't wait any longer than that. Some carriers' windows are short.

Who claims, and how long you have

This is what each carrier's or marketplace's own page says, checked on 30 October 2026. If a page doesn't give a figure, we say so rather than guess.

Only the person or company who bought the label has a contract with the carrier. If you booked through a parcel broker (Parcel2Go, for example), Evri says to contact the broker. Brokers may have their own time limits.

Royal Mail: shown as delivered, but not received

Royal Mail's delivered-but-not-received page doesn't give a deadline for this kind of query. It sends you to a contact form if the delivered scan was before today. If Royal Mail ends up treating it as a lost item, its loss policy says: "Claims for loss must be made within 80 calendar days of the date of posting". For Tracked 24 and Tracked 48, its terms changes page says claims "must be made within 30 calendar days of the eligible claim date". Royal Mail doesn't say on these pages how those windows apply to an item already scanned as delivered, so act as soon as the first 24 hours have passed.

The loss policy also says Royal Mail may ask for "a declaration of non-receipt (or proof of non receipt in appropriate cases)". In practice that means a short written statement from your buyer saying they didn't receive it. Ask for it early. More detail is in our Royal Mail lost parcel claim guide.

Evri: "delivered" usually counts as delivered

Evri's complaints procedure tells recipients: "If your parcel is delayed, marked as delivered but you do not have it, or arrived damaged, you should contact the sender". If you bought the label on Evri's website, you contact Evri through online chat. If you used "a third-party service, such as eBay or Parcel2Go, you should contact them directly."

Be ready for a tougher conversation than with a lost parcel. Clause 6.3 of the Evri terms says that for UK parcels you accept any of these as proof of delivery: a "delivered" tracking event, the delivery notification sent to the recipient, or "a photo of the Parcel over the threshold of the Address or a Neighbour's address or a Safe Place Photo". The terms also say a "Safe Place" shouldn't be an exposed doorstep or in public view. If the photo shows the wrong door, or a parcel left in plain sight, say so in your claim.

The claim window is the same as for any Evri claim: 28 days from the date you booked, strict for business senders (clause 7.3). See our Evri claim time limit guide for the evidence Evri asks for.

DPD: 14 days from sending, and a "denial of receipt" letter

Clause 5.4 of the DPD Online terms says DPD's responsibility ends when the parcel is delivered to the delivery address, a neighbour, a safe place or another agreed option. To claim, clause 10.1 says to tell DPD "within 14 days of the date that you sent your Parcel". It also says that "in the case of claims relating to a disputed delivery, we may ask the intended Recipient to complete a 'denial of receipt' letter". Ask your buyer early if they'd be willing to sign one. Standard cover is £50 per parcel unless you bought Extended Cover.

DPD's general Standard Terms & Conditions of Carriage, used for account customers, say "The recipient's signature, photograph of delivery location and/or Scan Record shall be evidence of delivery".

InPost: 14 days from the delivery date

InPost is the one carrier we've found with a rule written specifically for this. Its Queries and Complaints Policy says: "Claims relating to parcels which are designated "delivered" by InPost tracking (e.g. parcels designated delivered but which have not been received) must be submitted within 14 days of the delivery date." Its claims form gives the same 14 days. The policy also says: "Where you are the recipient of a parcel, we ask you to raise your query or complaint with the parcel sender in the first instance."

That's for labels bought on InPost's website or app, with cover up to £50. Vinted labels go through Vinted. InPost Direct (formerly Yodel Direct) has different terms: there's no separate rule for "delivered" parcels, and clause 9.2 of the InPost Direct terms says InPost Direct isn't liable for missing parcels it has delivered to the delivery point, or left in a safe place with details of where it was left. More in our InPost lost parcel claim guide.

Yodel

Yodel is now part of InPost. InPost's Yodel help page says "Your parcel is handled by InPost". If a shop or marketplace sent the parcel with Yodel, the contract is theirs, so the buyer should go to them. We couldn't find a claim window for parcels marked delivered on the Yodel or InPost pages we checked, so we list it as not stated.

Sold on Vinted: the buyer's 2-day window

If you used the Vinted label, Vinted deals with it. Under "Tracking says “Delivered”, but the parcel is not there", its shipping help page tells buyers: "Contact us within 2 days of the order status update. We’ll suspend the order and investigate further." Vinted's collecting a parcel page says the 2-day confirmation period starts once the status shows "Delivered", or 14 days when buying from a Pro seller.

• If the buyer reports it in time, the order is suspended and the payment held while Vinted investigates with the carrier.
• Vinted compensates sellers who used a Vinted-generated label up to £500 once the carrier confirms loss (Vinted help 1018). If you used your own label, Vinted says to contact the shipping provider directly, so the carrier windows above apply.
• Reply to the buyer in the Vinted order chat, not off-platform, so Vinted can see what was said.

More in our Vinted lost parcel guide for sellers.

eBay: buyer says item not received but tracking shows delivered

eBay's seller help page says: "If a buyer doesn't receive their item, they're entitled to a refund unless you can provide tracking information showing that it was delivered." When a buyer opens an Item not received request, "you've got 3 business days to resolve the issue". After that, either of you can ask eBay to step in.

• Add the tracking showing the posting date, delivery date and the address it was delivered to. If the order total is £450 or more, eBay says the tracking "should also show the signature confirmation of the recipient".
• Buyers have 30 calendar days from the estimated delivery date to report that an item hasn't arrived (eBay Money Back Guarantee).
• eBay's Simple Delivery page says prepaid-label items are protected "until they are marked as delivered by the courier". So a "delivered" parcel may fall outside that protection. eBay's help page also suggests reporting missing packages to the carrier you used.

Evidence to save (today, not later)

• A screenshot of the tracking showing the "delivered" scan, the date and time, and any delivery photo or signature name.
• Proof of posting: the receipt, drop-off scan or label confirmation.
• Proof of value: what you paid for the item, or the sale price and order details.
• The order address as the buyer entered it, and a copy of your label.
• Your messages with the buyer, including what they've checked (neighbours, safe place, household).
• A signed statement from the buyer that they didn't receive it. Royal Mail may ask for "a declaration of non-receipt", and DPD for a "denial of receipt" letter.

Template: delivered-but-not-received claim to the carrier

Copy this into the carrier's chat or form, and fill in the brackets. Keep it short and factual.

Tracking number: [number]. Service: [service]. Posted / booked on: [date].

Your tracking shows this parcel as delivered on [date] at [time] [to a safe place / to a neighbour / with a photo]. The recipient, [name], at [address and postcode], says they have not received it. They have checked the household, neighbours and the safe place shown.

[The delivery photo doesn't show their address because ... / There's no signature or photo.]

Please investigate and treat this as a claim for a parcel marked delivered but not received. I am the sender and bought the label on [date]. The contents were [item], value [£], and I can provide proof of posting and value. The recipient is willing to sign a statement that they didn't receive it.

Please confirm you have received this claim, and tell me the reference number and what else you need.

Not legal advice. Check the carrier's current terms before you rely on a date. If you're a business selling to consumers, your obligations to the buyer are separate from your claim against the carrier.

See every carrier side by side in our UK parcel claim deadlines guide.

Frequently asked questions

More guides

• How long to claim a lost parcel: every UK carrier
• Royal Mail lost parcel claim: how long you have
• Evri lost parcel claim: how long you have
• InPost lost parcel claim: 7 days and the Vinted route
• Vinted lost parcel as a seller