Help with getting Simple Delivery fee back.

[dollattic123]

So. I made a sale and chose to pay the shipping myself as I wanted to bypass Simple Delivery and send it Royal Mail Special Delivery as I want the parcel signed for (the "custom postage" has gone from my site, so it was Simple Delivery option) When the sale happened, I checked my Royal Mail Click and Drop linked account and the sale was there. Easy, I thought. I paid for SD/1pm printed the label and posted. My Ebay sellers page updated the tracking number automatically (although it still says "Standard Tracked Delivery via Royal Mail"  as the description) . I didnt ever initiate the Simple Delivery postage printing button. Does anyone know how I claim that Simple Delivery fee back, as it's already gone from my account? I cant seem to see any void/cancel/refund whatever option. Should I have initiated the Simple Delivery prepaid button instead of using Click and Drop? 

[norbrook43]

 Simple Delivery - A Cautionary Tale

Let me share some thoughts with you all on my experience with eBay’s ‘Simple Delivery” and warn of some of the pitfalls.

On 8th June I sold a Kitchen Aid Food Mixer through an auction listing.

I give myself a” high benchmark in dealing with packing and postage and try to get purchases to buyers within 24 hours. To meet this level of performance I specified a 24 hour/next day delivery using Royal Mail on the listing. The buyer paid £12.60 for this service.

 With the auction concluded and confirmation of payment, I decided to use eBay’s ‘simple delivery’ system. Using this system eBay made a charge of £12.45. So far so good. However, when I printed the postage label it showed a 48 hour service which would normally cost £10.80 if purchased directly from Royal Mail.

‘Simple Delivery’ had not delivered the service I wanted and had charged me 10% more than I would have paid if I had booked directly. Feeling ripped off and frustrated I abandoned ‘simple delivery’ and purchased an appropriate label at the right price and for the service I had promised buyers directly from Royal Mail.

The item was posted on 9th June and safely delivered on 10th June. Success!

I knew from experience that Royal Mail will refund unused postage purchases but the eBay app message responds to an attempt to cancel with this - ‘this postage label can’t be cancelled’.

I spent many hours trying to find out on what basis eBay think that they can take money from my funds and provide no service or value in exchange. Eventually I found the relevant small print and it appears that to cancel the postage label and qualify for a refund I would need to cancel the sale and refund the buyer the entire the purchase price and postage charge. Well that ship had sailed. The item was on its way to the buyer.  Cancellation was not an option.”

So after trying to overcharge for postage me eBay have trousered £12.60.

Two thoughts occur to me:

eBay can only take money from the proceeds of a sale if it has a legal right to do so.  But this legal right is defined by English contract law which cannot be restricted or altered by” devious terms and conditions. To be legally enforceable there must be an exchange of value in a contract – each party giving something of value in exchange. In this case eBay have not given anything of value in exchange for my payment. Therefore no contract exists and there is no legal right to deduct the postal charge from my funds.

Only £12.60 is involved and its recovery through legal action is out of the question. There are, as others have reported, issues of integrity and consistency with the system.eBay has over the years introduced many policies and practices to rid the market they manage of bad and sharp practices. ‘Simple delivery’ seems to contain some examples of the bad and sharp practices they have suppressed in others. This ‘one standard for us and another for them’ approach does undermine confidence in the company and particularly in it’s integrity.

[xyz307xyz]

The buyer might receive a refund for the unused SD label, if ebay has registered that label against the order.

[xyz307xyz]

Thinking about it a bit more; assuming you changed to simple delivery after the buyer paid; you've probably been charged for the label, not the buyer.
You can try claiming a refund here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/claims/simple-delivery/refund/seller

[norbrook43]

Thanks xyz307xyz for that useful link. I have filled in the form and await eBay deciding if I am due a refund. I couldn’t find that form using the help pages and neither does it appear when I ask ‘ Simple Delivery refund of postal charges’.

