Simple Delivery and Royal Mail Collections

[bojangled]

I’ve seen this question asked over and over this weekend, will I be able to get a Royal Mail collection with Simple Delivery?

According to the FAQ you can…

“Collection is available for items sent through Simple Delivery with Royal Mail labels only. You can book a collection on the Royal Mail website after you create your Simple Delivery label.”

Jo

[davrman]

Yes, you can get eBay-generated Royal Mail packages picked up (for free).

What the FAQ omits to mention is that you won't know what service to use until after the item is sold. If the option chosen is Evri, there's no way of getting it collected with the current system. Nor is there likely to be, unless Evri introduces a new way of paying for collections separately.

[millcottage]

With simple delivery eBay must give seller option of only allowing collection only services for dispatch?

[davrman]

You'd think so, but there's no mention of this in any of eBay's announcements so far. Lots of posts have mentioned that this will make selling impossible for many people with disabilities, and even those who don't drive...

[vjbuystuff]

I use royal mail collections extensively via eBay app, and, the process of booking collection is integrated to the selection of delivery method... so i cannot see how you can book a collection AFTER the service has been selected by the buyer.\

its eve  worse with regards to parcelforce which i also use a lot for heavier \ larger items... the only way to book a parcelforce collection is directly with parcelforce, you cannot book a collection with parcelforce vis the ebay app \ postage service.

[the_repair_man]

if you go yo royalmail.com on front page is a link to book a collection, where you already have the label, which ebay will have supplied

[vintique*violet]

I have never used Evri and never will and this is a concern as  RM  ( at the post office) is my choice for the past 17 years and I cannot risk being told which service to use as it is impossible for me to do so for many reasons. 

[vjbuystuff]

hardly as simple as the existing method. thanks for info, ill have a look

[sumnites]

Have just tried to understand this. In some Simple Delivery info they mention PackLink. Never being involved in this it seems to be a delivery hub for various carriers. Do we assume therefore that 'someone' decides which carrier is used and therefore which hub we have to go to? obviously some closer than others. Does the buyer say or does ebay decide? Evri is on the list yet they have a long exclusions list for compensation.

Ebay say you dont need a printer for the labels. They dont say you need a smart phone. Maybe we take our laptop to the hub to fire up the info lol.

What the info doesnt say is that Simple Delivery is mandatory from March. It does say that from then you will have to manually select an opt out of simple delivery on every new listing. It says you then dont qualify for the protections of Simple Delivery though many may feel Royal Mail is preferable to Evri or Yodel. Sellers can then select Evri home pick up not available on Simples.

However....if a seller opts out of Simple Delivery are the fees for buyers for 'protection insurance' invalid as no ebay controlled delivery method? but its charged anyway.

'Opting out

You can opt out of Simple Delivery when you're creating your listing by selecting Custom Postage from the delivery options. If you'd prefer not to use Simple Delivery at all in the future, you'll need to opt out each time this programme is recommended when you're creating listings.

Keep in mind that if you opt out, you won't benefit from the enhanced cover for loss or damage to the item during transit offered by Simple Delivery.'

Er hang on ..if you use Royal Mail as usual you have some degree of cover.

If you opt out of Simple Delivery will buyers face buying fees of 75p +4% on the selling price only even if there is a Royal Mail postage fee on the listing? one would hope so. It shouldnt be called buyer protection but simply a buying fee.

Or am I overthinking this?

[roastedcatnuts]

I can only sell if I can use Royal Mail Collect from Home and the link with details of the Simple Delivery says collection is not currently available for either service. 
I will not use Evri for several reasons. 
I am prepared to give the changes a try but I need to know if I can continue to post with RM collection otherwise I can't send anything and will therefore not buy anything either.

Hoping someone from EBay can clarify this, if anyone has a clue, that is?

