Confusion regarding (horrible) new shipping and payment system

[cherry_5809]

Hi. I am a small private seller. I started selling around the late half of last year, and since then I've experienced what seems like 4 different complete overhauls of the payment system in barely over half a year. The latest one, before this change now, actually worked great for me though - the payouts and lack of fees were nice.

The new changes seem, not only greedy with the even larger arbitrary-looking fees disguised as "buyer protection", but also horribly miscalculated and made with no knowledge of how shipping in this country works.

Most of my items are small, cheap things I resell, and adding tracked delivery prices to them is impractical. I ship with just standard Royal Mail 2nd class most of the time, as well as quite often International Standard to a lot of countries you could describe as "third world." 

As far as I'm aware, while it is possible for a postie to scan an item as delivered for 2nd class labels, with Royal Mail having its own  questionable policies and practices, cutting employee numbers and increasing workload, this is unrealistic to expect to happen on a large scale as they are not obliged to scan untracked items even with the "Please scan upon delivery" stickers I have started attaching to orders. Same thing when I'm shipping to countries like Bangladesh or Nigeria, where Tracked shipping is 3 times more expensive than standard, and is more than the item itself.

This is a problem: with the new eBay policies saying that you get paid only after the item is marked as delivered; I couldn't find any information there on if you get paid even if it isn't, and if there is, I assume it's quite a long period and may require buyer reviews.

The problem is shipping label numbers generated on eBay get automatically added to the system as tracked services, even if they are not, so it seems the 14-day payment for untracked items rule does not apply.

I have about 10 of these orders in the mail just now, does this mean I'm just going to have to reach out to every buyer and pray in my hopes and dreams that they decide to write a positive review for me to get paid? Or am I going to have to wait ≥ a month, or contact eBay support with proof of postage?

I sell items for which eBay is really the only platform, especially for international customers, so I have no choice but to use it. If this tracked rule nonsense works as impractically as it seems to I might have to switch to generating labels off-site on Royal Mail Click&Drop which is incredibly inconvenient, or go buy a sheet of 2nd class stamps at the post office and ship old-school like that. I would really like to actually get paid for my travelling items though, and within a reasonable time.

[kernow-78]

I am confused with this. I do have a couple of questions..

If I ignore the simple delivery and use my own postage - royal mail large letter £1.55.  I get a code on the postage label that I used to type in to show whether an item had been delivered or not.  Will this not count anymore?  Does it need to be a designated tracked service?  If not, will I need to wait up to 14 days to get the funds, even though i will have paid for the postage label?

My other question is.. If I select Royal Mail simple delivery - will I be send an address postage label or just a QR code?  I have to drive to the nearest PO, pay for the car park and the queue can be rather long and honestly it is much easier to have Royal Mail collect from my front door.  If I am just given a QR code not an address label, how would I book for Royal Mail collection?  

Thanks for any info. 

Simple Delivery is not what I would call it.

[mcdj1b]

You are right, if you do not USE ebay post they will penalised you with THE 14 DAYS HOLD ON YOUR PAYMENT. So wrong it's like a shoe box 1-2kg £3.45 with Royal mail direct tracked 48 service. You can then upload the tracking. The same service BOUGHT WITH EBAY IS £4.17 SO 1. HOW IS THIS MORE COST when ebay saying they give sellers better rates. BUXX SXXX. WELCOME TO RIP OFF EBAY. ON TOP OF ALL THIS THE FACT YOU KNOW HAVE TO PROMOTE ALL YOUŔ SALES AND GIVE THEM A BIGGER PERCENTAGE THAN THE OLD EBAY PRICING. ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH. Sent from my Galaxy

[markymark_surrey]

Hi

I’ve discovered that the best thing to do is take back control. What I do is select Royal mail 48 collected , from the list when the item is sold . It’ keeps it in the system but slows you to print the label and then they come and collect it 

[xyz307xyz]

"If I select Royal Mail simple delivery - will I be send an address postage label or just a QR code? "

You (should) get both. Not sure if you get them in an email or not, but you should otherwise be able to see them on the order page.

If you don't have a printer - you will need to take the QR code to the post office.

If you have a printer, print/attach the label and then book collection separately on the Royal Mail website - I think it costs 30p per packet.

You cannot currently use the Royal Mail bring a label service with the collection for Simple Delivery items.

[tazprime786]

I tried this but it did not work. Maybe they changed this as it is now June 2025.

Is there any other work around? 

