Postage costing me more than buyer pays. Formal complaint

[prissythings]

I have no doubt that this has frequently been mentioned on here, but forgive me, I have not been on here much. I am livid. If I have it wrong, then, please correct me.

I am losing money on this new way with the postage costs. . Buyer pays less than what the actual postage cost is. Also, there is no allowance for packaging material costs. Being a private seller I don't sell that much but have always enjoyed ebay until now. I spoke to an agent, who, couldn't grasp what I am saying. I will now make an official complaint to ebay in London, then needs be, the so called Ombudsman.

[jonatjonatjonat]

You've still got a mix of listings.
 Item 397102744222 for example is still on custom delivery. You are charging extra for postage, and you would decided what that is. ebay pay you the postage and you buy your postage with that

Item 157354296176 is on Simple Delivery. The customer is charged postage  - but you all you get is the label provided by ebay (either an Evri or Royal Mail label). You don't pay additional for postage - you use the label ebay provide. Regards packaging - you'd have to build that into the starting auction price.

[1956glyn]

Hi

When its comes to packaging costs these now have to be included in your auction start price or buy it now price.   Postage under simple delivery does not include any packaging costs.

I too struggle with the postage charges.  Often Ebay suggest a price that i know is less than what Royal Mail will charge.  I do not wish to risk  buyers havng  to pay an excess before delivery so  I tend to mess around with the charges until i get an appropriate one.    Simple delivery still has many issues 😞 

[jckl1957]

Your second point is easy to address.

There is no allowance for packaging material cost with Simple Delivery.  Calculate your cost and add it to the starting price of your item.

I don't really understand the other part of your post.

When you list an item and it sells with Simple Delivery - for example, the glass you sold a couple of days ago - Ebay calculate the size and set a postage cost.  The buyer pays the postage amount to Ebay who issue you with a prepaid postage label. 

You don't have to pay anything for postage and certainly should not be paying extra as long as you use the label or QR code Ebay supply.

So, you actually receive the amount the buyer paid for the item (excluding the BPF).

You can check your sales through your 'order details for individual items - here is one of my Simple Delivery sales:

[prissythings]

Thankyou jonat, Thats because the postage that I have on my listings were before the new way. 

 Is there a way to choose Royal Mail over Evri ? The shops around here dont take some Evri parcels. 

[prissythings]

Hi Glyn, 

Thankyou. Simple delivery is not good for sellers. 

[jckl1957 · Accepted solution]

You can opt out of using Evri and send with Royal Mail only.

The postage prices for your buyers will be higher.

Simple Delivery is unavoidable.  If you plan to continue to sell on the site, you must inform yourself about how it works.

Use the link below, then follow all the links and read the FAQs.

Set aside half an hour to do this and you will hopefully understand better how SD works.

Setting your preferred carrier is at the bottom of the first page.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575&st...

[prissythings]

Thankyou kindly, I will do this.

[sml192]

With eBay 's Simple Delivery the buyer pays eBay for the postage (unless you select 'Seller pays postage') and eBay then provides you with a prepaid label to use.  You don't need to purchase the postage yourself.

EBay has negotiated special rates with the carriers so the prices will often be lower than the carrier's published prices.  

If you select the parcel size recommended by eBay at the time of listing then it doesn't matter if the actual parcel size ends up being bigger.  You will still be able to use the label provided and the parcel will still be accepted by the carrier as long as it doesn't exceed the overall maximum weight/dimensions permitted by the carrier.  There will be no surcharges to either you or your buyer as any discrepancies are accounted for by the contract that eBay has agreed with the carrier. 

If you select a different parcel size to the one recommended by eBay at the time of listing, and the actual parcel size ends up being bigger, then eBay does reserve the right to charge you extra but I haven't seen any actual cases of this happening yet. 

[style_wise]

You should never be out of pocket on the postage! eBay Simple Delivery charges the right amount. Because of the detail in the Solution that you have mixed couriers - some SD and some Custom Postage - please double check you are using the correct method:

- When your Buyer pays for an SD label you just download the pre-paid label.

- When you have Custom Postage you pay directly (from Royal Mail for example).

But if you bought CP when pre-paid SD is available, then you really would be out of pocket!

It is easy to make a mistake because of how eBay tries to lead you into buying SD labels for everything.

[prissythings]

Thankyou style, I think I am getting to understand it all now with the help from here. Kind regards, Prissy.