Letters and Large Letters and Simple Delivery

[*vyolla*]

Letters and large letters with items that cost less than £10 and weigh less than 100g are exempt from Simple Delivery. 

[sunflowers4me59]

Does that still count after 21st April when eBay are separating letter and large letter? If so that's the first good news I've heard about SD!

[cbclassicbuyer]

Good. Is the £10 including BPF or excluding? 

[abrahamtoast]

Could you please point out where that is stated in black and white.

Many posters have posted this as fact, although none have backed it up. Equally, many have posted that this is NOT the case.

eBay point blank refused to answer a direct question about it on the weekly chat yesterday.

A little clarity would help.

[edwardian-dreams]

A customer service agent told me that large letters/padded envelope size will be allowed too

as they will only take into account  the £10 and the 100g elements of the exemption not the size of then”Postables inventory “as they called it

[sunflowers4me59]

Thanks!! Just as I was feeling a bit more hopeful, hopes are dashed again!! Trouble is you can't believe what anybody tells you in eBay towers.

[manyjamjar]

Might be a daft question but will this apply in every category and how will eBay make sure these specifications are not used by the seller just to avoid SD ??

Letter/Large Letter U 100g exemption sounds good on paper but actually monitoring is completely different.

[tommystrezures]

Upto £10 + BPF is the short answer to that.

[sizzenergy]

Ebay should change it to :

Letters and large letters with items that cost less than £10 and weigh less than 250g are exempt from Simple Delivery.

[abrahamtoast]

Again, show me in black and white, OFFICIALLY,  from eBay. Not an optimistic interpretation; not what a CS rep tells you to keep you happy. (I am amazed when regular posters believe CS when they are saying what they want to hear, but accuse them of not knowing their job in all other instances.)

Show me where eBay have stated it, AND whether the £10 includes BPF or not.

Various posters have posted with negative or positive views on these questions, but nobody is backing it up.

I suspect we may need to wait until the 15th to see what happens, then eBay will tell us that's how it's meant to be. I suspect they don't yet know for sure themselves.

[tommystrezures]

In part of your answer this has been communicated on the 4th April in the seller update, have you read this?

In answer to your question about LL v Letters this has been clarified to me on more than one occasion by staff, I would imagine the same with @*vyolla* 

[abrahamtoast]

Thanks for the confirmation of the £10 limit.

I too, would go along with @*vyolla*  sensible assumption about LLs, but (and I think you agree), that very clearly does NOT specifically include large letters.

If RM can make a distinction between "letters" and "large letters", so can eBay.

The fact that they won't confirm it, one way or another, leads me to believe they simply don't know.

[*vyolla*]

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@abrahamtoast wrote:

Again, show me in black and white, OFFICIALLY,  from eBay. Not an optimistic interpretation; not what a CS rep tells you to keep you happy. (I am amazed when regular posters believe CS when they are saying what they want to hear, but accuse them of not knowing their job in all other instances.)

---

There isn't anything in eBay guidance.

I didn't get the info from eBay CS, but from an eBay employee. I wouldn't take anything as gospel from an eBay CS rep! 😀

eBay's not making the distinction because it's a US company and a letter is a letter and they haven't thought of specifically stating that RM large letter size is also included. 

[wintersdawn1]

I think ebay management head-hunt pathological liars for CS positions.

[abrahamtoast]

Again, I hope you're right. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Your final paragraph is a little unrealistic. They didn't work out SD on American postal systems. Its detail was created for the UK market, so I think its silly to suggest they may be unaware of the differences between letter and large letters, as that's a fundamental aspect of the market.

[judydoodles]

How would ebay know whether an item at £9.99 before BPF is <100g? 

If the seller (not my me ofcourse) is able to take it to a post office and pay for whatever RM service they like, how would this not be abused? 

If I (hypothetically) list and sell under a tenner on a BiN then I can send something more bulky or higher weight via Tracked 24, Recorded Delivery, even Special Delivery once I'm at the local PO. 

I might have to wait to get my payout until feedback is received or 14 days.  Is that within the working of this SD anomaly?  Ebay has no way to know the weight or size of £10 item or even know what service you choose as long as the buyer receives their package when expected?

I'm just trying to exercise my grey cells around this wrinkle. 

I assume there's no way to upload any tracking number if the item sold for a tenner and SD doesn't kick in.  But that doesn't stop me selecting a tracking option at the PO.  But if there's still a facility to upload a tracking ref for that £10 item happy days!  In this scenario I would I not get the new protection for non-receipt or damaged in transit claims because it's outside the SD remit, however, I could resort to the old fashioned claim against Royal Mail because I've bought a tracked service and the PO gave me a recieipt.

Unless ebay is monitoring items that will sell below £10 for images of a 1 kilo item (what a splendid algorithm that must be?) they have no idea about the £10 item sold and posted; what it actually weighs?  So if a seller's items sell below £10 it's a way to avoid SD? 

What am I missing?  

I appreciate it's quite a restricted band of belongings that might still be worth listing at £10 plus quoting P&P at the <100g Letter rate 😉 to avoid suspicion, eg £1.55 Tracked 48 letter rate <100g = £11.55. 

Even though that might not cover the actual postage paid at the PO  eg.*£3.35 tracked 48 small parcel up to 2kg:  £11.55 - £3.35 = £8.20 eventually paid 14 days later (sooner if I can upload a tracking ref. or I get feedback)?  Now I may have to rummage through my stash to sell anything I'd be happy to let go for just over 8 quid....

*Forgive me if I've not used exactly the correct going rates but hopefully you can follow what I'm asking.  (If you can please explain it to me!) 

Is this a wrinkle that might prove useful of some sellers, if it gets you out of the SD sweaty clutches? 🤔

Not sure those £8 items are going to make anyone an ebay millionaire between now and the announcement of the next hair-brain scheme!

My listings of on holiday currently, I just don't need the uncertainty of SD until the problems are acknowledged and ironed out.  They may be gone some time...

(I need my meds and cold flannel now nurse!)😵

[geosacha007]

I'd imagine the AI bots will object to someone trying to list a 1kg item as under 100g.  For really obscure items they might not know.

[edwardian-dreams]

I can only think of one way to control it and that’s to make people buy the postage off eBay without the possibility of amending with the little pencil icon like you can now

but people use stamps for small light items so not sure how that could be controlled

Unless they ban them lol

I think they will just let it be for now

They’ve got bigger problems 

maybe there might be a facility that allows eBay to view the details of tracked delivered items …and if the weight doesn’t match the listed weight there could be a penalty

who knows

we can speculate till cows come home