Ebay's response to Post Offices who refuse Simple Delivery packages with the wrong label on them

[wintersdawn1]

This was Ebay's response in the chat today:

[andha-21]

I totally agree and the thing they seem to be missing in all this is that it is the sellers that make the site viable and that's why buyers use it.

It has nothing to do with the brand name eBay. 

If another site opens tomorrow, it could be called "Deep Unpleasant Farts" but if it had the same variety of items and similar pricing as/to here eBay would have a huge problem.

[cassidy_r_private]

I would never touch anything linked to Packlink.

I had repeated demands off them for a period of six months for "oversized" UPS parcel fees. Trouble was, the parcels had been delivered a full year earlier.

Their people in Spain wouldn't reply to my emails other than to resend their invoice. After four or five attempts to get them to see reason, I ignored them and they went away eventually.

[medealady]

After checking Evri's exclusions for compensation I checked Royal Mail and discovered they have smelt the coffee and almost mirror Evri's list. If your item includes vinyl records, ceramics, glass, jewellery or over 100 yrs old and more etc neither service provides compensation. Realised been paying for increased value compensation with RM for nothing! Only difference is the option for signed for delivery. Ebay's statement re protection needs an adjustment.

[andha-21]

@medealady 

It doesn't if they are deliberately trying to trap sellers.

[cassidy_r_private]

If it helps anyone, I have now shipped in excess of 20,000 items via Royal Mail Tracked services via my Click and Drop account.

I have "lost" just two Tracked items. A lady who reported her parcel as "missing" from the parcel safe at the roadside end of her extremely long drive, and another that was reported as undelivered by someone who I researched and established was a violent unemployable criminal.

You do need to check the submitted addresses to ensure they make sense rather than rely on AI.

Occasionally things will come back having lain uncollected at the delivery office. Another issue is that for security purposes, Royal Mail will not leave calling cards in communal areas. I routinely email customers with the address "Flat 1 etc" and let them know that Royal Mail won't leave it in a communal area. Customers can also register their delivery preferences with Royal Mail themselves.

The couriers I've had issues with, worst first, are InPost, Evri, Yodel, DPD, DHL (the cheap one which used to be Business Post). The majority of the problems I've encountered relate to goods being left out in the open or taken back to a depot many miles from the recipient's house.

People usually know their postman and are used to dealing with Royal Mail. Better the devil you know.

[lucy_farmer]

'Maybe Ebay would simply say - Oh, but you should have read Evri's terms and conditions before agreeing to the Sale/Purchase ?? -.....'

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 Yes, they would.

Ebay have said in their T's and C's about Simple Del:

That ebay will be responsible for loss and damage in the post, provided the item meets ebay's terms and the carriers' terms.

i.e. it's not on the exclusion list.

So yeah. If , for example, you send a valuable vinyl record through Simple and it gets broken.

Tough. the seller takes the hit.  

If it gets nicked, the seller *still* takes the hit (even though it's breakability had s*d all to do with it going missing!)

And sellers aren't being given the opportunity to choose a different, insured, postal service.

[adders31]

Post Office never opted in, Royal mail did... 🤔 

It's a complete mess

'Simple' delivery it's not...

[kath3735_wxmjn]

or you get the courier who decides that it is not worth the effort to deliver to rural addresses or any that are inconvenient to park for.   I have started delisting my items, i was going to continue until the 15th but as they are going to be phasing it in before then i will be gone by the 7th.  Final straw was when i read somewhere that even if a bid is on an item they will still change it, not sure if that is true or not but am not taking the chance.  I did think about just cancelling but that would not be fair to the buyer.

[deanem72]

I like the fact that using SD, eBay are liable for extra costs should the AI screw up.  But, if the item sent is on an exclusion list issued by the carrier(s) you as a seller will nit be covered in any way, shape or form.

This led me to reading through both RM and Evri exclusion lists

First item which stands out is on Evri's list

• All items that have been badly packaged or strapped together

As we all know, how we send a parcel is not neccessarily the way it is received.  Once we have handed the parcel to the courier it is their responsibility, but how many times have people tried claiming for a damaged packet only to be told that this is how it was received?

