Simple Delivery and letters - clarification needed please

[porte2425]

Is an £4.85 item today going to cost £7.61 soon?

An item that is for sale today at £4 + 85p P&P, next week will cost me an additional 91p (or is the % charged on P&P as well?) for buyer fees from the 4th.

I’ve heard that Simple Delivery is going to become compulsory, and that only tracked services will be used. Can someone confirm?

If so, then the £4.85 item now, will cost £4 + £2.70 P&P + 91p (or even £1.19) fees. So at least £7.61! Surely that can’t be right?

P.s. I know this relates to Private sellers only.

[ruby*ryan]

The 4% only applies to the item price, this and the 75p fixed rate will be applied to listings from 4th Feb.

We still have no idea when Simple Delivery will become mandatory, the CEO of eBay said by the end of Q1, so by the end of March. As no announcement has been made yet we have no idea how it will work, or what the costs will be.

[porte2425]

Thank you for replying.

Hopefully someone from eBay can confirm then.

As if my maths is right that would be 56% increase in price!

If I’m on the fence about buying at £4.85, no way will I pay £7.61.

[porte2425]

I actually did a little test, and can confirm that Simple Delivery for a letter does say the buyer will pay from £2.70. (Screenshot below - if it worked!)

So if Simple Delivery does become mandatory, that will mean on (surely) millions of listings the postage cost will increase thus:

85p letter will go up 218%

£1.55 large letter will go up 74%

£1.90 large letter (250g) will go up 42%

+ 2 other large letter services will go up, but I think the above are the main ones worth listing.

[thomp1813]

Does anyone know if the simple delivery is only for new listings? With any listings which are auto renewed, are the terms carried over from when the listing was first made , i.e. without using SD? 

And if that is the case, is it beneficial to put loads of listings on in the next few days which will auto renew for 8? times using my preferred choice of courier and NOT using SD?

[porte2425]

The buyer fees (BF) are what are coming in on the 4th, not SD. So any existing listing should renew with the same postage details it was listed with. Any new listing should use the postage details from the last listing you created.

If/when Simple Delivery becomes compulsory, then ... who knows!

In terms of BF, if you list a load of 7-day auctions on the 3rd, then they should be BF-free until they end on the 10th. If they auto relist, that relisting will be subject to the BF.

[jckl1957]

This is on the site today:

Simple Delivery pricing changes from 10 February

FAQs still confirm that sellers will be able to opt out of Simple Delivery.

[porte2425]

I didn’t actually realise Simple Delivery overcharges for some parcels as well!

I guess eBay decided that SD would be a way to gain another revenue stream, and also clamp down on sellers who overcharge P&P, or are slow to dispatch. Although it seems like it is going to punish a lot of good sellers as well.

It’s sounding more and more like it should definitely remain optional for Private sellers with a good selling record.

I can guarantee you that if it does become compulsory, and P&P becomes a minimum of £2.70, my buying on eBay will decrease, as I’m sure will many others. Well, unless sellers can decrease the price of the items enough to compensate.

[porte2425]

I just did a test for combined delivery, with items from a buyer offering Simple Delivery. All showing as £2.75 postage originally.

When I added 1 item to my basket, the postage total was £2.75 (as expected).

When I added 2 items to my basket, the postage total was £4 (£2.57 + £1.43).

When I added 3 items to my basket, the postage total was £6.50! (£3.35 + £1.85 + £1.30).

They are all small figures, and I’m sure the seller could fit easily 20+ in one parcel for £2.94 with Evri, or RM for £3.39.

So I’ve learnt something new about Simple Delivery today. Combined postage is another con! I’m liking this thing less and less.

[parsley2003]

Thanks for this. Wow they are going to make a small fortune and buyers will leave in droves to cancel it out. I am absolutely committed to treating people fairly and have for 20 years so it really is the end

[ruby*ryan]

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@jckl1957 wrote:

This is on the site today:

Simple Delivery pricing changes from 10 February

FAQs still confirm that sellers will be able to opt out of Simple Delivery.

