eBay simple delivery (merged)

RedImp_2

MR1988 said:

This is actually horrible and I'm considering trying other platforms now as they forced SD on any new listings.

I used to pay £3.45 for small parcels of up to 2KG with Tracked 48 postage and have my items collected. Now it's going to charge me £3.94 for parcels up to 1 KG or £4.48 for parcels up to 2 KG, and then I need to book collection separately for £0.30 on Royal Mail website - And this, if Royal Mail is all working as it should as I had it many times before when it wouldn't let me log in and book collections. What a poor change to completely remove the custom postage option.

Those prices aren’t what I’m seeing for RM 2kg (although I note there are two sets of parcel dimensions for 2kg)

AndrewJB

AndrewJB said:

I spoke with an eBay representative on Thursday to express my dissatisfaction with the postage charges. They told me that I could ignore them, make my own arrangements, and that the postage fee they deducted would be reimbursed after 30 days if the label was not used. Is this right? Will the net funds be paid in the normal timeframe, given that the item will not track?

The example I used was a DVD that I would normally send using Royal Mail’s second-class service at a cost of £1.55 to £1.80, compared to eBay’s charge of £2.74. Their cost is even more than the £2.70 for Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.

Edit

This is in the email from eBay now that I've sold something: 'Funds will be available 2 calendar days after delivery for tracked orders.

Funds will be made available immediately if the buyer provides positive feedback for tracked orders with a subtotal of £750 or less or for untracked orders with a subtotal of £10 or less. If eBay doesn't receive delivery confirmation from the courier, funds will be available 14 calendar days from the order date. Payment holds may apply.'

So, 14 days for the net funds on sales over £10 (under £10 immediately) and 30 days for the postage reimbursement.

I’m not sure what the current position is with Simple Delivery, but this is an update of my experience. As much as anything, it's a record of my recent telephone conversations with eBay.

In May, I was told by an eBay representative that I could ignore the postage label generated by eBay, make my own arrangements, and that the charge through eBay would be reimbursed after 30 days. That didn’t happen.

Yesterday, I contacted eBay as the 30 days had elapsed. I was transferred to someone who advised me to go to the following page and click the link under 'Returns and refunds’ to ‘Request a refund for Simple Delivery’. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

After submitting the form, the following message appeared,‘We're unable to process your refund request as it has been more than 14 days since the item was purchased. Unfortunately, our refund policy only allows requests within this time frame.’

I called back and was told a member of the Simple Delivery team would contact me. That didn’t happen.

Today I spoke to someone who told me that I had been incorrectly advised. They will speak to their manager and get back to me later in the week. The money goes directly to the postal company, so they can’t do anything about it. I don’t pay seller’s fees, so there’s nothing to refund it against.

For future reference, I asked if I had applied for a refund within 14 days, would it have been okay? I was advised against doing this. Effectively, once you have been ‘opted-in’ to Simple Delivery, there is no legitimate way out, even if it means paying far more in postage costs.

Something was made about it being because I offered free delivery, but if the buyer paid, that just transfers the elevated costs onto them. It still affects what I get, because whether we’re talking about Simple Delivery or Buyer Protection, the buyer looks at the total cost they pay.

They asked if I’m an ‘active seller’, and I was told that Simple Delivery doesn’t apply for Business Sellers. I am genuinely selling private possessions. It seemed a contradiction in that I was being told I must abide by the Simple Delivery rules, but that I could register as a business seller even though I wasn’t one.

I understand they have now offered some additional postal options, but I don’t know if they’re still forcing people to use tracked services even when Royal Mail offers free compensation for loss or damage in transit on some services. And although it’s a small difference, how come they were charging more for the same service than I would have to pay by going directly to Royal Mail’s website?

soolin

AndrewJB said:

AndrewJB said:

I spoke with an eBay representative on Thursday to express my dissatisfaction with the postage charges. They told me that I could ignore them, make my own arrangements, and that the postage fee they deducted would be reimbursed after 30 days if the label was not used. Is this right? Will the net funds be paid in the normal timeframe, given that the item will not track?

The example I used was a DVD that I would normally send using Royal Mail’s second-class service at a cost of £1.55 to £1.80, compared to eBay’s charge of £2.74. Their cost is even more than the £2.70 for Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.

Edit

This is in the email from eBay now that I've sold something: 'Funds will be available 2 calendar days after delivery for tracked orders.

Funds will be made available immediately if the buyer provides positive feedback for tracked orders with a subtotal of £750 or less or for untracked orders with a subtotal of £10 or less. If eBay doesn't receive delivery confirmation from the courier, funds will be available 14 calendar days from the order date. Payment holds may apply.'

So, 14 days for the net funds on sales over £10 (under £10 immediately) and 30 days for the postage reimbursement.

