Confirmation that large letter is excluded from Simple Delivery

[wintersdawn1]

Asked the question in today's weekly chat and received the following reply:

[edwardian-dreams]

Oh never noticed that it didn’t mention the weight good spot!

interesting

either they forgot to ie slapdash or it’s changed 

😐🤷🏼‍

[wintersdawn1]

Thank you for doing that 👍🙂

[classic-brochures]

This seems to fit in with my earlier post about how Ebay have had a dawning realisation that they don't know a packages weight or size, so the 100g cutoff is irrelevant, as long as your item is in a non-SD SubCategory as listed a few posts above. Also, the majority of these exempted categories are a Large Letter size, no more and no less.

So, I think we can safely say Ebay have quietly moved away from enforcing the 2 things they had NO way of knowing, namely weight, and any difference between letter and large letter.

It's incredibly unlikely that Ebay have decided to publish a list of exempted subcategories (that are mostly Large Letter size) AND at the same time re-added Large Letters to compulsory SD

[suelel1968]

But not impossible......

[edwardian-dreams]

No it is impossible because they’ve stated DVDs are exempt from sd

dvds can’t be sent in an envelope like a birthday card envelope they have to go in a large letter 

they’re too thick

the DVDs I mean not eBay 

[sunflowers4me59]

I wouldn't say "safely say" and eBay in the same sentence. They seem to have completely lost their sanity at the moment, changing things daily,!

[edwardian-dreams]

How do they going to police weights 

though you say it doesn’t matter 

so anything weighing  up to 750g in a LL now is sd exempt?

might not be but will they police it?

doubt it 

[classic-brochures]

Basically, yes. Although Royal Mails maximum for a letter is 100g, their maximum for a large letter is 750g.

But, if they cannot possibly know an item's weight or size then the 100g cutoff doesn't matter (as seems to now be the case).

In theory (using just a buy-it-now as example), as long as an item is under £10 and in a subcategory exempt from SD, you can send something weighing any weight total (not limited to 750g) using your own postage/stamps

Heres the main point...the only things Ebay are now apparently using to determine SD are price and SubCategory, not how you package it or what it weighs. 

As an example, an £8 DVD box set (I.e. with 4 or 5 dvds in individual cases) is too big for a large letter but sounds like it now qualifies for exemption based on a price under £10 and an exempted subcategory.

[classic-brochures]

To quickly summarise my post above...

SD is generally a mess but it seems Ebay has quietly made some improvements for smaller items that can mostly just be put through a letterbox.

[sml192]

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@classic-brochures wrote:

Basically, yes. Although Royal Mails maximum for a letter is 100g, their maximum for a large letter is 750g.

But, if they cannot possibly know an item's weight or size then the 100g cutoff doesn't matter (as seems to now be the case).

In theory (using just a buy-it-now as example), as long as an item is under £10 and in a subcategory exempt from SD, you can send something weighing any weight total (not limited to 750g) using your own postage/stamps

Heres the main point...the only things Ebay are now apparently using to determine SD are price and SubCategory, not how you package it or what it weighs. 

As an example, an £8 DVD box set (I.e. with 4 or 5 dvds in individual cases) is too big for a large letter but sounds like it now qualifies for exemption 

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No, it has to be letter-sized as well, whatever letter-sized means, so anything larger than Large Letter definately won't be exempt.

Also, Royal Mail Tracked Large Letter is now up to 1Kg, rather than 750g, when bought online.  Simple Delivery prices still quote 750g though. 

[kake100]

Just when you think that "Simple Delivery" cannot get any more confusing .......... ebay manage to make it more confusing!

Quite an achievement really!

[classic-brochures]

OK I know what you mean, but my point is that if you're exempt from SD on basis of the £10 limit and a subcategory exemption, then it doesn't matter how you send it or package it, because it's not Ebay handling postage, it's you.

The initial listing needs to be exempt from SD (price and subcategory), that's all. If you need to declare letter or large letter as part of this, that's OK, but the listing is already exempt

You could then send it by letter. large letter, small parcel or even a company FedEx account, but it's you sorting your own postage, not Ebay.

[sml192]

It needs to be letter-sized though in order to be exempt, so if it's a parcel you would only get the custom postage options by selecting an incorrect size when listing.

'The option to opt out and select Custom postage instead will only be available for letter-sized items in the specific categories below that are priced £10 and under.' 

[lucy_farmer]

How do they know the items are 'letter' sized?

They can't see them, measure them or weigh them.....

(My brain is melting........)

[suelel1968]

Kat@ebay

Dave@ebay

Marco@ebay

We need some clarity on this! Please!

Could you at least tell us you are aware of the confusion caused and let us know when we will get a response? 

[lucy_farmer]

Kat@ebay

Dave@ebay

Marco@ebay

Also we read on a recent answer from Kat, during the 'weekly chat' on the 23rd ,that items on the restricted lists (of couriers) will not be able to be sent S.D.

But we have also been assured that 'fragile' items *are* able to be sent by S.D. if correctly packaged.

This does seem to be a contradiction, because if you read the restricted lists, anything  that could even remotely be described as 'fragile', is on those lists.

I know clarity is difficult in such a complicated 'simple' system, but we really need some!