YAGA - NOT SUCH A PROBLEM-FREE WAY TO SELL ITEMS

YAGA are spending an absolute fortune on advertising, selling the idea that customers can SAFELY sell their previously loved items online. It takes you ages to enter all the information onto the YAGA app and then you select from a list of courier companies provided on their app/website.

PEP PAXI is really good as they capture all of the information that is needed. You have to provide your ID document, cell phone number (so know who the sender is) and barcoded tokens are scanned that indicate the size of the shipment bag and WAYBILL number. The "T" number (WAYBILL NUMBER) is also provided on the details of the buyer's order in the seller’s shop (under orders, as part of the order placed by the buyer). Perfect. The shipment can be traced no matter where it goes.

On the YAGA website, however, just before shipping at an ARAMEX COUNTER, you are required to type in the WAYBILL NUMBER of the shipment into a link on the YAGA app, that apparently goes through to Aramex. Heaven help you if you are sending an expensive item to a buyer and the app does not do its job, as with me. The WAYBILL NUMBER that I entered from the shipment packet, onto the link, did NOT transfer to ARAMEX, so the shipment is not traceable. All the buyer's information is available on your order but NO WAYBILL NUMBER. Here's the kicker; ARAMEX only track parcels using a waybill number. No sender, no ID required, no recipient, no recipient address.... since, in my case, the app did not transfer the WAYBILL NUMBER through to ARAMEX, the shipment cannot be traced. The oddest thing however is that, on the buyer's side, on the YAGA app, it states that THE SHIPMENT IS IN TRANSIT AND THEN IT WAS DELIVERED, so the funds she paid for the item, was paid over to me. Here's the second kicker: she had NOT received the shipment. On my YAGA app, it states that the parcel was shipped at the ARAMEX counter but nothing further is provided so my question is: did the shipment leave the ARAMEX depot??

Try as you will, you cannot speak to anyone at YAGA. Everything has to be e-mailed so it feels very much like you are dealing with AI – not human inter-action which I believe is not healthy at all for customer service excellence

I have been to Aramex in Pick 'n Pay, Ravenswood, Boksburg, spoken to the Manager in charge, who raised a Customer Care Manager in Cape Town by the name of Shamilla, who promised faithfully, in front of the Manager and the store Manager, to investigate and come back to me - I'M STILL WAITING!!! And, by the way, YAGA don't assist as have the following in their terms and conditions: "8.6. Shop YAGA is not liable for damages due to improper or inadequate packaging of any goods by the Seller. Additionally, Shop YAGA holds no responsibility for delays, parcel damages, or losses incurred during shipment, whether by integrated or non-integrated shipping services utilised by Portal Users. All claims related to shipments must be submitted directly to the respective shipping services." Then a further comment is added: "As we’ve mentioned before, when it comes to delivery, YAGA has no authority to obtain information from courier companies since we act as a third party in the process. Unfortunately, courier services do not share parcel details with us due to privacy and procedural regulations. Therefore, any inquiries about parcel tracking, delays, or other delivery issues must be addressed directly with the courier service."

There are no service level agreements with any of the shipping companies so that customers are protected from exactly this. YAGA is being awfully nice to shipping companies, as a third party, providing them business they don't really have to work for.

So, essentially, you will get no assistance, however, are welcome to enter your sale items on their app/website for which they receive a fee per sold item. Tough for you.... go back to the shipping company.

I have loaded so much clothing on the YAGA site and have spent more time trying to resolve courier issues, driving back and forth to courier drop off points to discover (as with PUDO), that the buyer has requested a small deposit box and the shipment does not fit in so you have to pay in R30 to change it to a medium box just so that the buyer gets their shipment). If your sale item is R70, work out what you get (less petrol and time, which is money in my book). It is not worthwhile.

I would sooner consider handing the clothing to someone that I trust will sell the clothing to individuals that are travelling home and REALLY want to take home good quality previously loved clothing clothing at a reasonable cost. I’d rather give 10 to 15% of the total sale to that person than waste my time the way I have been using the YAGA app.

The agony I have experienced is not worth the few sales I have made and the process is not as "GLAMOROUS" and simple as it has been portrayed in their advertising.

I'm exceptionally disappointed.