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.

[edwardian-dreams]

It does seem a little ambiguous 

it says if you “think” your item “might “ be a different size/weight you “can” change it (not should)

well don’t think it

anyway sometimes you don’t know until it’s packed 

Then they say  if you DO use their recommended you won’t get charges

so ”think”  it’s the recommended size/weight imo 😀 

[department28]

'I thought ebay were responsible for any errors in weight and size if the seller accepted the recommended postage.  But when listing it says you should make sure you get the weight and size right or you will be charged.'

You're not the only one finding this confusing... 😖

What it seems to mean is that if you let SD 'decide' the weight/size, then even if SD gets it wrong, the postage label can be used, and eBay will sort out the difference. But if you put in your own weight/size and get it wrong, then you will be responsible for the difference and may be charged for the underpayment.

What it is boiling down to, is that SD doesn't want us to do anything for ourselves where postage is concerned... even messaging between buyer & seller is now being 'taken over' by SD.

[akemp1]

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@cobwebcottage wrote:

In one word, tracking. SD includes insurance against loss and damage. How can they pay out for loss if the item is not tracked? they would be inundated with false claims.

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2nd class when bought online includes delivery confirmation and the seller should get proof of postage. RM secretly track all items going through their network but they just don't show the journey in the middle on the 2nd class product.

Ebay should accept that for items under £20 in the lower Large Letter rates then going Tracked 48 1Kg is unnecessary and let people pick 2nd class without trying to stupidly police it by category.

They should be ashamed of how stupid they are looking right now.

[przybyla7]

I wondered why my sales had dropped. I always select "seller pays" and price my items accordingly so they work out to be about £3 less than if the buyer paid. I find now that ebay has changed all my listings to "buyer pays" which means all my prices are now over the odds! Add insult to injury, to get to Evri or Royal Mail from my location is an extra £4 in fuel compared to InPost.

Still, the attempt to kill my side business won't work. I'll just use InPost independently and remove their commission...

[crafty_cat_lover]

Why don't you change your account from private to a business account then you can use whatever postage options you want for your side business.

[saysonth45]

What a daft response, we have to amend our accounts due to them messing with what was a perfectly fine system.

[crafty_cat_lover]

But they said themselves that it was affecting their side business and the easiest way around it for them is to upgrade their account. I'm not sure what is daft about that.

[saysonth45]

Should ebay fix this or its customers? I think the answer to that is fairly obvious.

[przybyla7]

Have you looked at the fees for a business account?



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[przybyla7]

Have a look at the fees involved.....



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[saysonth45]

Why do i need to look at fees for a business account? Thats completely off subject.

[meinblack2010]

Yes that has been suggested by someone else so may look into that, thanks

[przybyla7]

Not sure what went wrong, but I replied to a comment that said I could solve the problem by upgrading to a business account!



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[seedbankers]

If you can pay the monthly fee and still make money, you can do it. If not, for small or big letters, you can still look for custom postage and IGNORE BIGGER LETTER and you can name your postage. 

[akemp1]

Ebay seem to have started sending 'feel good' emails about how well we have been doing selling stuff for the past 3 months. Apparently I am 'smashing it' no thanks to them making things unnecessarily hard for buyers and sellers.

If ebay have enough resource to send these stupid emails perhaps they could put it onto properly fixing their postage policies and implementations to stop irritating everyone like limiting postage options by category when real life doesn't work like that.

Real life objects come in all shapes and sizes - ebay need to reflect that diversity in their postage options.

Anything less is pigging annoying and makes people use other marketplaces.

[pixelkings]

Is it even legal for Ebay or any other online sales platform to force peopel to buy postage through the site. Seems like restriction to trading tbh. Be interesting if anyone launches a test case against this trend 

[infohelps]

Some of us reported eBay to the CMA at the beginning of April.  We have been advised that there is a case open, so we just have to wait and see. 

[edwardian-dreams]

Vinted have a managed postage system so it can’t be illegal 

however theirs is vastly more inclusive of many couriers and prices are fairly cheap  (the RM ones the same as buying direct though which is still ok)

maybe eBay promised to include more carriers  in the future and that lets them off the hook lol 

No idea 

end of the day if simple delivery works then all is good in the main 

but it isn’t at the moment,  eg for larger heavier parcels  the option doesn’t appear when it should

only reason I can think of is that fixing this is tied to fixing something else and they’re in a pickle

we are in the dark and eBay just say it’s being reviewed (like for 2 months now)

[sopratutto77]

Totally agree.  It seems to be ok for small parcels, but larger parcels causes problems as Simple Delivery does not know the actual size and different carriers have different maximum limits. The "solution" eBay has given me for the latest issue with a parcel exceeding Royal Mail Medium Parcel size limits, is to purchase a label outside of eBay (at a higher cost), manually update the tracking in the order and then request a refund for the unused pre-paid label in Simple Delivery.  No longer "simple".

[tonys4827]

Couldn't agree more, just had yet another argument with them about poor pricing for postage and the lack of options & basically told to like it or lump it after 20+ years selling

Looking for a good alternative where both the buyer and seller are the customer and respected