---

Yes, currently they can, because it's optional. There won't be an opt out when it becomes mandatory.

[jckl1957]

I do understand the difference between optional and mandatory.

The link I posted was from yesterday and did still show the ability to opt out.

There has been no definite date for SD becoming mandatory - it is just 'watch this space' at the moment,

[porte2425]

Exactly.

The buyer fees I can understand, and know, on average, it was just what sellers were paying before. I don’t like it, but I can lump it. But Simple Delivery is going to be the problem if it is enforced in its current state.

On low value listings, that can post as letters or large letters, combine buyers fees with Simple Delivery charges and it is going to make buying those items far too expensive.

This isn’t a threat to eBay – do what I’m saying or I’ll take my business elsewhere – but a fact. Those items won’t be worth the price you will have to pay. So buyers will stop buying as much.

[jma2815]

I read yesterday that sellers will not able to opt out of SD but can choose not to use the label that the buyer has chosen and paid for, buy another service out of their own pocket and (in not so many words) on their own head be it, all seller protections lost and an unhappy buyer. 

Even though I can wait a few days for payment (it makes no difference in the end when you can get returns up to 30 days) I’m not waiting for SD to kick in and will be ending my last few listings tomorrow. Interestingly I’ve had a flurry of three sales this weekend after months of nothing, maybe buyers who kniw about the upcoming changes? I’m certainly thinking of snagging a couple of magazines I’ve had my eye on before they go over a fiver on Tuesday. 

[jckl1957]

If Simple Delivery is enforced (as seems likely), Ebay will lose sellers as well as buyers.

If I am sending a brooch that I have sold for £4.95, I use RM Large Letter and charge £2.05p.

I have to pay £1.55 for a stamp and the difference covers tape, bubble wrap and a new padded envelope.  Sellers of clothes have to buy appropriate postage bags.

Many private sellers only sell a couple of items a week and don't want to buy stationery in bulk - it may be cheaper but the outlay is larger and not everybody has the space for boxes of jiffy bags.  So, with the buyer paying Ebay direct for postage, there is no scope to make a small charge for packaging. 

If I put my prices up to cover buying bubble wrap, tape, padded envelopes and then factor in the buyer's fee. my 4.95 + 2.05 brooch will be 5.90 + 2.70, £1.60p more.

There will be no point listing items on the site if buyers won't buy and sellers can't sell.

I think private sellers can tolerate waiting for payment - we don't have stock to buy or wages to pay - but Simple Delivery will be the straw that breaks the camel's back for many.  (In my opinion.)

[porte2425]

Well it not just your opinion, I think the maths / facts speak for themselves.

If all the supermarkets put their food prices up (like they keep doing), then people will still buy (but may cut back, and buy cheaper brands) because they are essentials. Even junk foods are essentials really these days, as so many of us are addicted to them.

The products that will be bought from private sellers on eBay are almost certainly going to be non-essential, probably "luxury" items. Those sales will suffer.

[geosacha007]

I will not be using simple delivery for most of my listings unless forced. But I did consider doing one expermient with using it for an item which would not normally be covered for loss by the carrier. 

But I don't get offered simple delivery when I list.  There is just nothing to click on to change to that.  I am creating new listings from old ones.  But why doesn't it show up?

[porte2425]

@geosacha007 

I know it does say the Simple Delivery is not available for all listings. So I guess for your test one it is not applicable. Outside of that I have no idea! 

[parsley2003]

They haven't done it yet. I'm beyond being confused now

[geosacha007]

The only way to do reasonable combined postage would seem to be cancel every sale and relist in one listing for the buyer. 

And sadly, asking a buyer to contact you before buying multiple items usually doesn't work in my experience.

Also, there have been numerous questions from sellers using SD who have been given an inadequate label that gets refused at the post office.  They have then bought their own labels but won't be able to get that money back.  So those sales would have to be cancelled as well.