Am I right that Simple Delivery cannot combine postage for multiple purchases?

[gwilliamb]

Hi, I have not sold anything since last summer, but I want to re-home a few model railway engines. It is quite likely that the same buyer might want more than one. I have just found out about this Simple Delivery system and have been reading all the threads.

Previously I would have listed with free postage, packed all that a buyer bought into one parcel, taken it to my village Post Office, which is 5 minutes walk away, and let them weigh and measure it. And I would have chosen a Royal Mail service which offered insurance cover related to the value of the item(s), as determined by the combined "final value" of the parcel.

I'm not sure I can do any of that now, and I am wondering if I am now at the seller end of the situation I found a couple of years ago when buying from the US, i.e. if I bought 2 engines from the same seller I had to pay 2 sets of postage and I received 2 parcels, because the new version of "ebay international shipping" could not combine postage. Ebay claimed that was because of post-Brexit complexity of UK import taxes and eventually solved the problem by deleting the UK from the ebay.com country list for "Worldwide", so now you can't buy any model railway stuff from US ebay sellers who use the US ebay postage system, only from the few who still specify USPS.

Can a private seller who has sold more than one DIFFERENT items to the same buyer at the same time using "Simple Delivery" tell me what happened, please? (I am not talking about single listings that have the option to buy more than one item, i.e. where a buyer can choose 2 or more - I assume ebay can still cope with that).

I am wondering if I need to forget about selling on ebay and take a box of stuff to a model railway shop that buys and sells second hand, and take the hit in final value. Or alternately, sell on ebay but only list one item at a time (i.e. only have one current live listing) so no-one can buy more than one item at the same time.

[wendybing]

I listed two dresses separately with simple delivery of 1kg each and a buyer bought both last night. I have just downloaded the label - Ebay have combined the postage and upped it to 2kg. So you can now do combined postage - in fact the seller doesnt need to do anything, it is automatically sorted

[drag0n_fire]

Yes you are correct SD does now do Combined Postage but it is done by ebay and not the seller. The seller does not have the option to combine postage. It does get confused though as I had 2 items that seperately were RM Large Letters and the two items together  should have been a RM Small Parcel but ebay sent me a label for large letter but incresed the weight. I wasted a day waiting for ebay to send me a new Small Parcel  label and then they sent me an Evri label instead!! Fortunately the buyer was very understanding.

[a45heaven]

Oh OK - so still extremely shambolic , the developers seem quite determined to make their bonus' despite the impact on Buyer / Seller relationships.

[goodibags]

It looks like Large Letter + Large Letter may be a bit too much for SD to handle at the present time. I wonder if it might only go to small parcel if the combined weight was over 1kg?

If you know the weight was increased does that mean it is shown on the label?

Would be interesting to know what happens if you tried to use the one they provided? It'd be up to Ebay to refund the buyer if they ended up being charged for the extra postage. Tho' the seller would probably still get the blame for it.

[comedydad69]

A buyer did the same, bought 2 items, put them on their ‘eBay basket’ and then paid and eBay automatically reduced their postage cost for them, and generated 1 postage label. If they’d have paid for one then the other then would assume they would have been classed as separate purchases so no combined postage and therefore 2 postage labels.

Would be nice for eBay to announce this for buyers, might help with more sales

[a45heaven]

 Would be nice for eBay to announce this for buyers,

Bless  🙂  - When was the last communication ebay made to Buyers?

They didnt even inform them of Buyer Protection Fees that they were to pay.

[wendybing]

The blurb from ebay states that if you use the recommended label size, you won't get charged for extra postage. They also state that they have arrangements with couriers to let the parcels go through. If I print my label at home, regardless of rm or evri, the po doesn't weigh it. If they print off an rm parcel, they do weigh it, so I don't know how that pans out

But I would say this courier business is now the same as vinted. I have sold 5 jigsaws on vinted weighing over 4kg, and vinted gave me a 2kg label. I sent it with evri - no issues. I wouldnt have chanced it with rm though

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[drag0n_fire]

According to ebays user agreement if the Ebay SD label is used and the item was listed correctly by the seller ebay will absorb any additional postage costs. I think at the moment RM are accepting incorrect parcels but that agreement won't last indefinitely. Ebay are using AI to calculate postage costs/package sizes etc but it would appear the AI that ebay have purchased isn't as intelligent as us sellers!! Hopefully AI will learn by it's mistakes over the coming months. All in all once SD settles down it should benefit sellers more as once the parcel is scanned by the Post Office the buyer is fully protected. Therefore if the parcel goes missing the seller no longer has to raise a claim with Royal Mail and the buyer receives full payment after 8 days max. 

[a45heaven]

 I think at the moment RM are accepting incorrect parcels but that agreement won't last indefinitely.

Id have more faith in the info if it came from RM  - ebay had previously stated the PO would accept erroneous packages, only for them to be refused at the PO Desks around the country.

[wendybing]

But that's down to po, nothing to do with rm. I would show the po staff the blurb from ebay if that happened to me because they shouldn't refuse

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[wendybing]

I agree - it's new and there's always a period of settling in with any new system. And I do think ebay have listened to a degree and improving things.

That's not to say I like sd, I don't. I'm just going with the flow. Its not going to disappear, you either get on with it or go elsewhere. But going elsewhere is no different so you may as well stick with what you know

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[a45heaven]

@wendybing 

so the Private sellers are being the Guinea pigs ready for the SD being inflicted on Business sellers too - 

[wendybing]

Possibly, but a lot of businesses have direct contracts with couriers anyway. I personally think ebay would just prefer not to have private buyers, everything is geared towards businesses. Your seller hub talks about growing your business, the reports are very business oriented and if you search for something, invariably it will show business items first. Ebay was built on the back of private sellers but we're not where the money is

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[goodibags]

Thanks for clarifying. It seems odd that the P.O. would weigh a parcel if they're printing the SD label but just accept a parcel with a label already on it. The extra 'service' provided is more likely to result in a parcel being rejected, which itself would seem to be more likely when the contents are combined items.

I guess Ebay's AI still have a lot of catching up to do?

[a45heaven]

I guess Ebay's AI still have a lot of catching up to do?

or aborting ?

Reputations and  salaries at stake so maybe not. 

I wonder what 'word of mouth' approval of the platform stands at ?

Would you recommend the place to a friend?

[goodibags]

They've probably heard me complain about too many recent developments. starting from buyer fees.

I'm now wondering how much a prospective buyer might be able to claw back in excessive site charges through underweight AI-calculated combined postage?

For as long as Ebay guarantees to pay couriers any shortfall, of course. 😁

[collectors201010]

You can opt out of "simpe delivery" by choosing custom postage for litsings. Ridiculous that the previously standard option is now "custom".

[wendybing]

I think it's the way of the world now - businesses relying more and more on technology and AI

Yes I would recommend ebay to a friend, because they wouldn't know how it used to be, so the changes that are winding existing users up, would be the norm for new users. I would certainly recommend over vinted (I use both) because ebay has better customer service (don't laugh, it's true), fewer system glitches, fewer scammers and I get better prices. Its just not as good as it used to be, sadly, but then that's the case with so many things

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[a45heaven]

Yes I would recommend ebay to a friend,

So you did this to  a friend maybe a couple of months ago - before BPF and SD were introduced with all the problems even experienced sellers are still having with combined lots -

i bet you will get less Christmas Cards this coming December !!

[kshoes67]

I’m so glad that I came here looking for a solution. I actually thought that I was losing the plot earlier trying to combine postage. I spent around an hour trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I’m still not sure how I solve this with the buyer? Let’s hope they’re understanding