My main point remains. eBay provides and supervises an online market place where buyers and sellers can make discrete transactions. But when eBay supplies services on its own account then it has the same legal status any seller and must adhere to English Contract law. (on eBay.co.uk that is)  A postage label has no intrinsic value and if unused the payment made for it should be refunded to the payer - no ifs, no buts, no maybe’s.

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

Are you able to add a little more.

I filled in the claims/refund simple-delivery form within the 14 days (this as yet not expired) however i thought i would at least get an email or find this action on my eBay account. I can not find any trace of my doing the form.  I think eBay could have an option to show this is at least processing or has been started.

Have you ever done one.

The reason i needed to was cost.  Free shipping and the eBay label for the same service was 74p more.

Plus i still have credit with my P2G account. 

Thank you 

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

I took out their SD tacking number and put my own.  I filled in said form and now i wait.

My own label for the same service was 74p cheaper. Plus i am using up my P2G credit.  

My main concern is following that i  have filled in the form and meet all said 4 requirements and able to change the tracking number, there is nowhere shown on my eBay account that this form has been filled in.

I did not get an email and I would have liked to have had some acknowlegement that i did it.

[irt303]

I completely agree that sellers should get some kind of confirmation of the refund request so they have something to refer to and chase up if necessary (shouldn't be necessary, but...). This would also help ensure that sellers don't accidentally make a duplicate request.

Without this, it could easily get confusing, especially for those who make quite a few sales. I guess at the moment the onus is on sellers to keep their own records, which I'd say is advisable in any case given the ever-present possibility of eBay messing something up.

Why is there currently no kind of confirmation of the request (I'm assuming you didn't even get a message on the eBay page to say "We have received your refund request" - I've not made a request myself, so only have what others report to go on)?

Is it one of the many oversights evident within Simple Delivery, or is it a deliberate omission intended to discourage sellers from avoiding it (even where this avoidance is necessary due to SD not offering enough options)?

As has been the case many times this year, I genuinely can't decide whether it's incompetence or malice, not that either are acceptable.

[norbrook43]

I submitted my claim a few weeks ago. I received no acknowledgment or
response of any kind.

[irt303]

I do recall you or another seller saying this before.

Not good, is it?

[adroit-cds]

Was the same here. I had to email customer services to get refund.

[norbrook43]

Thanks for all responses and suggestions. I have spent enough of my time trying to get eBay to meet their legal obligations and the only benefit will a refund of £12.60 . I will refer the matter to Trading Standards as a matter of principle.

[the-dustbucket-tradingco]

Im chasing it up now as its been over 2 weeks and no refund has come my way.

Track and manage your packages.

Seller Hub page there is a list on the left hand side.

Down at the bottom it says "Postage labels" and Actions. There is nothing to show

that i have not used the tracking number only shown as the one they gave me and not the actual one used.

No sign i have filled in a refund form or anything to let me know they have it and it is on hold.

Really poor service and no cknowledgment  email either. 

Im waiting for a call back. 

Feedback given to eBay cusotmer service to request some kind of acknowledgment in the system.
Takes 21 days to refund and so far told to look in 'all transactions.'

[dls-online]

Hi there, so far my experience with obtaining a refund for unused SD labels has been a bit of an ordeal. Each time it's taken numerous chasers from me and ebay CS representatives constantly saying "it should have been processed within 14 days" on each call. 

I'm tracking the SD claims to ensure no refunds are missed. It also gives a good sight for how long these claims are taking ebay to process. Here's my stats thus far:

If you ask me this huge delay from ebay for refunding unused SD labels which we're forced to purchase is unacceptable. The process is time consuming for the seller, made harder than it ought to be (they've taken away the option to easily cancel an unused label), no receipts are provided upon submission of the claim forms, and there's no built in tracking of the claims.

Ebay are doing their royal best to mess with their customers! It's absolute insanity what they're doing. We're their customers not their sworn enemies. Are they nuts?!