I’m not sure what the current position is with Simple Delivery, but this is an update of my experience. As much as anything, it's a record of my recent telephone conversations with eBay.

In May, I was told by an eBay representative that I could ignore the postage label generated by eBay, make my own arrangements, and that the charge through eBay would be reimbursed after 30 days. That didn’t happen.

Yesterday, I contacted eBay as the 30 days had elapsed. I was transferred to someone who advised me to go to the following page and click the link under 'Returns and refunds’ to ‘Request a refund for Simple Delivery’. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

After submitting the form, the following message appeared,‘We're unable to process your refund request as it has been more than 14 days since the item was purchased. Unfortunately, our refund policy only allows requests within this time frame.’

I called back and was told a member of the Simple Delivery team would contact me. That didn’t happen.

Today I spoke to someone who told me that I had been incorrectly advised. They will speak to their manager and get back to me later in the week. The money goes directly to the postal company, so they can’t do anything about it. I don’t pay seller’s fees, so there’s nothing to refund it against.

For future reference, I asked if I had applied for a refund within 14 days, would it have been okay? I was advised against doing this. Effectively, once you have been ‘opted-in’ to Simple Delivery, there is no legitimate way out, even if it means paying far more in postage costs.

Something was made about it being because I offered free delivery, but if the buyer paid, that just transfers the elevated costs onto them. It still affects what I get, because whether we’re talking about Simple Delivery or Buyer Protection, the buyer looks at the total cost they pay.

They asked if I’m an ‘active seller’, and I was told that Simple Delivery doesn’t apply for Business Sellers. I am genuinely selling private possessions. It seemed a contradiction in that I was being told I must abide by the Simple Delivery rules, but that I could register as a business seller even though I wasn’t one.

I understand they have now offered some additional postal options, but I don’t know if they’re still forcing people to use tracked services even when Royal Mail offers free compensation for loss or damage in transit on some services. And although it’s a small difference, how come they were charging more for the same service than I would have to pay by going directly to Royal Mail’s website?

As you have now realised, never ever believe what a Customer service rep tells you, they just want you off the phone.

There was never any official guaranteed repayment offered if a label wasn't used just because seller didn't want to use SD, lots of rumours, and people reading between the lines. Ebay were always quite clear that SD was going to be compulsory in some categories- so believing the SD label cost could be reclaimed was always a gamble- and unfortunately whilst it seemed to work for some people if you read what people are saying on other forums, perhaps the loophole to avoid the 'compulsory' SD has now been closed. If there was a way round SD then it wouldn't be compulsory. 

The fact that SD isn't compulsory for business sellers- and in fact isn't even an option is correct, and there are a few people who have opted to go down that route - I really wouldn't recommend it though unless you are fully aware of the requirements and costs. 

AFAIK SD is still only Evri and RM and if you offer both the Evri option makes items a bit cheaper for buyers- my buyers certainly like it as i have sold a fair bit since switching over the SD for my parcels.

The announcement about SD hasn't changed, so I'm not sure what 'other options' have been introduced.

Simple Delivery | eBay

AndrewJB

soolin said:

AndrewJB said:

AndrewJB said:

I spoke with an eBay representative on Thursday to express my dissatisfaction with the postage charges. They told me that I could ignore them, make my own arrangements, and that the postage fee they deducted would be reimbursed after 30 days if the label was not used. Is this right? Will the net funds be paid in the normal timeframe, given that the item will not track?

The example I used was a DVD that I would normally send using Royal Mail’s second-class service at a cost of £1.55 to £1.80, compared to eBay’s charge of £2.74. Their cost is even more than the £2.70 for Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.

Edit

This is in the email from eBay now that I've sold something: 'Funds will be available 2 calendar days after delivery for tracked orders.

Funds will be made available immediately if the buyer provides positive feedback for tracked orders with a subtotal of £750 or less or for untracked orders with a subtotal of £10 or less. If eBay doesn't receive delivery confirmation from the courier, funds will be available 14 calendar days from the order date. Payment holds may apply.'

So, 14 days for the net funds on sales over £10 (under £10 immediately) and 30 days for the postage reimbursement.

I’m not sure what the current position is with Simple Delivery, but this is an update of my experience. As much as anything, it's a record of my recent telephone conversations with eBay.

In May, I was told by an eBay representative that I could ignore the postage label generated by eBay, make my own arrangements, and that the charge through eBay would be reimbursed after 30 days. That didn’t happen.

Yesterday, I contacted eBay as the 30 days had elapsed. I was transferred to someone who advised me to go to the following page and click the link under 'Returns and refunds’ to ‘Request a refund for Simple Delivery’. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

After submitting the form, the following message appeared,‘We're unable to process your refund request as it has been more than 14 days since the item was purchased. Unfortunately, our refund policy only allows requests within this time frame.’

