Lets Talk About Simple Delivery - (Suggestions for Improvements)

[mackingcrazy]

Ok so this is a less ranty post 

Since eBay is going to be making us use this, what is peoples experience like of it?  Do they take full control of it if there is any issues with shipping, in transit or lost or stolen?  How much is Simple Delivery insured for? Have people shipped expensive tech, like laptops, phones, graphics cards etc and they have been fine? The reason i ask this is becasue i sold my gfx card last night but because the buyer selected basic post I was uncomfortable using it, i messaged the buyer and he was absolutely fine with cancelling it and i will be relisting it for him when he gets his refund and he will select special delivery This seems to be the only way around it, my thought is that eBay has got into contracts with RM and EVRI and cant get out of them even if they wanted to. 

I think its a good system but its flawed, the size problem for instance, but i do also think that people who sold on ebay for years and have decent seller rating or no postage defects or postage problems should be able to use custom delivery. Or they need to add more couriers to SD, things like ups, dpd maybe, and add an express option, and they absolutely have to do something about items over 61cm because at this moment in time you cant ship them as they are too big and there is no custom option, Just my 2 cents. 

[vinylscot]

Although they have said that they will add more couriers, I'm not really sure how that will benefit either eBay or sellers. 

If eBay has, say five couriers, they won't be able to guarantee the same volume of business to each one, as they did when they had only two. So, they won't be able to negotiate such a favourable rate, which will reduce eBay's profits.

For sellers, it's bad enough having to go to two separate places. How much worse will it be if you need to go to three or four, or more? Also, the more couriers there are, the more often eBay will need to over-ride customer preference, as so many couriers don't have drop-off points convenient to all sellers.

They can't allow some private sellers to use their own postage methods, while not allowing others to do the same. Buyers need consistency, and will become accustomed to SD pricing, and will expect it. It will never be "simple" if it applies to some transactions, and not to others. (Also, some of my worst buying experiences have been with private sellers with feedback scores well into the thousands)

I do agree, obviously, that many improvements MUST be made. Things that should really be simple, and were before, like sending larger, heavier, or more expensive items, should not be horrendously complicated as they are now. Combining orders must be more consistent - at the moment it seems to be hit and miss. There should also be a facility to combine orders and have the buyer refunded from the postage charges, if they buy in a number of separate transactions, as they are obviously doing this as they don't know the system.

I could go on and list another five or six issues which need attention, but they're all discussed at length elsewhere.

It's here to stay, so we need to make the most of it (I have a private account too), and hope that eBay does get its act together.

[mackingcrazy]

Some good points, I just think more choice is always a good thing.  Vinyl? do you sell records by any chance? 

I am a DJ myself, Playing Trance 

[pegr-834437]

More choice might be a good thing for yourself but users on this very forum were complaining that their nearest Evri or Royal Mail drop off (cant remember which) was a 15 minute drive away, if you add DHL into that and UPS you could be going to 4 different locations on a Monday morning. That makes it pretty daft and time consuming. 

I'm pretty sure the insurance cover is £750, eBay self insure so the Royal Mail/Evri limits dont really matter. This makes it much cheaper for eBay when buying in bulk, my old job was working for a company selling stupidly priced clothes, I'm talking £200 for a tshirt and sometimes £2500 for a jacket, they self insured as the DPD price was more than 70% lower than needing coverage for average transaction. 

Having different postage options for the same types of accounts wont work, thered need to be way to many levels to make it suitable, its easier to just have 1 size fits all, like they should have for all accounts but thats a whole other issue.

There needs to be an option for large letter, get parcel force or somebody in for larger parcels and combine shipping sorted, these should have all been sorted prior to mass release but its eBay and they cant wait.

[suelel1968]

Hi Vinyl, @vinylscot,

You are very calm and measured today! I agree with just about everything you said. In fact, i would have liked you to list the other issues you mention, because it never hurts to have everything mentioned in the same place.