Seems like now the only way is to stop selling, I will give it a few days and see what happens as I have specifically listed a couple of items using SD to see what happens

[wintersdawn1]

Apparently their are 11,805 Post Office branches in the U.K. (as at March 2024), it will interesting to see how ebay manages to get them all to accept simple delivery packages with the wrong postage label on them.

There is supposed to be some kind of agreement between royal mail and ebay about this and if the postage label has 'marketplace seller' on it, the post office is supposed to accept it, regardless of whether the package is too heavy/big.

In reality I'm not sure how it is going to work and can imagine many more heated exchanges taking place in post offices across the U.K. once simple delivery is in full swing and private sellers have left it up to ebay's AI to decide how heavy/big their parcel is and what is the correct postage label.

[parsley2003]

He's as clueless as the rest of them sack the mentals and cs 

[byclickingsubmit]

I think this may also apply to yodel.

ive sent a parcel on Monday with simple delivery.

when choosing carrier, I selected yodel. I printed out the label and took it to the shop I normally drop yodel off to.

when taking to the shop. The keeper was confused due to label looking different and it didn’t say yodel on the label but it scanned in.

Yodel tracking shows its been accepted by the shop and scanned in, it also says parcel ink when checking via yodel.

twice, yodel have gone down and it’s updated my shipping to “we came to collect your parcel but it wasn’t there”

it’s now Friday and I sent it Monday. 

i got eBay to call me today and asked them what label you’ve supplied me but it seems to be an issue and I explained.

I wanted to speak to a eBay rep because I told them straight that if they parcel doesn’t make any more movement and buyer messages me, they’re getting blocked and you’re doing with it. 

one thing after another with eBay. I get screwed over as buyer and screwed over as seller. 

[snowylilliput-2]

I am wondering if Marco understand Post offices are nothing to do with Royal mail . I spoke to customer services today and was told how much better Simply Delivery we because we do not have to decide how to send them , I corrected her telling her we now need to know if the parcel is 1g to 1kg or 1.1kg to 2kg when in the old postage system they where the same including the price if they where put in certain size box . I fail to understand how Simply Delivery is better when I have a local shop who take 4 different couriers which i also explained to customer services when one off them is not Evri and I can not use them . And Evri is a 15 mile round journey. 

[cyclingjason090]

Since eBay are liable for extra costs should the AI screw up with the parcel size I wonder how long it would take for a change if everyone took note of ebays instructions to package items securely and safely to protect from damage.  T shirt safely packaged in a suitcase sized box perhaps, ceramic mug in a box, in a box Russian doll style 🤔

[wintersdawn1]

Agreed, ebay's contract/agreement seems to be with royal mail so maybe it is royal mail who will pressure post offices to accept simple delivery packages with wrong postage labels on them.

I have a hard time believing that ebay's AI deciding the correct postage label under simple delivery is better than the seller themselves with the item in front of them.

Yes, the way ebay with simple delivery has split up the weight categories has most probably been done to make them extra money.  Also there is no 2-5kg, instead from 2kg straight to 10kg, again ebay's greed is suspected.

  

[sml192]

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@wintersdawn1 wrote:

Agreed, ebay's contract/agreement seems to be with royal mail so maybe it is royal mail who will pressure post offices to accept simple delivery packages with wrong postage labels on them.

I have a hard time believing that ebay's AI deciding the correct postage label under simple delivery is better than the seller themselves with the item in front of them.

Yes, the way ebay with simple delivery has split up the weight categories has most probably been done to make them extra money.  Also there is no 2-5kg, instead from 2kg straight to 10kg, again ebay's greed is suspected.

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Royal Mail don't have a 2-5Kg option for Tracked 48 and 24.  Evri do have separate weight bands for 2-5Kg and 5-10Kg but they are exactly the same price. 

[wintersdawn1]

Thanks for that.

What bothers me the most is Royal Mail up to 2kg is £3.39, with simple delivery its £3.71 and if I select only Royal Mail its £4.27!

[edwardian-dreams]

Disgusting

extortion and blackmail territory imo 

[wintersdawn1]

Agreed, it looks like ebay are punishing the private seller for not offering both carriers as it is putting their overall price up and deterring buyers from making a purchase.

[edwardian-dreams]

They make me sick