New Simple Delivery pricing!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

So they are introducing new pricing for SD from Feb 12th!   Methinks that mandatory SD is approaching rapidly....    Well goodbye E Bay when that happens.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

but what people do not seem to realise is that Simple Delivery is only optional at the moment.  It has been stated by the CEO that it will be mandatory in the first quarter of this year.  So although no official announcement yet (they are probably waiting for the furore of Feb 4th changes to die down before publishing them) it appears it will be here shortly.  You will have no option then but to post through them.

[mick41968]

Same, come the 4th i am going to sell and buy elsewhere,

[cspurchasing]

And what if an item's volumetric or actual weight is over 20Kg?

I understand if a seller enters a weight of over 20Kg when listing an item, it removes the Click & Collect option. I wonder if the same will apply with S/D?

[square-monkey]

ebay state ' SD will apply all new and historic listings'.  Then it says elsewhere that we can opt out of SD when listing.  So does that mean they will change every live listing, then you have to go through them all and opt out?

[vinylscot]

I know it's not coming to business sellers, for the time being, but I'm a little concerned at eBay charging £2.70 for a large letter, with a value up to £100, and £3.42 for items worth more than that, up to £750.

About 50% of the time, I can send a 7" single in a large letter, using RM 2nd class mail for £1.55. In the other 50% of cases, it costs me £1.90.  Not all buyers want next day delivery, particularly with cheaper items, which really do not require tracking - they'll get the RM delivery scan, which to date, has been enough for eBay to accept that delivery has been made.

I charge a little over these prices, to cover proper mailers, stiffeners, PVC sleeves, new paper sleeves, etc. If they bring in SD, I will need to absorb the cost in my item prices, or increase my prices slightly.

Meanwhile eBay, who will certainly be receiving much lower postage rates than I am, will be pocketing a huge amount of what they charge me for this SD. They are charging more than the RM 1st class price, and providing NOTHING extra. From my limited knowledge of larger organisations' contracts with RM, eBay will be making well over £1.00, every single time anyone uses RM on Simple Delivery.

There are workarounds - which I'm sure eBay will block in time. The most obvious one is just to state in your listings that all your items weigh 21kg, and set your postage costs at your preferred price. I've quoted that, not to encourage anyone to try it, but because it's so obvious, that eBay must be aware of it.

[congenialanimal]

That's a fair point. It's been a while since I've used Ebay. If I'd realised how difficult it is to work through 'Simple Delivery' I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. I've checked with my buyer on the first items I sold using this and they're not happy with how much Ebay are charging for postage. I completely understand. What they are being charged is well over what I would have gone with. It's one of the reasons why I won't touch Ebay's international shipping process, it's extortionate for what it is.

On the plus side, it may be enough to force a monopoly change through. Ebay have had a stranglehold on this market for a long time. We need competition, particularly from UK based companies that will keep the profits in the UK rather than repatriating it to the states.

[valueaddedresource]

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@square-monkey wrote:

ebay state ' SD will apply all new and historic listings'.  Then it says elsewhere that we can opt out of SD when listing.  So does that mean they will change every live listing, then you have to go through them all and opt out?

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@square-monkey  the reference to "new and historic listings" is in the announcement about the price update and is specifically only about the price update.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/Simple-Delivery-pricing-changes-from-10-February/ba-p/... 

"Beginning from 10 February 2025, pricing for the Simple Delivery programme will be updated. These changes will apply to all new and historic listings."

That just means that those prices will be applied both to new listings created on/after 10 February with Simple Delivery and that existing (historic) listings already using Simple Delivery will have the postage price automatically updated to the new rates - but it doesn't have any impact at all on existing listings that are not currently using Simple Delivery.

Sellers can still opt out for now by selecting the Custom Postage option instead of Simple Delivery in the listing form when creating a listing, but that option will likely be going away sometime in the next month or two as the CEO has said Simple Delivery will become mandatory for private sales of eligible items sometime in Q1 2025.

[square-monkey]

I usually use Yodel as I can walk 800yds to the drop-off shop. I will not be walking to an evri shop, or driving 10 miles to UPS/DPD/TNT drop off. So will I be dictated to, with which courier I will have to use, (well not have to because after 28 years on ebay, I'll give up.

[congenialanimal]

Right now it looks like Ebay are limiting this to just Evri and Royal Mail. I've seen a couple of posts talking about the issues faced in some communities where there are very limited options available for sellers. Ebay seem to be ignoring the reality of the British high street (or more rural communities) that seriously limit what people can use.  Probably more realistic to say that they don't give a damn and they can afford to ignore it since the site has pretty much been taken over by businesses.

[parsley2003]

That's right there will be no combining postage unless Ebay do a "special offer" i read somewhere. It's another way of them making money they have admitted it. So if someone buys 10 things it's 10 postages and 10 75p. To combine you would have to cancel the order and relist them as one listing and then probably get a strike for cancelling. I have been taking all my listings off gradually and putting them into sets. Tomorrow i will go on holiday so i see how the mess is progressing

[parsley2003]

Me too have already worked out where

[parsley2003]

They have said it will only be for new listing when they start it on the 10th Feb where we can opt out but i will be on time away then to see if this is really true because i can only use RM

[parsley2003]

Yes someone else will benefit a market place with fair rules, do not charge buyer, have low fees for sellers, do not hold your money and let you post your way. There is one out there and they should do very well out of this.

I would never use GSP i've seen the bad feedbacks sellers get that use it. Also i combine postage and refund overpaid when people pay without requesting total. To be a fair honest seller we can never use SD. Ebay have confessed it's another way for them to make money

[parsley2003]

No Yodel they are only going to use RM and Evri

[parsley2003]

That's all they want just business so it might have been nicer just to ban private sellers than do these awful things to push us out. It seems that in USA they only have business accounts now

[ruby*ryan]

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@parsley2003 wrote:

They have said it will only be for new listing when they start it on the 10th Feb where we can opt out but i will be on time away then to see if this is really true because i can only use RM

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We don't know yet when Simple Delivery will become mandatory, as eBay haven't announced a start date yet.

[mick41968]

Business sellers will also loose out,as when i usually sell items i use part of the money from the sale and  purchase alot of items from business sellers on here.

[parsley2003]

Yes i have rescue animals and buy a lot for them on here but the same
people have accounts with Amazon or their own websites so i will buy from
there instead because of what they are doing

[congenialanimal]

I've heard back from the seller. The figure Ebay has quoted for P&P is well over what it would actually cost. They're not paying for packaging so they can't claim that. I've offered to do the buyer a refund down to what the postage should actually cost. I know I'm taking a hit here but I don't think it is fair to penalise the buyer because I made the mistake of going with what Ebay offered. To be fair, it was combined postage and was a lot less than it would have been but it was still well over the odds. I may have a rethink about how things work. Maybe do it as free postage and list with P&P worked into the cost? I don't know yet. Listing as sets is all well and good but there are times when I know I'm only after a single item in a set and don't want to be lumbered with the other items in the listing. Ebay have lost sight of what they're supposed to be about.

[parsley2003]

There won't be free postage any more because Ebay want to make money from
the postage. I've always sold singles for collectors am now bundling into
large lots, the 10th in one place it says SD for new listings to opt out of
in another will be added to historic listings which would mean changing
every single one. It's a nightmare for sure because even they don't know
what they are doing