Simple delivery is awful

[jezzagold]

I list a few things on ebay occasionally, but this new simple delivery is just rubbish for sellers. It assumes that ebay actually know the size and weight of items And that everyone can easily get to Evri or other courier services easily. Why did they have to stop the seller from deciding how to post items? Put me right off bothering to use Ebay.

[dan_o_man]

Yes. Agree. Simple delivery is utter *bleep*. It gives eBay even further opportunity to behave like a mafia working alongside their chosen courier cartel partners to offer appalling service with no recourse. I complained as DHL failed to turn up 5 days in a row and was told I could get no compensation because the buyer had paid for postage not myself. Now on a second parcel.that DHL on SD are not turning up to collect. I am unable to drop off as eBay dictated it was a collection only service. The only solution they offer is to cancel the order and start again. Diabolical service from both eBay and DHL. This is late stage capitalism and neoliberalism at it purest. A nasty system ripping people off giving them no alternative set up by a company behaving like a mafia cartel. 

[classics63]

Absolutely

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[robertnew16]

Cancel and set for royal mail delivery only, you can do it in settings on
the listing and for future listings do it in your account, problem solved,
until ebay works out what everyone is doing and stops using royal mail

[department28]

It sounds like they were sending large/heavy items that would be too big for Royal Mail, in which case, DHL is the only option available.

You can exclude Evri, but I don't think you can exclude DHL from the Simple Delivery options.

[dougbat20]

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@department28 wrote:

It sounds like they were sending large/heavy items that would be too big for Royal Mail, in which case, DHL is the only option available.

You can exclude Evri, but I don't think you can exclude DHL from the Simple Delivery options.

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Or better still, don't use the Simple Delivery at all!

I'm still able to list items without using that abhorrent delivery service. You have to set the item price to over £750 (not including buyer protection fee), it says Simple Delivery is unavailable, that's fine, change the item weight and dimensions to something ludicrous (bigger than what DHL will accept), with that saved then set the price back to what you want and it should show as oversized and unavailable for Simple Delivery. Sorted!!

[dunstun365]

it's better to go elsewhere like 'V' or FB marketplace that's what I do for bigger items

[str11p]

You can now exclude DHL. (I don't know what then happens if the item is too big/heavy for the other carriers.)

[papso22]

That could well result in ebay closing your account.  It's a type of fee avoidance because you are avoiding using Simple Delivery where Simple Delivery is mandatory.

That's different to a workaround which is necessary because Simple Delivery is not working as it should, as we saw last year.  Workarounds make things work as intended and overcome glitches.  

[dougbat20]

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@papso22 wrote:

That could well result in ebay closing your account.  It's a type of fee avoidance because you are avoiding using Simple Delivery where Simple Delivery is mandatory.

That's different to a workaround which is necessary because Simple Delivery is not working as it should, as we saw last year.  Workarounds make things work as intended and overcome glitches.  

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Haha, fat chance of that happening! It's not fee avoidance at all, because I actually pay the shipping cost on BIN listings and make sure to cover my postage costs on auction listings without being out of pocket. I hope you don't work for eBay or are just here to promote their services?

I tried the simple delivery once and it failed me, since I paid well over the odds for a delivery label compared to my choice of courier. Simple Delivery is flawed and I won't be using it - ever. Ever since SD came in, listing items has been more of a chore than anything else, simply because of the hassle you have to go through just to make sure you use a postage option you're actually happy with!!

If eBay copied Vinted's approach exactly, I would have no problems. Vinted allows THE SELLER to select exactly what options they want to use and then THE BUYER selects exactly what service they want out of what the seller has enabled. None of this "oh you're getting Evri unless you deselect Evri", and no "we might just give you Evri anyways even if you did deselect them". 

Unless Simple Delivery becomes optional I will have no choice but to continue using this method (which wasn't even originally my method, I found it on these forums!) of selecting my own shipping service to post my items to my buyers. If you don't like it, don't buy from me. Simples.

[birsaybooks]

I am pleased to infer that EBAY has accepted that there are faults with
SD - but the problem is that its fundamental underlying principle is
flawed. It is not possible to know the customer's shipping requirements
until they have completed all their purchases and expressed their wishes
to the vendor. It is the idea that EBAY can predict this in advance that
is wrong.

I do wonder if a  new management team who have no previous experience of
running an Online Market Place (OMP) thought up SD?

SD can possibly work with the following changes

1) Allow multiple lots to be combined. Many users do not use the basket,
which is the existing and very complex mechanism that is provided. They
buy things as they go along. Vendors need to be able to then combine
their purchases into a single parcel and offer them a postal discount.
That cannot be predicted.

2) Allow users to request expedited shipping - Tracked 24 is not
expedited and to claim that it is is fraudulent. Tracked 24 does not
offer a delivery guarantee, Royal Mail Special Delivery needs to be
added as a buyer option.

