New postage policy seems a bit dodgy...

[lord.ford]

Anyone else find the ‘new’ postage process for sellers frustrating and a bit suspicious?

Specifically:

• Ebay now require sellers to select the postage service during the listing and only allow them to use that postage service once the item has sold. 

• This would not be too bad but they do not display the costs for the various services at the point of selection (as they used to when selecting after sale) and so buyers are committing to buying a postage service without knowing the price - as such this is not technically a valid contract (under UK law at least).  

• Ebay also no longer allow sellers to insert tracking numbers for items they have posted themselves (i.e. sellers who did not buy postage from eBay directly). This is bad for buyers but also disastrous for sellers as eBay also now only releases funds 2 days after delivery has been confirmed - in the absence of the ability to add tracking numbers or for buyers to confirm receipt, it means sellers not buying postage from eBay now have to wait up to 2 weeks(!) for funds to be issued. 

I’ve been an eBayer for 18 years and never once posted on these forums but these changes seem a bit ‘dodgy’ at best. 

OK, so eBay are trying to reduce seller fees and recoup it by selling postage services, I get it. But at least allow sellers the choice of not buying postage through eBay and at the VERY least give us an idea of what the postage service we are buying through eBay will cost.

Questions to eBay: why are you to forcing sellers to confirm delivery service at point of listing with no way of changing it afterwards? Why do you not list the prices for the deliver services at the point when the seller is forced to select? Why do you not allow sellers to add their own tracking numbers? Why do you not allow buyer’s to confirm receipt (same way as you can for collections)?

In the hope of getting some response from eBay, I’m not even sure forcing sellers to choose postage without knowing the price is legal in the UK - said it.

LF

[stanleybarnard1946]

have read comments regarding new method of posting items and as a senior citizen a very confused .

i have used eBay over number of years and have used mostly Royal Mail and had no problems neither have my buyers why alter something when it is doing okay , provide tracking for whatever company you have used and everything works .

if eBay are not earning any money then go back to charging percentage and occasionally 

over a few free listings.

Ebay thing again or you will loose your sellers I myself have number of items to list but am now unsure what to do !!!

[jiveman]

"Simple Delivery is not compulsory."

it is compulsary for some. See this is the problem. Some people are forced to "Simple Delivery" and others are not yet.

Those that have not been forced are being used to obfuscate the situation. 1 person moans and the other says that they are wrong.

jckl1957.....You are wrong.

[catescoot74]

I hear you completely and could not agree more.
I’ve mentioned previously that I’m a wheelchair user myself, and to be able to post with this “simple delivery” I need to do a 14 mile round trip to get to a posting office.
My life is already difficult enough, I’m not making my life harder still so eBay can squeeze more money out of people.
This was a fatal mistake for eBay.
It’s been a whole confusing bunch of nonsense for everyone

[catescoot74]

It is compulsory!!! I actually called eBay to complain, and I was gob smacked when I asked the customer service guy what I could do if I DIDNT want to use the simple delivery, and he said, verbatim, “that I would have to sell elsewhere”. So yes, it’s compulsory or tough, go somewhere else.

[retroman303]

"Maybe I like the misery!" Classic episode - well, every episode of Father Ted was!

Good analogy with SD, except for the fact that, until Mrs Doyle tampered with it, the teamaker did actually work properly...

[department28]

That comment was made in March, during the very early days of Simple Delivery, so it wasn't compulsory back then... unfortunately, it is compulsory now... unless your items are in one of the categories that are still allowed to use Custom postage.

[department28]

'Good analogy with SD, except for the fact that, until Mrs Doyle tampered with it, the teamaker did actually work properly...'

Yes, good point! 😄

I keep hoping SD will have some sort of catastrophic 'breakdown', and be forced to take early retirement... 🤖 

[glov_edwa]

I have found another restriction and 2 tier postage from eBay article,I do not like the part of not necessarily being able to use Royal Mail exclusively and paying more for just using them.

Following from site

How is the label provided to me chosen?