You make a good point about introducing other couriers. I hadn't thought about it that way. My local shop does all couriers. I suppose it could be seen as an opportunity for local shops to add more couriers.

I think the most important addition to SD is to add Large Letter rates. If they have one rate, they can surely have all 3.

I also think the category opt out is very flawed. One of the biggest problems with getting people to accept SD is that they see no ryhme or reason in the way it is implemented. And it has never been explained.

Similarly, they must assume all sellers are buyers, because they have never as far as i am aware explained any of the recent changes to buyers. Ok, it's in the t&cs, but who goes there just before buying a CD?

Combining orders also reduces profit i guess, but it increases sales, BPF and buyer engagement so it must be sorted. 

I personally would never send very expensive, fragile, or very large items, which in itself shows a lack of confidence in the system. 

The dual pricing structure which penalises people for using RM only is also unacceptable in my view. When the postmen go on strike at xmas, they will force people into using Evri, when people have clearly said they can't and seller cancelled defects add up very quickly. 

Good thread @mackingcrazy 

[mackingcrazy]

I am sure it is going to be changed, we just have to wait I guess, I really dislike EVRI, yes they are cheap, but i dont want my parcels drop kicked over next doors fence. 🤣

[thepillenwerfer]

I think it's great.  Most things are covered up to £750 and no chasing Royal Mail or a courier to try to get compensation if something goes wrong.  The estimated sizes and weights are often lower than in reality which makes postage cheaper for the Buyers so my items more likely to sell.    I don't have to mess about measuring and weighing and there's no temptation to skimp of packaging to keep a parcel below a limit.  When somebody pays it's just a few clicks to get the label rather than copying the details into RMs or whoever's website.  Now postmen even bring the label so there's no effort or cost in printing and affixing one myself.

There is a problem with very small low-value things I agree but if I think something is worth so little I'd send it untracked I wouldn't bother listing it.  Even if I attach no value to the item itself I still stand to be out-of-pocket on the postage cost under the old system or with Custom Postage now.

Very large items are more a potential problem to me as if something is too big for RM but OK for Evri it's too big for me to carry to a parcel shop.  If I could book an Evri pick-up, at my expense, it would help — though I've had Evri fail to turn up too many times to want to use them at all.

You are also correct about not everybody having a local Post Office or Evri drop-off point.  Personally they are the only two I can use so if e-Bay had done deals with, say, Yodel and DPD and neither did collections my selling days would be over.

Hopefully e-Bay will add at least one more service that will collect out-size items — including ones over Evri's limit, though the re-merger of Royal Mail and Parcel Force may fix it anyway.

[sml192]

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@thepillenwerfer wrote:

Hopefully e-Bay will add at least one more service that will collect out-size items — including ones over Evri's limit, though the re-merger of Royal Mail and Parcel Force may fix it anyway.

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Ebay is adding DHL as a carrier option to cater for large items (up to 30Kg) and will include collection.

I don't think the merger of Royal Mail and Parcelforce will make a great deal of difference in terms of the Simple Delivery contract as it is only the networks and account/website interfaces that are being merged not the actual services themselves.  Parcelforce 48/24 would, therefore, almost certainly still require a separate contract to the existing Royal Mail Tracked 48/24 one. 

[sml192]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

Hi Vinyl, @vinylscot,

I think the most important addition to SD is to add Large Letter rates. If they have one rate, they can surely have all 3.

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I agree that they need to come up with a better solution for Letter and Large Letter items, £20 or less, but it isn't quite as straight forward as just adding Standard Tariff options.  Standard Tariff services can't be added to a commercial contract. 

[thepillenwerfer]

Good news about DHL and thanks for explaining the RM/PF merger.

[downsizingxs]

The problems with parcels turned away from the PO is easily solved. Firstly the seller should weigh & measure the item in a suitable box/package before listing it. I never rely on eBay's 'recommended' postage - they do not know the item like you do. I find only about 60% they get it right but the other 40% I select a different size & weight.