3) Allow users to reject couriers. In my case EVRI deliver to this area
only once a week, and that is to a sub-contractor who then deliver the
items the following week. i.e. EVRI delivery times are between 8 to 10
days. I never buy from anyone who uses EVRI.

4) Allow users to opt to COLLECT after purchase. They only find out
where the vendor is after purchase as EBAY do not trust buyers with that
information, which is frankly insulting.

5) Allow buyers to delay shipment because they are away - SD labels expire

All the above and more have been cited by users of this forum.

I also have a business account and get none of these issues as I am
allowed, by grace of EBAY, to use Packlink which offers all the
flexibility required to offer a good customer experience.

Incidentally Buyers Protection Fees are another crackpot idea. If I want
to sell something for £10 I expect it to be listed at £10, not what EBAY
think it should sell for. That at least has been fixed and it is now
possible to reduce the selling price so that we revert to a Sellers Fee
basis - but not for Offers - we also need to be able to set an Accept
Offer inclusive of BPF. No doubt the same EBAY 'experts' who dreamed up
SD also created BPF to make it harder to use the site.

Both SD and BPF need to be scrapped, and Sellers Fees reinstated. The
dream of attracting sellers from Vinted has clearly failed, instead
based on this thread EBAY is driving sellers to Vinted because of SD and
BPF. It is time for EBAY to ask why that is, as EBAY is a better OMP
than Vinted, yet EBAY is losing customers to it because of SD.

[humbleyard]

WELL SAID & SO TRUE! If there was a bit more of this proactive attitude against eBay's grabbing attitude instead of the pro eBay resignation of their money grabbing dictatorial approach we would have an eBay more fit for purpose!Sent from my Galaxy

[humbleyard]

MORE PLEASE!Sent from my Galaxy

[claire_leonhart]

He has a large item if it is DHL, I have the same issue, I can't turn off DHL as well, if I sell something with them, I just cancel it, it is no worth, and I can sell it elsewhere in case.

[claire_leonhart]

Yeah, but if DHL doesn't show, and he is not the first one happening, what should he do? If a shop can't let the automatic door to enter opening, customers go by force elsewhere, who has the fault??

[dougbat20]

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@claire_leonhart wrote:

Yeah, but if DHL doesn't show, and he is not the first one happening, what should he do? If a shop can't let the automatic door to enter opening, customers go by force elsewhere, who has the fault??

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If it's a large item above 61cm then see this thread:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/how-do-you-list-anything-bigger-than-61cm/m-p/7882449

Basically you have to put YOUR price (not including buyer protection) above £750, it then says that Simple Delivery is unavailable.

You then change the dimensions to bigger than the biggest option available, then put the price back to what you want.

Hopefully then it will remember this, show as oversized, and allow you custom postage...

[sml192]

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@claire_leonhart wrote:

He has a large item if it is DHL, I have the same issue, I can't turn off DHL as well, if I sell something with them, I just cancel it, it is no worth, and I can sell it elsewhere in case.

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You can now opt out of DHL in your Postage Preferences:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf/simpledelivery

[retroman303]

"You can now opt out of DHL in your Postage Preferences".

For pity's sake, how are we expected to keep up with all this? Was this even announced? I have no recollection if so.

And - as someone else asked - what happens if your item is oversized? Presumably, you'd have to opt back in to allow DHL (thereby affecting any other existing listings). 

Not in any way a dig at the poster quoted, just an outburst of frustration and exasperation at the never-ending slew of changes and problems.

What little listing I do now is through gritted teeth. I can't say I ever found it pleasurable, but it is now most definitely an unwelcome chore. And, like others, I'm becoming increasingly suspicious that eBay is 'hiding' my listings (some of them, some of the time) due to my refusal to promote, which obviously only serves to make me even more reluctant to put the effort and time in.

[department28]

'For pity's sake, how are we expected to keep up with all this? Was this even announced? I have no recollection if so.'

It is exactly this sort of thing that those of us who are anti-Simple Delivery find so exasperating. With eBay in charge of postage, they can make whatever changes they want, whenever they want.

One of the best things about doing a bit of selling on eBay was the freedom to choose whatever postage method suited you best. Removing that freedom has made the site much less versatile/user-friendly. And as for buyers not being allowed see what courier they will get... I never thought eBay would become the sort of place where that could happen!

[twfan11]

At least for an individual listing we can specify the size and weight. But ebay have no idea how to combine postage when buyers buy more than one auction. 

I sold 3 auction items to the same buyer. Each 1kg and a 35 x 45 x 16cm parcel and ebay combined that into a 3kg parcel with the same size!  

In reality all three weighed less than 1 kg but they would not fit in the same small parcel as one. 

[claire_leonhart]

I did another check now, and it seems it can be turned off, good news. Thank you.