Postage preferences
Summary: baileyboy123.123, an eBay seller, is facing issues with eBay's postage preferences, which do not suit selling sports programs due to higher charges and lack of combined shipping options. jonatjonatjonat suggests experimenting with different subcategories to enable custom postage. baileyboy123.123 has reached out to eBay support who confirmed that subcategory choices affect eligibility for custom postage. Additionally, cheekychippy210 inquires about experiences with lost items, sharing personal experiences with compensation claims, and baileyboy123.123 responds with their practices and the impact of current postage options on their sales.
Hi, I’m a private seller on eBay and have been selling well over ten years now.
The issue I have, is that eBay has changed its postage preference to simply delivery
This delivery service doesn’t work for what I’m selling, as all my listings are sports programmes that are mostly a normal letter size, that weigh under 100g that should cost £0.85p and not £2.70 what eBay is charging, plus if a buyer wants to purchase more than one item, there’s also no option too combine items to potentially save the client money on shipping.
I’ve seen on a eBay page that I can opt out of this service if my listing falls into this category.
Even when i go into sub category and start from the beginning unfortunately this is not the case, and still comes up with the only delivery service of simple delivery.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
cheekychippy210
·2 weeks agohave you ever lost a sold item or had one damaged in the post? if so, what happened as regards you and customer?
baileyboy123.123
OP2 weeks agoIn response to your question, yes on the odd occasion over the years I’ve had items reported missing.
If an item is over the value of £20 I would send it recorded delivery, items under the value of £20 would be dispatched 2nd class post, plus I always keep proof of postage.
Can’t recall any item going missing as such using recorded delivery, just delayed when shipping internationally. Items disappearing using second class service, I would put a claim in against the courier for compensation for my loss.
Hope that answers your question.
cheekychippy210
·2 weeks agointeresting, i lost an item through mail and because i was unable to provide them with the original purchase receipt my compo was a book of stamps and fell short of selling price. Its done to stop claims from those buying used goods at boot sales. I guess you keep all your purchase receipts.
the time taken in making that claim can be frustrating and time consuming,
Simple delivery, at a pound or two more, takes all that stress away. every sale fully tracked. its a no brainer for me.
baileyboy123.123
OP2 weeks agoI’m glad that simple delivery service works for you my friend and it’s great if you’re selling bulky items, as £2.80 to send it recorded delivery is fantastic. However please note that you’re still required to keep hold of a receipt / email as proof in case one ever goes missing.
The trouble I have, is that I’m selling off my sporting programme collection where many are just a few pound each. So the expenses of sending it via simple delivery service of £2.80 when it should just be a normal letter size and cost £0.85p, plus not being able to combine orders has put a lot of people off buying, and my sales have gone down.
Since posting this message, I have noticed that there’s hundreds of fellow customers who sell on eBay that are experiencing the same frustrating experience as I am.
So hopefully eBay see these comments and put back the option on how I would like to dispatch items I’m selling when listing an item.
cheekychippy210
·1 week agoas with any platform there are running costs. It does not cost to advertise and ebay need to get their money. The selling platform is worldwide and the few quid on and item is fair. have you tried other sites?
jonatjonatjonat
·2 weeks agoYou are right in that all the specifics (weight, value, size) do build into whether you can opt out of. The problem is - there's also the requirement for it to be in a valid sub category.
Unfortunately - there is no definitive list of categories/sub categories where custom postage should be an option. So its case of trying different categories (that make sense for the product) until you find one.
baileyboy123.123
OP2 weeks agoSince my last post on here, I’ve contacted eBay customer service as it would appear that I’m not alone with this quarry, and even eBay customer service could see the problem I was experiencing but couldn’t help me, and said she would have to open up a case on my behalf to the IT department to try and sort this out.
Please find below the response from ebays IT department, as this is all technical jargon with no direct solution…!
Thank you for contacting eBay Customer Service.
I would like to inform you that I have received a response from the It department regarding the issue where you are unable to select Custom Postage for the items you are trying to list. They have confirmed that the category and price are eligible for this option, but the subcategory
is not eligible for Custom Postage.
The Custom postage option is only available when all eligibility criteria are satisfied, including the exact category and sub-category used for the listing. If the selected sub-category is not eligible, only Simple Delivery will be shown.
Please verify the exact category and sub-category selected in the listing flow. If the sub-category supports Custom postage, the option should appear in the Postage section during listing creation or editing. If the sub-category isn't eligible, the listing will continue to show only Simple Delivery by design.
I hope the above information was useful.
Many thanks,
Evisa
eBay Customer Service
jonatjonatjonat
·2 weeks agoSo that is exactly the issue - there is a solution there.
Custom Postage is designed to show based on what Sub Category you are attempting to list in. You currently have an example where you are listing in
Collectables & Art
Sports Memorabilia
Rugby League Memorabilia
Programmes
1960s
One of those sub categories is not setup to accept Custom Delivery.
Unfortuantely - the solution is to try other sub categories until you find one that allows it.