I started off with Evri as my local delivery guy is great. How wrong I was though. Within 3 weeks they had lost or stolen 3 parcels. On one the tracking still says 'will be delivered 21st July' and absolutely nothing since.

I now only send by Royal Mail which has been fine except when I want a collection. I've not seen the option for free collection on eBay and occasionally pay the 30p to get one. Twice now they were not collected.

That all said I really hate Simple Delivery, and as an old timer of 22 years with eBay I find it insulting to have my choice of carrier removed from me.

I also worry that my local sub Post Office may close through reduced revenue. That would end my eBay experience altogether probably..

[edwardian-dreams]

I with that

all well and good adding dhl if you have a drop off point near you or you sell 30kg items 

it would be better, seeing as they now have managed delivery, to offer all couriers 

inpost/yodel

dpd

being two that are definitely more reliable than evri

hold up, dhl is now part of evri 

oh well 

or just go back to how it was, which isn’t going to happen 

so they better change their exemptions criteria and be more generous with the under a tenner rule or under 100g imo

[ile136yz]

Used SD for the first time posting out a relative's parcel while they were in hospital.

Surprised it was so easy and quick & she was paid quickly, but it felt strange not buying the postage myself like I do on my account.

Agree there needs to be more SD options of Couriers and sizes of packaging/parcels for the Buyers & the Seller can opt in if they want.

[goodibags]

If SD can undercut RM's tracked 48 postage for small parcels (£3.45) Ebay could do the same with large letters in bands below 500g. As it appears, the £3.38 SD small parcel charge is part-subsidised by a higher charge (£3.94) for item values above £100. 

There's no reason why tracked large letter items up to 100g couldn't be sent at a level below the flat-rate of £2.72. Likewise for letters up to 250g. As well as having the opt out of SD for those items (based on value) that don't need it.

Having drastically reduced buyers fees on low value items only last month, wouldn't it make sense to have postage charges at levels that might make selling them viable again?

[vinylscot]

The more exemptions, etc., which they build in, the less "simple" it is in practice. This also applies to adding more couriers; it just complicates things further.

eBay is still trying, in vain it appears, to come to a "one size fits all" solution. They're never going to please everyone and they certainly won't be able to do so while keeping it "simple".

They have really got themselves into a dreadful mess with this.

[goodibags]

I think you'll find it's incredibly complicated all round. Category c opted in except for sub-category c3 and items including xyz, Large letters in today but out again by Thursday, exclusions for sellers with names beginning with 'B', etc. 

The one thing you can be assured of is it definitely isn't Simple!

[thepillenwerfer]

I don't know why you'd over-rule the estimated size if it's too low as all you're doing is making the item more expensive to the Buyer and not getting any more yourself.

As for RM collections I've had no problems at all.  Just click the button highlighted below:— 

After that it comes back to the same screen so click the big blue button as even though you don't need to do anything with the label you still seem to need to open it to complete the process.  If all's well you'll immediately get a collection confirmation e-mail from RM.

[azathothdreaming]

I've been sorting my own postage out and refunding the simple delivery labels, as I don't have a printer and need to have items collected. At the moment the SD system excludes people like me.

[suelel1968]

Hi Vinyl, @vinylscot I'm going to agree with you again today! Although Vted, I think, have managed to contract with all the major couriers, the one size fits all solution worked for Vted because they were just selling clothes, which is not the case with Ebay. They may well find that in order to be a success with other items they need  some lower rates too. Or they may well feel that deterring the "postcard" sellers is a good thing. 

Lets hope they mitigate the "dreadful mess" through concessions on custom delivery until they sort themselves out. I have seen some posts from new or returning sellers and they haven't a clue what is going on.

[thepillenwerfer]

Under Simple Delivery you can have your items collected by Royal Mail at no extra cost.  Make sure you only have Royal Mail selected as an option and see my earlier post for what too do when something sells.  The postman brings the label(s) so there's no need for a printer.