[mcdj1b]

Yes where it says package size go to bottom and you can select custom post. Sent from my Galaxy

[edwardian-dreams]

Try the bottom of the package size screen as previous poster said 

if it’s not there  listing it under a category for huge or heavy items like furniture 

do the custom postage then change the category back to what it is 

having said that eBay may well close all loopholes 

if you’re selling small parcel size things you shouldn’t need to not use sd (except of course the cost of packaging which they tell you to add to item price) as it’s cheaper than RM , likewise medium parcel size for lighter weights, they still haven’t fiXED the absence of the 2-10kg option

[sml192]

---

@edwardian-dreams wrote:

they still haven’t fiXED the absence of the 2-10kg option

---

Some people are now seeing the 2-10Kg and 10-20Kg weight bands but others are still seeing the old ones for some reason.  There just doesn't seem to be any consistency with anything at the moment. 

[edwardian-dreams]

I read the community chat from last Wednesday when someone brought this up and saw that Kat said it should be there 

but as you say , and like custom delivery, it appears for some not for others 

I wonder if there’s a way to get to it 

I shall experiment tomorrow !

sigh

[pea-436740]

The new system is awful and I dread to think what will happen with multiple purchases of 'items under £10'.

I also note that once generated a postage label CANNOT BE CANCELLED. This is both unfair and probably breaks UK as we have a 7-day 'cool-down' for ALL transactions and contracts.

I have  questions.

1.) Is there an alternative to using the new system?

- For instance via Royal Mail, such as getting postage via their on-line site and then marking the item as posted in eBay?

2.) Does the price increase accordingly for the extra weight?

- There have been instances where a buyer has purchased two heavy items, taking the weight into the next postage category, but still being less than £10. In these cases I have been able 'adjust' the postage (slightly to the buyers advantage I might add.)

- It also leaves no options for postage when negotiating item 'offers'.

3.) Do these restrictions only apply to private sellers?

- Can business sellers still 'do their own thing' and use the original system?

If (3.) does only apply to private sellers, then it's clearly another attempt to 'persuade' non commercial users to switch to the £20 (?) monthly fee.

Overall, this 'simplification' is no such thing. Sometimes 'removing complexity' ADDS MORE complexity.

eBay is not a better place after these changes.

[walkersshop]

personally i am running down ebay sales and using facebook and vinted more.
so the attempt by ebay to control things is not working.

if we all move away from ebay maybe they will come to there senses and PUT
THINGS RIGHT the problem is i dont think ebay is listening

regards phil

[xyz307xyz]

1. If you arrange your own postage for a Simple Delivery item, you pay for it out of your own money.
I think there's no option to mark an SD item as posted. Printing the SD label is the equivalent of marking posted AFAIK.
Arranging your own postage is against ebay's "idea". I'm not aware of anywhere stating it's forbidden. There is even a list of (example) items which should not be sent Simple Delivery.

2. If you can adjust the postage amount, that sounds like it is not a Simple Delivery item.

"It also leaves no options for postage when negotiating item 'offers'." - if you mean offers on multiple SD items, true. Otherwise I don't understand.

3. Yes, business sellers can currently set their own postage and I've not heard of anything from ebay suggesting they will bring in SD for business sellers.

[garner216]

Exactly I haven’t put anything on eBay since my incident it’s like flogging
a dead horse.

[eternaloptimist1850]

From what I read, I think that is a common feeling.  When eBay customers vote with their feet perhaps revenue loss will force a policy turnaround, until then I won't sell on eBay.  Even when there are threads on how to make the best of the appalling simple postage, who wants to jump through all those hoops to sell something (and be paid)?

[department28]

'Arranging your own postage is against ebay's "idea". I'm not aware of anywhere stating it's forbidden. There is even a list of (example) items which should not be sent Simple Delivery.'

If you list your items as free p&p/seller pays postage, then buy your own 'normal' postage, you can claim a refund for the unused Simple Delivery label. Doing this could cause problems with tracking numbers etc, so eBay would rather we all used SD... 🙄

[markymark_surrey]

I’m totally done with it . I tried to list a tv on eBay but there are no postage options for anything that size . It said I couldn’t arrange my own so I can’t sell it via eBay unless I offer collection only . I’m going to look at Vinted as my friend said it’s a much better system .

Many thanks
Mark

[edwardian-dreams]

I don’t know why you have to wait two days after delivery confirmation to get your money when before ebay paid you it  as soon as it was sold 

[mcdj1b]

Money making scam as they make daily interest on your money. Could you imagine them holding 1 million pounds of everyone's money for 2 extra days on top of the 3-5 days before when the buyer paid for the item. On top of that all this buyer protection payments. It's shocking. Sent from my Galaxy

[eternaloptimist1850]

The longer they keep your money and the harder they make it for you to withdraw it the better for them.  Twenty years ago, selling was fun and you got paid immediately your item sold.  Now selling is truly unpleasant.

[eternaloptimist1850]

I've given up too.  I used to sell off items when I'd upgraded (hi fi etc) but now with the Godawful 'simple postage'  it has become too onerous.  It can take longer to sell on other sites but at least listing takes just a few minutes and you actually get paid for your trouble and bestof all if you choose to post, you can pick a suitable courier.