Simple Delivery - no way to opt out for small low value items.

[kaholl6818]

Just to add & clarify  some of the various posts on the lack of an opt out on the Simple Delivery for low value items under £10 & 100g.

As of Friday there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to avoid the Simple Delivery.

I've tried a range of methods - & nothing logically works.

As a stamp seller/collector on starting a listing on Saturday - got a message when trying to list along the line of "This listing has been changed to Simple Delivery - your despatch time is now 2 days"

This appeared before any values of items had been entered.

The advanced / custom options no longer appear.  Clicking on  Collection only & back doesn't bring these options back.

Occasionally a "Primary postage" option appears - however any details entered here vanish when scrolling down the screen & the only option that allows any listing to be completed is ticking the Simple Delivery.

(Having said that I've created 6 or so auctions today - one somehow went through with custom postage !! (this was the only one in it's category - but didn't manage to duplicate it when trying to)). Have also tried with Buy it Now.

Sometimes the International Postage options remain - and sometimes they need to be re-entered.

Existing listings haven't been changed to Simple Delivery - but using sell similar doesn't allow me to avoid Simple Delivery.  (Existing listings have all been changed to 2nd class letter in bulk & also changed to 15g.  (Looking at package size there doesn't seem to be a way of entering values for width less than 1cm ?? - the 2nd class letter option was not always there when doing the changes so had to refresh the selection a couple of times).

Simple delivery rates are inconsistent.   I had an item of £10 to list & in one stamp category it came up as £1.55 (£2.28 when viewing the item) - when I changed the stamp category it then came up as £2.74 !

It's an absolute mess !!

(I did however list the items as I get a few international sales - currently more than UK ones.  Also to see whether it is possible to change them when live -  or later if Ebay get their act together. I did add a note for any UK buyers explaining the issues).

[davl.]

I have the same problem when trying to list stamps.  Even though they only weigh a few grams I cannot select the option for a letter of up to 100g. - instead I am recommended to use the 1Kg option costing £2.74.   

This is wasting so much of my time - I'm giving up until they get this sorted out.  

[the-ephemera-company]

My wife has 2 private accounts and one has this problem like you state above where it now only allows simple delivery. Unless she lists a postcard. Then it allows the option of simple or custom. But on her other account she can list ephemera, stamps postcards etc and she can select  simple or custom. So it's only on one account.

What a mess.

Is it that they are slowly moving all accounts over to having to use simple delivery. So some accounts it's happening to sooner than others.

Or is it a glitch?.

You can guarantee customer services won't know the answer to this. Lol.

[moldosgifts]

---

@the-ephemera-company wrote:

Is it that they are slowly moving all accounts over to having to use simple delivery. So some accounts it's happening to sooner than others.

It is the fact that yes they are phasing it in slowly so that will explain why one account is effected while the other is not.

Personally i dislike all the changes.

[the-ephemera-company]

So they will do away with the up to £10 standard letter up to 100g option of choosing your own postage that they currently allow?

[edwardian-dreams]

At the moment the system won’t work for listing with letter post (using custom delivery). 

it will only accept large letter and above …..you then just edit the postage cost that comes up for  1.55 to 87p e.g. for 2nd class letter

there’s two ways to get into custom shipping see below 

the switch to advanced options or by clicking on package size and scrolling to the bottom

(apparently doesn’t work for everyone,  but worth a try if you want to list)

[moldosgifts]

At the moment the only way i know of avoiding simple delivery is to upgrade to a business account, the other bonus it stops the BPF.

Unless someone else has another suggestion.

That doesn't mean filling in a tax return that just means its a way around simple delivery. You run your account the way it used to be , Seller fees and pick your own delivery.

The down side is your address will be displayed on every listing and you will have to accept all returns other bits that you have to do but they are the first two that spring to mind.

[kaholl6818]

I did manage to remove Simple Delivery from around 15 items.  

Similar way to previous methods - click on collection only & then back on postage.

Below the Simple Delivery box I got a "primary service" option (didn't appear absolutely instantaneously).

BEFORE clicking on this scroll down & add back in international postage, flat postage rules & check the postage preferences (most of mine had defaulted back to my 4 day postage - but I did have a couple show 2 days - not sure why as only had a few listings to play with).

Then go back up & select primary service - any size /service is available.

VERY QUICKLY add in postage cost & scroll to bottom to add/update the listing. (this option doesn't often hold for very long)

Postage showed with VAT for a few minutes but updated back to my custom prices in a short while.