We’ll take into account the buyer’s location, the item location, your distance to a convenient drop off point, the appropriate delivery service for the item you're posting, whether the buyer has selected a standard or express delivery service at checkout, and your carrier preferences, amongst a number of other factors.

eBay also provided this table of current rates for Simple Delivery, depending on whether you have set your shipping preferences to allow both EVRI and Royal Mail or whether you have excluded either carrier.

Reminder: while eBay is now allowing sellers to set these preferences, they make it very clear they are under no obligation to actually honor them and sellers may still end up with a label from a non-preferred carrier in some situations.

[andrewjamesscott]

I had to change my postage/tracking number because it wasn't enough. The item's been delivered but not according to eBay. That's the end of it for me. I'll wait another week then close my account. 

[xyz307xyz]

If ebay recommended that postage weight/size band; the label was fine (unless it was over 20kg and 61cm x 46cm x 46cm). [If I understand "it wasn't enough" correctly.]

If it shows delivered on the carrier site, it may still take a while for ebay to update (assuming you were able to change the tracking number on ebay.)

[andrewjamesscott]

Too fat to go through a letter box said the lady who trashed it and charged me more. I only realised today that eBay had the original tracking number. It's cost me more to *bleep* around with this *bleep* than the unit I sold. I'm entirely done with eBay at this point.

[ruby*ryan]

---

@andrewjamesscott wrote:

Too fat to go through a letter box said the lady who trashed it and charged me more. I only realised today that eBay had the original tracking number. It's cost me more to *bleep* around with this *bleep* than the unit I sold. I'm entirely done with eBay at this point.

---

That would be the fault of your PO lady not eBay. RM have told the POs to accept any SD items as long as they are within the size limit mentioned above.

[xyz307xyz]

Correction - "the label was fine (unless it was over 20kg or over 61cm x 46cm x 46cm)."

[notlib50]

Perhaps they are money laundering or just trying to get foreign exchange for their country?

[notlib50]

Do you get charged postage by ebay if you don't use their new label. My next sale fits in a small letter but they want to charge me a KG price. I am sending it myself which I hope is okay?

[stevemellor]

Test

[notlib50]

The cost of it wipes out any profit I made.

[xyz307xyz]

If it's listed with Simple Delivery - you or the buyer will be charged for the Simple Delivery label, depending on what was selected.

[edwardian-dreams]

You can cancel and relist under a category that allows you to post custom delivery with a letter size price , see list below (just use any for this purpose)

or you can just send yourself what you’ve sold now , don’t use the label and request a refund for the simple delivery label

however I’m not sure if you do get a refund if you don’t send it tracked

all very “not simple” complicated 

[retroman303]

Yes, if the item is eligible for Simple Delivery (SD), and you don't use their label, eBay will still charge you or the buyer for it (depending on who paid for it).

If the buyer paid for the unused label, then they will (or should) automatically get a refund for it within 30 days of purchase.

If you paid for it, then you can request a refund within 14 days of the sale, but there are conditions attached to this, one of which being that you used a tracked service to send the item. If you don't send tracked, then you will not get a refund - eBay has 'officially' confirmed this in the weekly chat - so you will still be out of pocket anyway! With SD, private sellers are pretty much forced to use a tracked service, even if they don't use eBay's label. It's quite the stitch-up, really, and demonstrates that eBay can think things through very thoroughly, at least when it comes to making life difficult for private sellers.

I'm sure another member will post the link to the refund page for you, I don't seem to be able to find it at the moment. It's worth having a read through the SD help pages, too.

"The cost of it wipes out any profit I made." Yep, that's one of the main complaints about SD.

As an aside, I must say that I admire sellers like yourself who just 'give it a go' without necessarily knowing how everything works beforehand. I don't mean that disrespectfully at all; I wish that I were less risk-averse. I'm one of those cautious sellers who endlessly scans these forums to try and fathom how things work, whereas sellers like you are kind of the 'pioneers' exploring the mystery-shrouded lands of Simple Delivery, and (hopefully) reporting back on your experiences for the benefit of us overly hesitant onlookers!

Good luck!