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. 

[elizcraven-90]

Yes you’re right I’ve just checked I’m so pleased thank you for pointing this out. I haven’t listed anything for over 6 weeks now so didn’t realise & I was on phone to eBay couple weeks ago to try & get a refund & they said they were changing the postal system but they didn’t tell me they had (unless they’ve only just done it). Problem solved many thanks 👍

[sml192]

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@sewmanybuttons54 wrote:

Having read both your response and several pages of other peoples responses it is clear that Simple Delivery is a step too far.  To begin with they introduced buyer protection, why, the buyer was already protected.  If an item went missing then Ebay never turned to the seller and said ' Don't worry about it' No ebay would decide it was for the seller to refund the buyer so protection was already there.  It was just a con to make more money.

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The Buyer Protection Fee is basically just a straight replacement for the old Seller Fees.  It provides the buyer with exactly the same protections that used to be paid for by the Seller Fees (secure payment processing, fraud protection, and the provision of a help line) but generally costs the buyer less than the old Seller Fees.  Buyers also still have the eBay Money Back Guarantee which isn't specifically covered by the Buyer Protection Fee but still has to be paid for somehow.  So I am really not sure how you can make out that it is a con to make eBay more money?

The protection offered to sellers under the terms for Simple Delivery is nothing to do with the Buyer Protection Fee.

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@sewmanybuttons54 wrote:

But when a customer buys just one item priced at lets say £2.95 then simple delivery will take away  £2.72 leaving me just 23p out of which I have to pay for the product, envelope, ink and my time.  I was not making a huge profit before but now stand to make a loss on every sale that has simple delivery.  When talking to Ebay they told me that perhaps my products were in the wrong category, but could not tell me which category they should be in. 

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Simple Delivery currently only applies to Private Sellers.  Genuine Private Sellers who are just getting rid of unwanted personal possessions don't have to 'pay for the product'. 

[budcoffee]

01.12.2025  - Large Letter, eBay price £2.70

02.12.2025 - Large Letter, eBay price £3.42 (No warning of changes)

03.12.2025 - Large letter, Royal Mail price £2.20

All Standard Delivery, under 500g

Tired of stealth increases?

Fed-up with hidden surcharges?

Me too

Maybe if we all send a petition, they might listen?

Not holding my breath though

Bah Humbug

[books1ecb]

There seems to a hidden insurance element built in to the price - which
I thought was illegal e.g. PPI scandal

Try it yourself - set up a dummy listing and keep increasing the selling
price - you will see the postage costs goes up at various steps such as £75

[budcoffee]

If I change the listing to Buyer Pays Postage, it reverts back to £2.70

Could be a glitch, another one.

Thing is, it's their site, their rules & as eBay stated decades ago when Users were 'circumnavigating fees' using massively high Postal costs, "We're an agent, we are not getting involved in postal/shipping disputes,  we'll charge 10% on top of Postal costs, that should settle all issues"

I should've quit back then.

They've been 'fraudulent' for as long as I've been a User.

Since SD was rolled out in March, other tariffs, eg. Small/Medium Parcels, have become cheaper to dispatch, the problem is Letters & Large Letter pricing, they obviously don't give 2 hoots, they've had long enough to listen, iron out any bugs, they haven't bothered so....

If there was an actual Peter Principle award, the CEO would've won it several times over

I really don't want to have to go back to touring for some band, too many years already invested but if any young upstarts wish to get in touch, I'll be happy to give you a whirl

[pillarboxred]

Who actually delivers Simple Delivery items?

[kazziesattic]

Depends your preferences the options are Royal Mail or Evri, but I opt out if Evri so it’s Royal Mail tracked 48 I think business sellers have a lot more options

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[books1ecb]

Royal Mail Tracked 48 or EVRI

DHL if weight > 20kg

You can opt out of EVRI, which is understandable in view of their
appalling service

The website states DHL cannot be opted out of - yet I have entered
weights >20kg and was allowed to use Packlink which offers a wide range
of services. You can also ignore Packlink and use whatever you want that
operates outside of EBAY if you can get out of SD

Another software error I had last week. I entered a new item and EBAY
offered a similar one to use as a template which I accepted and edited.
It carried over Custom Postage and did not force me to use SD

[kazziesattic]

I had a shock today, awaited a parcel from DHL and Evri delivered, apparently DHL e-commerce and Evri have sort of joined forces. If you are a private seller you cannot opt out of simple delivery, they won’t even give you the buyers address until you have purchased their label.

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[books1ecb]

The buyers address is on the packing label - select Download Invoice
(i.e. the one you put in the parcel) and it has the delivery address

[kazziesattic]

Yes that is correct, but you cannot see their address before you have purchased the eBay label, so you cannot post the item yourself using a different courier

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[books1ecb]

You can download the invoice before accepting the label

Go to Orders on the new Sellers Hub - on the pull down menu there is
'See Invoices and More' From that you can download the invoice

You can now buy your own label and enter the tracking number on the old
sellers hub (switch tools) and claim the money back. No guarantee you
will get it though

[steverdavis]

Ebay is a broken mess of tangled IT systems, poor design, years of hacks, a support team that cannot hope to keep up, and frustrated, abused sellers.

Can't even select Royal Mail Letter.

Laughable.

[suelel1968]

@steverdavis You can select letter post / large letter for most items under £20 except clothes, but they don't make it easy. What item is it you want to sell? 

[steverdavis]

Am I supposed to modify my item category to something that it isn't to get the options to appear?

I tired that. Didn't work.

Are we supposed to go through all the options to try and get something to appear?

I can't be bothered.

The interface/design is so broken that MANY people have this issue, just do a cursory google search.

The problem here is ebays to fix, not for individual users to try and bodge a solution that works for one person.

[suelel1968]

Hi, Most people sell similar items so once you have it set up it is not to big an issue. 

You do need a working category, yes. Usually they end in "other". Ebay don't maintain a list because a) they don't want you to know and b) because they do want you to use SD.....

You must put the price in first and must select Large letter as the SD option.  It does work, but I will leave you to wait for Ebay to correct the error or their ways. I'm sure they will.......