Simple Delivery more expensive for letters & large letters

[williaugus]

With custom postage being rolled out and eventually the only option, I am a little confused and trying to clarify something please.

If I am posting something of large letter size, less than 100 grams and low value - a DVD in it's case for example, I can post this 2nd class large letter with Royal Mail. With the current Royal Mail prices, this'll cost me £1.55. When I'm listing an item and look at simple delivery prices, the same classification of large letter shows a minimum cost of £2.74.

What if I happen to posting something that may fit in a standard letter size? This currently costs just under £0.90, but when settings this up on the item listing page it still comes up as £2.74? Why is that?

I can either take up this difference in cost myself or pass it onto the buyer. It feels like that I'm likely to lose money either way as the latter might discourage buyers from buying - due to a higher price point?

I just wanted to make sure that I am understanding this correctly and not missing any steps in the simple delivery set up. Is it really the case that it'll now cost more money to send smaller items? Thanks. 

[seedbankers]

What you can do is to find AN OLD LISTING in which you apply your postage cost. Hover on it to sell similar. Ignore the Large Letter and find Custom Postage 

clink on + Add additional services and I select my Royal Mail and enter my own price. Whatever you do, don’t click on Large Letter or you fall into the trap.

[suelel1968]

Hi seed, @seedbankers , What I am able to do most of the time, if Custom LL is allowed but it gets changed to SD is select LL in SD and then the Custom box appears and you can add £1.55.

I'm glad you have put the red ink and bold type away. You would never sleep tonight with that level of anger.... Ebay don't hate us, they despise us! 

[seedbankers]

For letters, small or bigger, you can still go back to Custom Postage. Just ignore the Large Letter as that is a trap. Do NOT click it. 

Just click Custom Postage and click Add Additional Services below. You will see Royal Mail and you can enter 1.55 or 2.00 for larger letters.

[seedbankers]

For letters, small or bigger, you can still go back to Custom Postage. Just ignore the Large Letter as that is a trap. Do NOT click it. 

Just click Custom Postage and click Add Additional Services below. You will see Royal Mail and you can enter 1.55 or 2.00 for larger letters.

[jonjonjonnie]

Where do you see the option for CUSTOM POSTAGE? I still can't find it.

I sell small items which I have always sent 2nd Class Large Letter (£1.55) and 2nd Class Letter (88p) and I can't find the option

I had a chat with eBay who admitted that this was currently missing, so told me to arrange shipping (just to get the address) and then refund shipping.. But 3 weeks on, I have never had a refund..

I am working with them to get a refund, but I need a long term solution on how to either disable Simple Shipping, or have the option for Royal Mail 2nd Class Letter and Large Letter. 

[ferretio]

There is no option for Custom Postage on these listings, despite what they say.
With regard to cassettes I asked them why the CP option wasn't offered and got the following reply on Sunday 10th August 2025:

"The option to custom postage is not visible at the moment because of the ongoing technical issue on site and please be assure as this is under progress so I would request you to please wait for the next few days.

As there has been improvement on site, thus, I assume that the issue will get resolved soon. I would request you to please do not worry and wait until then."

Do they really expect me to believe that they don't have a team who could rectify such an issue inside a couple of hours?
Anyone else smell what I'm smelling?

[jonjonjonnie]

What makes it worse.. They told me 3 weeks ago they were aware of this.. They told me to use Simple Shipping just to get the address and then arrange a refund from this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/claims/simple-delivery/refund/seller

I did this.. THREE times.. And also filled in the questions to let them know my view of Simple Shipping.> And they havn't refunded me.

And now I have just spent 30 mins on a "chat" with them whilst they try to convince me that Custom Shipping is an option

If ebay is listening its easy... I am OK with using Simple Shipping if I have too... But please add Royal Mail 2nd class options.. Such Letter and Large letter.

Don't force me to spend £2.72 to ship an item which i know I can post for 88p.

[heathercottage]

I am having exactly the same issue… absolutely crazy and no way of changing, not even on advanced settings!! 
I sell lots of envelopes sized items and I have now cancelled those listings until this is sorted. 
seriously EBay… get your act together

[jonjonjonnie]

The situation is getting worse.. Many of the items I sell I do as a hobby for near cost... 

Most still have (had?) "custom" shipping enabled, so I can use a 2nd class stamp and still cover my costs and make a few pennies in the process.

But today I sold something and am forced to pay £2.79 as the listing has been "upgraded" to Simple shipping.

Since the item is £2.99, its not even worth it...

My only option now is to arrange shipping and then request a refund.. But so far, they havn't refunded a single shipment, so I am doing this blindly, hoping they will refund me.

This is beyond a joke.. I am happy with simple shipping.. But I need the option for 2nd Class Letter/Large Letter... .the sad fact is that they items are so cheap, eBay arn't generating any revenue, so i don't think they care.

So its crossed my mind that this is intentional and perhaps won't be fixed.. This is devastating for Buyers and Sellers alike..  Ignoring my sales, I use eBay to BUY many 100s of small items per year and this won't be possible unless they fix this.

Looking through my listings, of 20 items for sale, only a couple now have Custom Shipping still enabled and I am counting the days until these will automatically migrated to "Simple Shipping".... Its crossed my mind that I just need to end my listings as I don't have the time to do this especially when I am potentially loosing money on each sale....

[bojangled]

Deleted……………

[61stephenuk]

I don't like Simple Delivery,it's just not working right.

Small items not being exempted

Large items over 60cm not available when listing

Combined postage not working correctly

Why are some small items such as some postcards/stamps/coins exempt while others are not?

eBay here's an idea exempt all small items (all categories) under 750g that can go as large or standard letter except the ones on prohibited list,stick with the £10 minimum if you must but I'd rather see it increased to all items up to £20

Yes there are workarounds to list which may or may not work but I for one will no longer use workarounds,if eBay cannot have a functioning site they don't deserve my business

[goodibags]

"So its crossed my mind that this is intentional and perhaps won't be fixed.."

