Simple Delivery - eBay recommended and automatic enrollment

[just-looking!!!]

As I understand it on 6th August all our eligible listings (i.e. over £10 in value) will automatically be converted to Simple Delivery and we will no longer have the option for custom postage.

I'm selling my collection of magazines which can come in various sizes and weights which means they can sometimes be Large Letter, sometimes Small Parcel. I spoke to Customer Services about this and they said if I use the eBay recommended Simple Delivery option and it's not correct, eBay will be liable for any extra costs but if I change it to my own Simple Delivery choice, and it's incorrect, I will be liable.

That all sounds reasonable but how can it work? Surely Royal Mail won't know who chose what package size and will charge the buyer the additional postage + admin fee and they'll then complain to me. Does anyone have experience of this? Going forward with future listings (I have a lot more of my collection to get rid of) I am confident I will make the correct choice, but what about all the stuff I've already got on? Will eBay make the right choice?

[ruby*ryan · Accepted solution]

I have sent quite a few items now that have had the recommended option of Large Letter, but were actually Small Parcel size (one of the pluses of SD!).

It's fine, just use the label, the only issue you may have is from a jobsworth PO person, who doesn't know that they are supposed to accept them. You can avoid this by using a Parcel Box, Delivery/Sorting Office, or finding a PO who do know what they are supposed to do.

I can confirm the buyer doesn't get an overcharge fee, neither does the seller. The contract with RM (and Evri) is with eBay, so IF there are any overcharges, that is where they will go, to eBay, but the account eBay have will be based on averages (size & weight), so it's unlikely that they will get much in the way of extra charges.

Currently (bearing in mind that eBay can change the goalposts, so keep up with new announcements etc) if your item is larger/heavier than the 'recommended' option, stick with it.
If your item is definitely smaller than the 'recommended' option, change it when listing. 

[just-looking!!!]

That's great thank you. My PO is a local sub one so I'm sure they'll work with me on just accepting them.

[suelel1968]

Hi ruby, @ruby*ryan am i right thinking the SD price is pretty much the same for LL and Small parcel? So RM wouldn't really be losing out much anyway would they? Do you know whether the LL available in SD is tracked or just scanned on delivery? 

[ruby*ryan]

@suelel1968 

I have both RM and Evri selected.
LL recommendations go Tracked48 - so fully tracked, not just (maybe!) scanned on delivery. (£2.70)

My Small Parcels usually go Evri @ £2.94  - but, because I have Evri selected, some of my buyers are going for the Shop-to-Shop option, which is cheaper than the 2.94 parcel price. It's just over £2 for 1kg. 
This is the service I tend to favour as a buyer, as it means cheaper postage and we don't need to be in when it arrives, but can collect from the shop when it suits.