Don't understand postage

[warrickh]

I don't understand how Simple Postage works. I sold an item on Simple Postage for £150. But when I saw the transaction on my account the buyer had paid me £157.50, which was £7.50 more than the successful bid price (excluding the eBay buyer protection fee). When I pressed the 'Get Label' button the system asked me to pay for the label myself, the option it selected was Yodel store to door and the price was £6.50. Sadly, Yodel were unable to accept my item because it was too large, so I had to issue the buyer with a refund (of the full £157.50) and I have had to claim my label cost separately. I am reluctant to re-list the item in case the same thing happens again and the system selects Yodel. I'd like to force it to be Royal Mail, which I believe will accept the item, but then I presume I will have to be involved in the postage. I thought that Simple Postage meant that the buyer was not involved in the postage, certainly not paying for the label. Please can someone explain this far from 'Simple' concept ! ?

[papso22]

I suggest you read the ebay guidance on Simple Delivery. 

[warrickh]

Sorry but the  Simple Delivery guide says the following:

When your item sells, you'll receive a prepaid delivery label and QR code and you can then post your item at the nearest drop-off location.

I did not receive a pre-paid label, when I pressed 'Get Label' I had to pay for it myself.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Basically that item ended up being listed with custom postage (or simply fell outside sizes for simple delivery)

in that instance the buyer pays for postage, you receive the payment and purchase postage with it. You don’t necessarily need to use eBay’s postage system to purchase it, but ideally you should view what postage was stated on the listing.

[str11p]

£7.50 isn't a current simple delivery price, so it sounds like it wasn't simple delivery i.e. you then purchase whatever (correct) service you want, and you don't have to that on ebay, (and wouldn't have to use Yodel).

I can't see any sold item for £150, so if it's too old to still be there or on another account, I can't "prove" the above.

Here's the main help on SD:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

[warrickh · Accepted solution]

jonatjonatjonat,

Many thanks. That explains it. In fact I have noticed that when I try to sell a single audio CD with Simple Postage (which is £2.70) eBay automatically changes it to Royal Mail 2nd class (£0.91p). So you must be right that in this case the item was too large for Simple Delivery so it re-set the postage accordingly. I wasn't aware of this and basically what it tells me is that it is probably not a great idea to sell (and therefore have to post) large items on eBay, better to go for Collection only.

Anyway, very grateful to you for your reply. THANKS

[warrickh]

Thanks str11p, in fact I changed the numbers to protect the innocent, so to speak, the actual postage charge that was charged to my buyer and therefore paid to me was £7.21p.
But as you can see from the previous reply and my response to it, it seems that my item was not valid for Simple Delivery and it was just bad luck that the carrier selected, Yodel, is not suited to large items. I say not suited, because the issue is that none of the 'Yodel stores' within reasonable range of me would accept a 'large item' (it was around the size of a microwave oven).

[jonatjonatjonat]

Yep there are a good number of questions on the forum on the 91p charge because it’s not noticed and when you end up on eBay’s postage selection it standardises to a small parcel and sellers then ask why they’ve been charged £3 something when the buyer only paid 91p

Beat advice is always double check the postage when listing!

[warrickh]

Very sound advice. Check everything. I've noticed that it also sometimes resets 'Accept Offers' to On when I have clicked Off. Bizarre !

Once again your response is much appreciated.