Yes, it's intentional AND has been fixed, so that Ebay keeps the money if you ignore their SD label and post using an untracked service. It's in the T&Cs for SD. Customer services are wrong, there is NO refund and it's working just as intended. 

The immediate change you should make is to update your listings so that buyer pays postage. Or maybe bundle them into lots so that SD postage may at least feel proportionate. Otherwise cut your losses and cancel them.

[ferretio]

So you can list CDs with Custom Postage and only charge £1.55.

I might take advantage of what I have in writing from them and list cassettes but under the CD category.
If they can't make a simple fix, for whatever reason, I will play their system to benefit both the buyer and me.

[elizcraven-90]

 I had a sale this week & I couldn’t opt out at all I ended up paying £2.74 for a large letter under 100gm if I’d been able to do my own postage it would’ve been £1.55. This is such a rubbish system eBay have made you are left with no choice. I used be able to ‘opt out’ all the time but it seems I can’t anymore 

[elizcraven-90]

I’ve just been charged £2.74 for a 2nd class large letter under 100gm it should have been £1.55. I used to opt out of eBay postage up til a few weeks ago now it seems I have no choice to opt out anymore.  I can’t find any way round it so I’m not going to list anymore small letter items unless they are worth a lot … absolutely stupid system eBay have designed when it worked perfectly before! 

[jonjonjonnie]

There should be an option for "Custom Shipping" if the item is less than £10, but its not available for many (most?) listings...

Most of my legacy listings were still set to custom until last Sunday when ebay kindly "upgraded" them to Simple Shipping at no extra cost to me.. Thanks eBay.

Now i have items that I sell for £3.49 and normally post for £1.55 costing me £2.70+ to post..

Ebays workaround to this is to go with Simple Delivery.. Get the address and then refund the shipping here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/claims/simple-delivery/refund/seller

I have done this 6 times now, going back to 24th July and so far I havn't had a single refund, even though they are ment to take 14 days.

I had a long "chat" with eBay today and they have accepted that their refund system is broken, but they PROMISED me that I would get my refunds in 24 hours and then reliably 14 days after submission, but I don't believe a word of it.

Luckily, I only see a couple of things a week.. But it annoys me that I do this as a hobby, at minimal (if any) profit just to help people with a few 3D printed items... And now thanks to Simple Shipping I am making a loss and facing a headache for every thing I sell.

Currently reviewing closing my store.. Or pricing the items so high that no-one will buy them until this is resolved.

I am assured that Custom Shipping to be instated for all relevant categories for items under £10.

But what I really want is 1st/2nd Class Letter and 1st/2nd Class Large Letter to be added as shipping options.

I have been selling on eBay for 25 years now.. And seen a lot of eBays "great ideas" come and go... But this s is by far the worst implementation of process I have ever seen.. Who ever thought of this and delivered it should be sacked!

Why would they force a shipping process on you and then limit the options to you have.. Talk about OVER simplifying it to the point of ridicule... Weirdly its not like they are even using this to generate revenue for themselves.. They are giving eBay and Evri more money than needed so they are the ones doing well out of this!

[jonjonjonnie]

I should point out.. You havn't been charged £2.74 for under 100gm.. You have been charged this because they only give the option for 1kg..

They havn't thought about adding the 0-100g, 101-250g, 251-500g, etc options.. You just get the option for 1kg, so have to pay £2.70ish even if your item is 1g.

[bythesea999]

hi I have the same problem one minute Custom Postage was there and then it just disappeared, really infuriating to say the least, so time consuming - they are the ones causing the problems, I tried and tried but each time it disappeared on a dvd I listed.  Quite shocking how there is so little information and help from them to all these problems originally caused by them.  I guess just have to wait and see, watch this space, see how many more weeks they pfaff about with us.

[elizcraven-90]

Yes I’m exactly the same I sell a couple of items a week sometimes couple
of weeks like you it’s a hobby a bit of extra money but this system is
awful. I used to opt out & do my own postage or use eBay but I could choose
which post & price I wanted until 2 weeks ago now I have no choice. As you
say there’s no option for large letter post & to have to pay £2.74 for a
£1.55 letter is ridiculous. I’ve just removed everything I was selling
that’s large letter size now which is about a third of all my listings. I
didn’t realise that they charged £2.74 I thought when I came to ‘prepare’
my label I’d have the option I couldn’t believe it when I was charged that.
Surely they will change it I really hope they do because they charge ‘buyer
protection’ now on top of your listing price too, so combined with the
double price postage it’s just not worth me selling anything of large
letter size anymore.
Such a shame I’ve also been selling on eBay for about 25 years it was fine
before I don’t understand at all why they’ve changed everything.
Liz

[jonjonjonnie]

If you can be bothered to do it, you do have the option to go with Simple Shipping and then go for the refund using this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/claims/simple-delivery/refund/seller

There are a lot of questions why SS has not worked for you, so its a good opportunity to give your view on whats wrong.. But I doubt if they listen.

The only problem is that whilst several eBay operators have confirmed this "workaround", so far I havn't had a single refund.. 

Today I was told that there was a "glitch" in the system and it hasn't been issuing the refunds, but its fixed and I will get them in the next 24 hours.. I will believe it when i see it.

It does require a bit of faith and extra time, so it depends if its worth the hassle..

Whilst I keep getting told that they know about the lack of Custom shipping, I don't get the feeling that there is any urgency... How hard can it be to fix this? I genuinely have my doubts that it will ever be fixed and I am holding out for an entire change in policy where they introduce yet another shipping process.