I called back and was told a member of the Simple Delivery team would contact me. That didn’t happen.

Today I spoke to someone who told me that I had been incorrectly advised. They will speak to their manager and get back to me later in the week. The money goes directly to the postal company, so they can’t do anything about it. I don’t pay seller’s fees, so there’s nothing to refund it against.

For future reference, I asked if I had applied for a refund within 14 days, would it have been okay? I was advised against doing this. Effectively, once you have been ‘opted-in’ to Simple Delivery, there is no legitimate way out, even if it means paying far more in postage costs.

Something was made about it being because I offered free delivery, but if the buyer paid, that just transfers the elevated costs onto them. It still affects what I get, because whether we’re talking about Simple Delivery or Buyer Protection, the buyer looks at the total cost they pay.

They asked if I’m an ‘active seller’, and I was told that Simple Delivery doesn’t apply for Business Sellers. I am genuinely selling private possessions. It seemed a contradiction in that I was being told I must abide by the Simple Delivery rules, but that I could register as a business seller even though I wasn’t one.

I understand they have now offered some additional postal options, but I don’t know if they’re still forcing people to use tracked services even when Royal Mail offers free compensation for loss or damage in transit on some services. And although it’s a small difference, how come they were charging more for the same service than I would have to pay by going directly to Royal Mail’s website?

As you have now realised, never ever believe what a Customer service rep tells you, they just want you off the phone.

There was never any official guaranteed repayment offered if a label wasn't used just because seller didn't want to use SD, lots of rumours, and people reading between the lines. Ebay were always quite clear that SD was going to be compulsory in some categories- so believing the SD label cost could be reclaimed was always a gamble- and unfortunately whilst it seemed to work for some people if you read what people are saying on other forums, perhaps the loophole to avoid the 'compulsory' SD has now been closed. If there was a way round SD then it wouldn't be compulsory. 

The fact that SD isn't compulsory for business sellers- and in fact isn't even an option is correct, and there are a few people who have opted to go down that route - I really wouldn't recommend it though unless you are fully aware of the requirements and costs. 

AFAIK SD is still only Evri and RM and if you offer both the Evri option makes items a bit cheaper for buyers- my buyers certainly like it as i have sold a fair bit since switching over the SD for my parcels.

The announcement about SD hasn't changed, so I'm not sure what 'other options' have been introduced.

Simple Delivery | eBay

I sought to clarify the situation with them beforehand specifically because of this. The telephone conversation was recorded, and eBay has said they will review it.

By the way, which other forums are you referring to? Just the eBay seller forums or somewhere else?

I’m not sure if the ‘loophole’ has been closed. The suggestion is that if I’d used the link referred to in my previous post, it would work, so long as it’s within 14 days, although that differs from what I was originally told.

I had no intention of creating a business seller account. As I said, I am genuinely selling private possessions.

I use whichever postal option is most suitable for my needs. In this particular case it was a Royal Mail second-class large letter, which offers compensation for loss or damage in transit, as long as you have proof of postage. I don’t think Evri offers a service that undercuts that.

You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.'

savergrant

AndrewJB said:

I spoke with an eBay representative on Thursday to express my dissatisfaction with the postage charges. They told me that I could ignore them, make my own arrangements, and that the postage fee they deducted would be reimbursed after 30 days if the label was not used. Is this right? Will the net funds be paid in the normal timeframe, given that the item will not track?

The example I used was a DVD that I would normally send using Royal Mail’s second-class service at a cost of £1.55 to £1.80, compared to eBay’s charge of £2.74. Their cost is even more than the £2.70 for Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.

Edit

This is in the email from eBay now that I've sold something: 'Funds will be available 2 calendar days after delivery for tracked orders.

Funds will be made available immediately if the buyer provides positive feedback for tracked orders with a subtotal of £750 or less or for untracked orders with a subtotal of £10 or less. If eBay doesn't receive delivery confirmation from the courier, funds will be available 14 calendar days from the order date. Payment holds may apply.'

So, 14 days for the net funds on sales over £10 (under £10 immediately) and 30 days for the postage reimbursement.

Just to be clear, the option on SD was 'you pay' not 'buyer pays'? 

soolin

Quote
You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.'

  That isn’t what was being discussed though ? You made no mention of it being a large letter under £10 or an overweight parcel, both of which are mostly exempt, but only when you list- it isn’t retrospective. if you look back through the admittedly long thread you will see this has been mentioned several times. I have LL size items on my private accounts and am happily listing with no SD option, in fact I’m not even being offered SD as an option. 

