Does Simple Delivery assume that all private sellers have a printer?

[wintersdawn1]

When simple delivery is made mandatory for private sellers will the process be as follows:

* Purchasing buyer chooses the postage option they want i.e. Royal Mail or EVRI

* Buyer completes checkout, buying the postage from ebay

* Ebay sends the postage label to the private seller

What if a private seller does not have a printer to print the label that ebay sends them?

[uk-specials]

All of these issues with held funds and not being able to choose the shipping method you want go away once you upgrade to a business seller account.

As a business seller, I get paid out the same day my customers pay eBay and I can choose my own postage method. Including popping the item in an envelope and putting a stamp on it if that’s what i wanted to do.

I use the evri and Royal Mail Drop off boxes though which are everywhere these days, it’s super simple. You rock up with your phone, scan the barcode, it prints a label. Whap it on the parcel and away you go.

At that point tracking is all automatic, even on Royal Mail second class, which is phenomenal. No more disputes about whether it was delivered or not.

[papso22]

So many of the complainers on these boards have upgrading as the simple, and legal, solution to all their complaints, they just choose to ignore it.

[elliedaz]

And then unpack it again for potential buyers who ask for additional photos which can often lead to a sale. You couldn't make it up, to think the people that come up with these ideas are actually in paid positions.

[a45heaven]

 I get paid out the same day my customers pay eBay

Really how do you manage that? 

Ive not seen that pay out time scale on this platform at least, since the good old Paypal days ( Instant payment into your own account - then you were told by ebay to ship). 

As for mailing , im trying to keep my local post office in business, as with any local business' around the local area - so i so Drop & Go at my local P.O. (rather than paying companies that have no actual involvement in a mailing service) - no queues waiting for a machine to spew labels out which may end up on the wrong parcel, as noted on these boards. 

[uk-specials]

it just happens automatically. Money comes in from sales and then hits my bank account. Easy as pie. All you need to do is press the “upgrade to business seller” button and set payment frequency to daily.

Your local post office is going to go out of business regardless. A few eBay parcels isn’t going to save them. It’s already been sold off to a multinational corporation so all you’re actually doing is helping the bottom line of that corporation.

Sticking labels on the wrong parcel sounds like a skill issue. I write what the item is on the parcel and then stick the label from the drop box over the top of that. Pretty foolproof even for me 😂 

[a45heaven]

ah so  I get paid out the same day my customers pay eBay - means that you get paid a day later than when the buyer paid - in The Paypal days it used to be instant.

Sticking labels on the wrong parcel sounds like a skill issue. I write what the item is on the parcel and then stick the label from the drop box over the top of that. Pretty foolproof even for me

The Drop and Go Process is easier still , and i havent had one get mislabeled yet, just show the post service on each labelled package and there you go.

Another advantage is that combined orders for the same seller from other platforms can be included in the same package, saves buyer, seller, and ecologically - 

but it depends on what volumes you have i guess, and moral beliefs.

[the-nutwood-collection]

The info about weight is on the Quicksend window, the part where you select whether it's a parcel or a postable.

I sometimes send packages that are less than 250g, and they've always been delivered without problem.  My items are lightweight but bulky, and are either in an A4 postal box or are a small fat parcel - so there's no chance of them disappearing into the machinery.  

[uk-specials]

my auctions end in the evening about 7pm-8pm so I get paid about 9-10pm and the funds are there in my account by 1am, approx 5 hours later. Less than 24 hours. Technically yeah it’s the next day but semantics 😉

in the PayPal days it could be instant, but whatever, PayPal was supporting Peter Theil and Elon musk so I’m glad it’s gone tbh!

Yeah, if you’re selling in high volume you would have a business seller account anyway and can turn off simple shipping if you want and use whichever postage method you wish.

for private sellers just selling off a collection or unwanted items it’s pretty cut and dried that going to a 24/7 drop box that prints labels for you is the way to save the most time. They aren’t going to want to mess around with stamps and weights and writing addresses on their parcels manually.

[a45heaven]

i beg to differ - but selling only two items is quite simplistic. 

[deadwaxsecrets]

I've only had a brief look at the Simple Delivery page but the postage rates seem more expensive than they currently are, at least for RM.  Not fully understanding the requirements but, am I to assume that if I sell an item for £30 with free postage included but the buyer requests EXPRESS delivery instead of STANDARD I'm to foot the additional delivery costs ?

[andha-21]

Yes, but at the moment it looks like you would be better off charging post separately. Makes it slightly cheaper for the buyer.

