Simple Delivery is just too expensive for many smaller items - will it get more flexible

[collectablesmix2]

Hi All,

I want to sell lots of small booklet magazine which should cost about £1.55 but Simple Delivery seems to be totally inflexible and assumes everything is larger and charges a minimum £2.70.

Will probably have to go elsewhwre to sell these and they relatively low value and the postage is a barrier. 

Are ebay planning to allow custom postage on less expensive items in more categories?

Does anyone like Simple Delivery?

Thanks

[style_wise]

eBay are already allowing Custom Postage for £20 and under items. See the Solution here:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Postage/Can-I-opt-out-of-Simple-Delivery-as-I-have-stamps-I-want-to-...

[porte2425]

@style_wise 

There are still a lot of things that are not allowing Custom Postage.

Not a single t-shirt I’ve tried can be listed without Simple Delivery. Even letter size items such as posters, and novelty items, also force SD.

@collectablesmix2 

eBay have recently relaxed the rules on what can be sent without Simple Delivery, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for more any time soon.

Why can I send a £20 coin under custom postage, for £1.55, but can’t send a £1 poster, for less than £2.72 (when it could be sent for 87p)?

It doesn’t make sense.

They seem to be arbitrarily making it up as they go along.

[style_wise]

The instructions are good generally, but anything Simple Deliver related can still be glitchy. I just tried it with a t-shirt and you are right, it didn't load correctly. If I were you I would use the ... vertical ellipse icon to report this directly to eBay each time it happens. The techies can't fix things if we don't report it!

edit

There are also instructions on these boards on how to:

1. substitute your own tracked service for SD

2. use overweight feature to load Custom Postage instead

2. use oversize feature to load CP

[porte2425]

Report to techies… lol I can’t even get real issues fixed, let alone something that, if even considered broken, is broken in eBay’s favour!

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@style_wise wrote:

There are also instructions on these boards on how to:

1. substitute your own tracked service for SD

2. use overweight feature to load Custom Postage instead

2. use oversize feature to load CP

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1. Exactly, it has to be a tracked service – so useless for this purpose. The topic is about posting smaller items cheaper than the tracked services cost.

2. Does the oversized/overweight still work? I tried it, custom postage was then listed, but after trying to change back to the correct price, the SD section just froze, and it reset the postage back to how it was i.e. Simple Delivery, no custom postage.

[suelel1968]

@collectablesmix2  I suggest you use

Collectables > Other Collectable Items

Make sure you have Large Letter selected and custom delivery should come up when you put the price in.

You might want to expand on your titles a little to make sure they are searchable.

@porte2425  there are no opt out categories for clothing. All categories of accessories are available to opt out though

@style_wise it is not a glitch. It is a stupid, unnecessarily expensive, over complicated and technically inept system which does still need changing.

[porte2425]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

@collectablesmix2  I suggest you use

Collectables > Other Collectable Items

Make sure you have Large Letter selected and custom delivery should come up when you put the price in.

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I just tried with a test listing (“A magazine from Wales”), and under the category “Collectables > Other Collectable Items”, it defaults to Large Letter anyway, but won’t show me the Custom Postage option. Changing the title changes the recommended size, but still insists on Simple Delivery.

EDIT: IGNORE the above. It does work. Like an idiot, I forgot your point about having to put the price in first!

Plus...

It obviously won’t work for existing items, as when you change category, you lose all item specifics.

You also need to be a little careful when purposely listing in the wrong category:

1) some searches automatically refine down to a certain category, so if listing outside that, your item may not be shown in the default search results;

2) you could have your listing reported (albeit, unlikely for general items). (Yesterday, I did see an auction for a regular car in the collectables section, under “flags”!);

3) if a excluded category suddenly becomes subject to Simple Delivery (possibly because people overuse it), then it will all be in vain.

[suelel1968]

@porte2425 

I'm glad it worked!

All your points are relevant ones.

In general though, most people search by way of the sort of things in titles, like the title of the magazine. If Ebay want to sell the items they will not have a problem with it being in a more general section of collectibles as the seller was going to sell elsewhere anyway and even if the seller didn't go elsewhere they won't sell with  double the cheapest postage price added. Not selling, but being on the site taking up server space is a cost to eBay not a revenue whichever way they look at it. 

[porte2425]

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@suelel1968 wrote:

In general though, most people search by way of the sort of things in titles, like the title of the magazine. If Ebay want to sell the items they will not have a problem with it being in a more general section of collectibles as the seller was going to sell elsewhere anyway and even if the seller didn't go elsewhere they won't sell with  double the cheapest postage price added. Not selling, but being on the site taking up server space is a cost to eBay not a revenue whichever way they look at it. 

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I mean some searches cause a category to be chosen by default – i.e. it filters down automatically. So you have to chose the higher “All” category to see more results.

 

For a quick example, a search for a comic book automatically searches within the corresponding category. So if you are selling yours in another category, such as collectables (to avoid SD), then they won’t appear in the initial results.

[suelel1968]

@porte2425  that's a good example. I didn't know that, but i have to say i genuinely am not having an visibility  issue under more general categories for my dads train catalogues. We will see i suppose.

[porte2425]

I believe it is less of an issue when you search for something specific, but it does still happen. As a buyer, I still get caught out by it sometimes, and it takes me a short while to realise the results are filtering on a category. Some buyers will never realise. To private, occasional sellers, it may not matter too much. And, as you point out, the higher SD postage costs could put off a buyer anyway.

[leighbayuk]

There are still problems. Even if you manage to find a category which allows custom postage, and the buyer selects and pays for Royal Mail Large Letter, eBay will still default to selling you a parcel label. See here:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Postage/BEWARE-eBay-Postage-Label-defaults-to-Small-Parcel-for-Large...

[sizzenergy]

At very least, Simple Delivery should be optional for items under £5-00