[sml192]

---

@roastedcatnuts wrote:

I can only sell if I can use Royal Mail Collect from Home and the link with details of the Simple Delivery says collection is not currently available for either service. 
I will not use Evri for several reasons. 
I am prepared to give the changes a try but I need to know if I can continue to post with RM collection otherwise I can't send anything and will therefore not buy anything either.

Hoping someone from EBay can clarify this, if anyone has a clue, that is?

---

Some of the information on the Seller Centre help page is out of out of date or soon will be as it was written in line with the original Simple Delivery pilot with Packlink.  Packlink won't be involved going forward so some things have changed. 

The general help page for Simple Delivery has been updated recently, to remove references to Packlink, and correctly states that collection is available with Royal Mail:

“Collection is available for items sent through Simple Delivery with Royal Mail labels only. You can book a collection on the Royal Mail website after you create your Simple Delivery label.”

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

[roastedcatnuts]

Thank you sml192
That wasn't the link I was directed to before. If only Ebay would sort out their links and information instead of making things more complicated all the time...

It also said something to the effect of the choice of which company it was sent by would be made for the seller on checkout which also concerned me.

[lolif34]

I am rural, semi-retired and dont use data or apps on a smartphone or have a printer anymore. I use Royal mail tracked 48 @ 3.39 for a parcel up to 2kg AND the postman brings the label and sticks it on when he collects the parcel from my door. this service is excellent. I wont be using any other service. Evri charge more than RM for their pickup service and they are unreliable and slow. I will have to give up ebay. I was ok with waiting for payment, but I need to use Royal mail collected from my house, where they bring the label.

Also. its been a couple of days now ebay, and the tracking is still up the creek and not showing anything  in progress or delivered for the last week. Utterly ridiculous. I do wonder about this 'global' company and who is running it..

[andie2503]

I agree l have been selling items on eBay for many years,  as l am housebound through Illness l cannot take parcels to drop off points.  And l want to decide the method of postage not dictated to by eBay. 

[lego9632009]

eBay UK is behaving live Donald Trump, its my way or highway!! Introducing silly procedures and rules that are not even thought through and making itself joke of a platform. Not even sure on who sits in the head-office and comes up with this weird ideas of simplification and cause utter chaos among the people who are its core customer base.  History says Arrogance like this leads to downfall of mightiest companies. One day they will be forgotten in history... eBay Head Office team, get your heads out of your asses and start listening to people and introduce well thought out procedures and not half baked ideas...shame on you eBay!

[curvygirls]

If you go to the Royal Mail click and collect home page, at the top it says. Arrange a collection, copy the Royal Mail 23 or 48 hour label tracking no you have printed and go through the procedure on the Royal Mail  arrange a collection, and paste in the tracking no. It comes up with your address if you have an account with them, if not, type it in. It’s easy once you’ve done it a few times.

i also found when listing, you can chose who you want to post with by switching all the others off. If you need to change on a lot of listings you need to do a multiple edit and change all your items to Royal Mail. Hope this helps. Took me ages to figure out.

[curvygirls]

*24 hour delivery

[temporaltn]

This is really unclear and caused me no end of stress today.

Like several others here I am disabled and struggle to get to a drop off location.

Pick up is fine as long as you only select Royal Mail in your courier preferences, BUT you have to arrange a collection manually on the Royal Mail website using the tracking number from the eBay label.

This is a massive faff and makes this "Stupidly-complicated Delivery" rather than "Simple Delivery" as sending each parcel now takes 3 times as much effort!

[tegeus-cromis]

"Pick up is fine as long as you only select Royal Mail in your courier preferences, BUT you have to arrange a collection manually on the Royal Mail website using the tracking number from the eBay label."

Yep, that's what I've just done. But people who don't use the RM wouldn't even know about this option. Ebay is so pathetic.

[rossi_motogp_legend]

Do you know if Royal Mail bring the labels with them when you book a home collection?  I only ask as I don’t have any printing facilities at home, and knowing my luck they’d turn up and all my items would be unlabelled.