[deadwaxsecrets]

Worth also adding, am I to assume that if a buyer purchases an item for £100 but, then changes their mind 12 hours later they get an instant refund from either my eBay balance or, my bank & I'm then left with having to wait 48 hours to a fortnight before I get the £100 back that I never got paid to start with ? *bleep* !!  Buyers should have the payment reversed & they made to wait for their fat fingers / buyers remorse, not screw the seller out of refunding an item they've not even been paid for yet.

[andha-21]

Yes, the refund procedure seems to be happening that way from at least one example we've seen.

It sucks.

[papso22]

I don't think that the buyer gets an instant refund.  It depends how they paid, even debit card refunds can take 5 days to clear.

Other than that, you are right, the seller may well have to finance the refund before the buyer's payment clears to them.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

you obviously know nothing about private sellers then because a fair few on here have the same opinion of SD as i do!  Mainly because they want to be able to continue what they are doing i.e. packing a parcel (and yes i do actually write the address manually on the front) and taking it to the local post office.  I will not be letting e bay/buyer  decide who my courier goes with or provide me with a label.   Before anyone says anything i know that e bay have said that they will let the seller choose the courier but there are so many ifs and maybes that i would not risk it.

[andha-21]

They left a direct breakout clause for the seller choice, so they can bypass it whenever they want.

It was a really strange option anyway imo, considering they launched it saying the buyer gets to choose how.

So the buyer and seller both get to choose? Not sure which world that works in.

[deadwaxsecrets]

Given their track record I'm at a loss as to why any platform would employ EVRI as an option for delivery, either gets dumped on the doorstep regardless of no-one being home, chucked over a gate or, mysteriously gets lost at the local depot. Ultimately, it's the Seller who takes the hit should an item get lost or damaged in the mail so the seller should decide which service they choose to handle delivery.

[insidethe93]

papso22 wrote: I don't think that the buyer gets an instant refund. It depends how they paid, even debit card refunds can take 5 days to clear.

If paid into a standard kind of bank account, typically debit card refunds/payments are, once authorised, instant for the payment itself (leaves the sender's account immediately) but certain banks cover themselves by stating it can take 1-2 hours. It can take 1-2 days to fully process and complete the transaction, because whilst the money normally leaves the sender's account immediately the time it takes for the transaction details to appear on the account statement can vary as most merchants send this info within 1-2 days but some may take longer.

Even in the days of yore it wasn't as long as 5 days. If it genuinely takes that long or does so routinely there's probably a hold-up that's nothing to do with bank systems, possibly the sender's delaying authorisation as once that authorisation's given payment is immediate.

Longer, of course, for transactions involving an international element, then (these days) up to 9 days.

[lucy_farmer]

'Ultimately, it's the Seller who takes the hit should an item get lost or damaged in the mail so the seller should decide which service they choose to handle delivery.'

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Apparently *not* with Simple Delivery.

Ebay have stated that 'once the parcel has been handed over to the courier' , it is ebay's  responsibility, and they will cover non-delivery claims and damaged-in-the-post claims.

I'm not sure I have that much confidence in that statement.

Losses/non-delivery, well possibly. But damages?

It's going to be very easy for ebay to reject 'damage in post ' claims, by claiming the item wasn't packed properly....

(I had a courier company try that on me about 20 years ago when the parcel actually had tyre marks on it...what did they expect it to be 'properly' packed in?  A nuclear waste flask??)

[insidethe93]

deadwaxsecrets wrote: Given their track record I'm at a loss as to why any platform would employ EVRI as an option for delivery...

It's because on paper Evri is one of the largest delivery networks, with a sizeable and arguably very visible presence: over 16,000 pick-up and drop-off locations (as at 2024-2025) including 7,000 24/7 lockers; it also collects parcels from homes by prior booking; 9,000 parcelshops; nothing as yet on the IoW; partners with over 2,000 post offfice branches so customers can send/collect/return Evri parcels.

The post office element means of course that Evri has a number of locations comparable to the number of post office branches. Its coverage is therefore impressive, with 95% of the population in urban areas being within 1 mile of an Evri parcelshop or locker. Rural areas, however, fare poorly by comparison as rural post offices are few and far between and closing all the time. (I'm not particularly rural: my nearest 24/7 Evri locker is 12.09 miles by car = 24.18 miles round trip.) Evri reaches around 85% of households (though whether with satisfactory delivery is a matter of debate for many customers). In the 53 weeks to 29th Feb 2024 Evri handled over 730 million parcels.

This info was put together from googling for details.

However, my own view is that you can look great on paper, but if so many of your transactions end up delivered badly or not at all and with irate customers and a poor rep, then you're not great after all. eBay may've made a rod for its own back and therefore for eBay's customers.