Note a couple of times doing this the International Post options changed (got removed) - so listings may need to be checked afterwards.

Did manage to get a 2nd postage option up once - but didn't have many listings to play with so did most with just the one option.   Most went through first time - but one took 5 attempts.

Also had a couple of ended auctions to relist as fixed price - doing these individually then they got changed to simple delivery.  However bulk submitting them enabled the custom postage to stay.

Fun to play around with - but I guess the loopholes will get fixed.

Oh well - time to get more items listed elsewhere !

[davl.]

It's ridiculous that the seller has to go to all this trouble to list an item.  Will the Ebay programmers ever fix this mess?   Reminds me of the Post Office Horizon programme.

[ratecheap_comics]

I would but there’s no way to change back to private if ever this garbage system is gone! Plus it probably won’t be long before business sellers get it anyway if it’s a good money screw for them.

[plantsandsucculents]

My partner is a Business Seller on this and other platforms.  If you have your own RM or Yodel accounts your shipping fees are going to be lower than the ebay inflated costs.  I dont think it would be popular with Business Sellers if they decide to make SD compulsory.

I am Private Seller and my sales have literally disappeared since SD.  It is very disappointing but I guess ebay want rid of Private Sellers and looks like they are doing a good job of getting rid of them.

Such a shame they have donr=e this to small sellers but keeping all the multiple listings of Chinese tat from multiple Chinese sellers that just clog up the pages but I guess ebay is just bottom line focussed and dont care where the sales come from.

Time for a new marketplace methinks.

[shardii]

Called eBay help desk 2.7.25 and query passed into their IT section. 

Utter chaos at eBay as it seems to be all the time recently.

[wynd52]

Just adding to the 'complaints'.

I sell an item at about £13 - and it used to go in large letter for £1.55.

Now the buyer has to pay £2.70 - so inflating the cost of the item to the purchaser by almost 10%, which will inevitably reduce sales.

Why can't eBay have a larger 'exception' than a trivial £10 ????????

[7pixie]

To most it may seem petty, but I wonder if we could all sign a public petition asking Ebay to reintroduce the cost-effective letter and large letter options? A lot of people from low income groups buy low value items from Ebay. They should not be made to pay an unnecessary (and wasteful) higher postage because of corporate greed, specially during a cost of living crisis.

If we complain individually, Ebay will just say that "you are the only person who's complaining". But if there was a public petition, it would put pressure on Ebay's to respond as to why it's preventing economical posting. I bet a lot of items on eBay are low value and small enough to fit a large letter.

[rincerofwinds]

unfortunately for me the 'Switch to advanced Options' link is not longer showing 

[25to4]

Agree...maybe the best solution for eBay  would be to make Simple Delivery optional- not mandatory

so those sellers who want  to use SimpDel can...  and those sellers that prefer an  easier and more economical method(Royal Mail with no middleman which I've used for 20 years) can do so.

[rincerofwinds]

Completely agree - It needs to be optional and forced on people. I never know what size the package is going to be until I pack the item, so how can i choose the right postage at the time I'm listing it. 

Are ebay also going to be supplying me with all the envelopes and packing that I need to send out the items? 

I think ebay is trying to force everyone to up their prices and move to 'Free Delivery' as they will make more money from the increased buyer protection fees than the postage

[edwardian-dreams]

but I wonder if we could all sign a public petition asking Ebay to reintroduce the cost-effective letter and large letter options? A lot of people from low income groups buy low value items from Ebay.

——-  

low value items (£10 and under) for letter and I believe large letter are allowed with custom postage but have to be under 100g

not for all categories but a lot of typical categories for those items 

problem is there’s bugs in the system and many posters saying they can’t get custom for these items

personally things like stamps , CDs, DVDs stamps postcards and other things mentioned default to custom straight away for me without having to click anything 

And

@rincerofwinds

[seriozhal]

Hi, has anyone heard from ebay? are they going to sort out the small value items - or are they making no exceptions now?

[edwardian-dreams]

These exempt categories and sub categories are still in the help pages under opting out of simple delivery , i doubt they will do away with it all because for example it’s ridiculous that eBay would think posting a coin or a stamp is worth the 2.72 tracked large letter rate 

No one from the community team has commented on the various threads about this so we’re all in the dark about what’s going on and why when people have problems actually trying to list these things 

we get to ask them once a week in the community chat Wednesdays 2-3pm and hope for a helpful  answer