simple delivery

[flowerpower37-uk]

just had a good look at a new listing with simple delivery as the option selected.

Royal mail large letter  under 100 gr is no longer an option with ebay's new simple delivery systems.

it is now up to 750gr with a cost of £2.74 whether your package is 100 gr, 250 gr or 750gr.  However if you purchase shipping from Royal Mail online direct the 48 hr tracked large letter is only £2.70 again whether 100 or 750gr

in ebays email about this new system they quote

Save 20% off postage costs*: Get competitive rates to offer standard and express delivery with Royal Mail and Evri.

maybe my maths is wrong but ebay are already charging 4p more than royal mail and if there is 20% off surely my shipping cost with the new 'SIMPLE DELIVERY' should be £2.16

any thoughts ?? am i being too simplistic ??

[soobell]

I wanted to list an item priced £12.50. It weighs less than 100g and is just under the max dims for RM's 'Large Letter'. It would cost $1.55 to post if I took it to Post Office. But now, under eBay's SD, the listing cannot be made unless I accept the system's suggested £2.70 price for "..up to 1kg.." weight. I raised this issue in Chat, & am now waiting for promised email reply  (within 96 hrs) from the 'higher up's'. It will be outrageous if eBay is allowed to get away with overcharging my buyers & I'm not prepared to be party to it.

[flowerpower37-uk]

i listed an item yesterday for approx £3 and clicked custom postage and put 2nd class large letter (95% of my item sare large letter under 100gr) and added my own shipping. Then went to bulk edit and put correct dimensions for large letter size and weight 61gr - clicked okay and all seemed fine - then i got pop up saying 2nd large letter postage was not available - spent half an hour trying to edit to get large letter 2nd class then clicked on 1st class signed and it accepted it but i still managed to put my own shipping cost in. this whole simple delivery is flawed and unethical - we or our customers are being made to pay for a more expensive service which we do not need. I look forward to seeing what response you get as I may well be contacting them myself again.

[soobell]

Yes, Custom can be tweaked (eventually, after much faffing), but isn't an option for my £12.50 item. I can only use SD. I wasted hours yesterday, trying to figure out what was going on. Then had to do chat with AI before I could finally reach an Agent (who was very pleasant, & quick to understand the issue). I'll post an update if/when I hear back from the Seniors. 

[soobell]

Update on my earlier posts about Large Letter <100g: I never did hear back from the 'higher ups' to whom my question (via Chat) had been referred. So, I was just about to report back (here) that I really haven't the time & patience to chase up what I'm sure would be a lost cause, falling on deaf ears, when - Surprise ! - eBay's "Changes to Postage Rates & Delivery Options" message arrived today. I've read it & the info reached by the links within. I'm suitably delighted that they've listened to feedback & made some changes. However, the details of those changes aren't clear & so I shall have to wait until the 20th May to see if my issue is included. It doesn't augur well that only 'small parcels' are mentioned - nothing about Large Letters - but , well, if it's not fixed then I'm sure Etsy will be happy to have me & my sales 🙂

[flowerpower37-uk]

They have added in small parcel size - which is great but they have missed the large letter size issue.

90 % of what io sell is large letter under 100gr and also less than £10 - I have still been listing items as custom delivery with large letter, under 100gr and less than £10 and so far all seems to work fine - I add at least 2 items and once listed i go into bulk edit and add the correct weight and dimensions for the item and also postage for large letter. fingers crossed this continues to work but if this changes I will post an update. but from the conversation I had with ebay in April large letter, under 100gr and less than £10 are exempt from special delivery - hope this is 100% true but time will tell

[soobell]

Yep - but the issue I'm hoping they'll fix is for very lightweight items which sell for >£12.50. Mine's a dress pattern: easily fits inside Large Letter, & <100g, but, sadly, is over eBay's value limit for SD 'exception' status. Have you seen somewhere that this definitely isn't part of the 'listened to feedback' changes they've now made?

[flowerpower37-uk]

I did read through and could not see anything about large letter under 100g. I called ebay in April and spoke to an adviser and asked the question and she then spoke to her supervisor who stated that large letter size, under 100gr and under £10 would be exempt from SD - so far this is ringing true but if you don't put the correct dimensions and weight in the automatically make it a parcel or large letter upto 1kg which is tracked pricing. If i see or hear anything else i'll let you know.

[soobell]

Thanks. I'm hoping - against hope, really - that their 'parcel' will now include numerous bands, of varying sizes, weights & prices, & that one of these will be applicable to my pattern. I think Evri already don't use the term Large Letter, but classify some of their parcels as 'postable'; that might be fair for my buyers.

[tressygirl]

---

@soobell wrote:

Yep - but the issue I'm hoping they'll fix is for very lightweight items which sell for >£12.50. Mine's a dress pattern: easily fits inside Large Letter, & <100g, but, sadly, is over eBay's value limit for SD 'exception' status. Have you seen somewhere that this definitely isn't part of the 'listened to feedback' changes they've now made?

---

This is eBay's announcement on letters <100g and under the value of £10

• Items which can still use untracked service: There are a few categories of items where we’ll still permit untracked services if that’s your preference. This includes letter-sized items that meet both of the following criteria: they weigh up to 100 grams and are priced at a maximum of £10, excluding buyer fees.

@soobell 

[soobell]

Sounds like buyers of my £12.50, <100g item will be charged £2.70 for postage which should actually cost £1.55 (Royal Mail). (I suspect the actual cost to eBay - under their Partnering agreement with RM - will be less than £1.55). I'll wait until the 20th May, check in real time to confirm that's my only option and, if so, will use Etsy instead from then on. I may also - just out of interest - consult the Competition & Markets Authority: something just doesn't smell right here.

[soobell]

A further update: on 9th May an ebay Customer Service person emailed to advise that I could "......please publish the listing choosing a service of the same amount as for a 2nd class large letter up to 100g and publish the listing. In case the item gets sold, you can use the same label directly from your end through your nearby Royal Mail or through their website".

Ever hopeful - even though I'd tried this at original Chat person's suggestion, without success - I tried this again. And it worked! So, the pattern is now listed, at the original £12.50 (+ buyer premium..) price, + £1.55 p&p. Sold first one today too 🙂   

However, I don't know whether this is a one-off, where - perhaps - the settings were tweaked so that I could list this particular item. So I'll check, after 20th May, to see if there is a generally-available-to-all postage category for items which: are within Large Letter dims, weigh <100g and are priced at >£10.