What fuzz obstructs
A blurred photograph is not a cosmetic problem, because it removes your ability to judge two weighted positions at once. Stitching density and hardware are worth 1.2 each in the scorecard, and a soft image makes both unreadable, which drops a parcel that should have scored above 85% into the middle band and forces a second round of correspondence.
1. Open the image at full size before deciding it is unusable. 2. Check whether the blur is at the border or across the whole frame. 3. If the item itself is sharp and only the edge is soft, score the position and carry on rather than sending a request.
Our QC set holds 23 flags across 85 curated entries — label 11, edge or border 6, hardware 4, stitching 2 — and the 12 non-label positions are the ones a soft frame puts out of reach (Recorded). Blur blocks unevenly, so run the arithmetic before writing any message: score the unreadable position at zero, add the parcel back up, and if the total still clears 85% the retake changes no decision at all. 1. Zoom to 100% and mark which flagged position falls inside the soft area, then check the second frame from the same session, because one soft corner is camera shake while two soft corners are a camera setting. 2. Treat a 1.2-weight position as the trigger, since stitching density or hardware alone can pull a parcel under the 60% line and force a second exchange (Recorded). 3. File the retake on the same day when the arithmetic justifies it, because the free storage window starts at the inbound scan (Recorded) and it is the second and third loops, not the first, that push a parcel past it and into the next dispatch week.
Enquiry that succeeded
"Please retake the clasp photo at about 20 cm in daylight with the zip half open and no flash, so the stopper is readable." That sentence produced a usable photograph in 6 hours on our recorded case, and every clause in it removes a decision from the person holding the camera: which part, how far, what light, and what state the item should be in.
1. Name one part per request. 2. Give a distance in centimetres. 3. State the lighting and forbid the flash, because a flash reflection is what made the original image unreadable.
An acceptance clause is what stops a working request from becoming a second request: close the message with the test the photographer can run before sending, such as 'the stopper must read clearly at 100% zoom on a phone screen' (Recorded wording, answered in 6 hours). Add a scale beside the part — a 10 cm ruler or a coin of known diameter — because a soft frame with a reference can still be measured, while a soft frame without one cannot be scored at all (Recorded). 1. Keep every position inside one message and number them, rather than opening a separate thread for each, so a single reply closes them all and the 6-hour path is not restarted (Recorded). 2. Request two distances together, roughly 20 cm on the flagged part and 40 cm on the item in place, since a close-up alone cannot show where that part sits on the parcel. 3. Send before the packing queue opens, because once the parcel is marked outbound the same question changes from a photograph into a claim about the item rather than a correction to the image.
Enquiry that flopped
"The photo is too blurry, please send a clearer one." That sentence took 2 days to answer and came back with a photograph taken from the same distance in the same light, because it named no part, no distance and no lighting condition. The reply was not unhelpful; the request was simply not actionable.
1. Read your own draft and count the measurable instructions in it. 2. If the count is zero, the request will be answered with the same image and a longer delay. 3. Rewrite with one distance and one lighting condition before sending.
The vague request in our record cost 2 days and came back with the same framing from the same distance (Recorded), and three habits reproduce that result: an adjective where a measurement belongs, a question where an instruction belongs, and a lighting condition described nowhere. A request that scores zero on measurable instructions is not lazy; it is simply unanswerable in one pass, which is why the reply is the frame already sitting on the phone. 1. Ask a question and you get an answer, because 'is the stitching loose?' earns a sentence of reassurance while 'photograph the inner seam at 15 cm in daylight' earns a file you can score. 2. Name the light as well as the distance, since 5 of the 6 border flags in our sample were artefacts of the lamp rather than defects (Recorded) and a re-shoot in the same corner reproduces the same shadow. 3. Convert each direction into a number before sending, so 'too far' becomes about 1.5 m down to 20 cm and 'dark' becomes daylight with the flash off, then delete every word that names a feeling instead of a fact.
Catch the fastener
Photographs fail for four reasons and each one has a specific fix. Too far away, fixed by a distance in centimetres; flash reflected, fixed by daylight and no flash; wrong state, fixed by naming whether the zip should be open or closed; cluttered frame, fixed by asking for one item against a plain background. On our record, 6 cases needed a retake and all 6 were resolved by naming distance and lighting together.
1. Write the four clauses in the order part, distance, lighting, state. 2. Send one request containing all four. 3. Attach the original image and circle the area rather than describing it in words.
Consolidate before sending: one message holding every unreadable position, numbered, with the original frames attached and nothing added afterwards, because each extra round restarts the reply clock and our record splits at 6 hours for a specific request against 2 days for a vague one (Recorded). Storage is where a slow loop turns into money, at £0.20 per item per day once the free window closes (Community-reported); 8 of our 24 tracked parcels overstayed by 1 to 14 days, the longest costing about £2.80 (Recorded). 1. Log the send time and the expected reply window in a note beside the order, then compare the answer against that window rather than against your patience. 2. If the second frame is still unreadable, ask for the position to be marked unreadable and score the parcel without it, instead of opening a third thread. 3. If the clearer frame confirms a real defect, expect the remedy at credit speed rather than retake speed, since of 14 recorded credit events 9 landed within 3 days and the rest took up to 11 days (Recorded).
Six hours afterwards
Treat the reply as a new judgement rather than a confirmation, because a retake can reveal something the first image hid. Re-score the position from scratch; on our recorded case the retake turned a suspected hardware fault into a normal stopper, but on 2 of the 6 recorded retakes the clearer image exposed something the blurred one had concealed.
1. Score the new image on its own without looking at your first verdict. 2. If the score is 85% or above, release the parcel. 3. If it is still between 60% and 84.9%, ask for the remaining question positions before releasing rather than after.
Enquire once
One well-formed request costs a day; three vague ones cost a week, and the week is charged in storage days once the free window closes. Our recorded turnaround was 6 hours for a specific request against 2 days for a vague one, a difference of about 42 hours on a single position.
1. Draft the request, then count the measurable instructions. 2. Send it once with the original image attached. 3. Wait 48 hours before following up, and put the follow-up in the same thread so the history stays in one place.
The data point behind this note
Of 6 recorded retake cases, a request naming part, distance and lighting was answered in 6 hours while a vague request took 2 days, and 2 of the 6 clearer images exposed something the blurred photograph had hidden (Recorded).
Rates last checked 2026-10-02. Where a figure is community-reported we say so; where we could not verify it, we write Not verified instead of estimating.