Parcels, apart from some exemptions on overweight items are listed with SD as compulsory , the roll out even by eBay standards has been very slow and patchy and indeed some people are still able to list without SD. However, once listed or showing as SD (having been switched by eBay as per their announcement) you can’t then opt out . As discussed earlier there have been all sorts of hacks and work rounds trying to get out of Sd, some have worked with varying degrees of success, but nothing official from eBay . Compulsory is compulsory apart from various glitches and errors from eBay.

As for other forums and groups there are quite a few, mostly either on Facebook or private forums, some are based on business sellers but many are break away groups I’ve followed around for years. 

Realistically the only way to avoid SD for parcel size items is to stop using eBay and sell privately where you can control your own postage. 

Personally I find SD mainly works for me, I have both Evri and RM enabled which makes SD look good price wise against buying direct, my LLs being under £10 still get listed without SD and is end via a £1.55 eBay label. My parcels though are now mainly stress free, I post and that’s the end of it, no worries about INRs or items arriving late due to courier delays. 

EDIT just to add that if you send your exempt LLs using eBay labels they have delivery confirmation so funds are released quickly. A couple of LLs sent Thursday using eBay labels at £1.55 show delivered and my funds are due to be released this Thursday. 

AndrewJB

soolin said:

Quote
You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.'

  That isn’t what was being discussed though ? You made no mention of it being a large letter under £10 or an overweight parcel, both of which are mostly exempt, but only when you list- it isn’t retrospective. if you look back through the admittedly long thread you will see this has been mentioned several times. I have LL size items on my private accounts and am happily listing with no SD option, in fact I’m not even being offered SD as an option. 

Parcels, apart from some exemptions on overweight items are listed with SD as compulsory , the roll out even by eBay standards has been very slow and patchy and indeed some people are still able to list without SD. However, once listed or showing as SD (having been switched by eBay as per their announcement) you can’t then opt out . As discussed earlier there have been all sorts of hacks and work rounds trying to get out of Sd, some have worked with varying degrees of success, but nothing official from eBay . Compulsory is compulsory apart from various glitches and errors from eBay.

As for other forums and groups there are quite a few, mostly either on Facebook or private forums, some are based on business sellers but many are break away groups I’ve followed around for years. 

Realistically the only way to avoid SD for parcel size items is to stop using eBay and sell privately where you can control your own postage. 

Personally I find SD mainly works for me, I have both Evri and RM enabled which makes SD look good price wise against buying direct, my LLs being under £10 still get listed without SD and is end via a £1.55 eBay label. My parcels though are now mainly stress free, I post and that’s the end of it, no worries about INRs or items arriving late due to courier delays. 

EDIT just to add that if you send your exempt LLs using eBay labels they have delivery confirmation so funds are released quickly. A couple of LLs sent Thursday using eBay labels at £1.55 show delivered and my funds are due to be released this Thursday. 

Yes, I offered free postage to the buyer.

Regarding the other options, I said, ‘I understand they have now offered some additional postal options.’

You said, ‘I'm not sure what 'other options' have been introduced.’

I responded, ‘You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.’

As I’m sure you’re aware, one of the criticisms of Simple Delivery was the range of options available.

The item I sold wasn’t under £10. I’m not sure why you came to that conclusion. There’s no point discussing things based on a wrong assumption.

I am aware that Simple Delivery doesn't apply to items under £10.

Is there any specific information about these other groups or forums discussing Simple Delivery that you can post here?

soolin

AndrewJB said:

soolin said:

Quote
You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.'

  That isn’t what was being discussed though ? You made no mention of it being a large letter under £10 or an overweight parcel, both of which are mostly exempt, but only when you list- it isn’t retrospective. if you look back through the admittedly long thread you will see this has been mentioned several times. I have LL size items on my private accounts and am happily listing with no SD option, in fact I’m not even being offered SD as an option. 

Parcels, apart from some exemptions on overweight items are listed with SD as compulsory , the roll out even by eBay standards has been very slow and patchy and indeed some people are still able to list without SD. However, once listed or showing as SD (having been switched by eBay as per their announcement) you can’t then opt out . As discussed earlier there have been all sorts of hacks and work rounds trying to get out of Sd, some have worked with varying degrees of success, but nothing official from eBay . Compulsory is compulsory apart from various glitches and errors from eBay.

As for other forums and groups there are quite a few, mostly either on Facebook or private forums, some are based on business sellers but many are break away groups I’ve followed around for years. 

Realistically the only way to avoid SD for parcel size items is to stop using eBay and sell privately where you can control your own postage. 

Personally I find SD mainly works for me, I have both Evri and RM enabled which makes SD look good price wise against buying direct, my LLs being under £10 still get listed without SD and is end via a £1.55 eBay label. My parcels though are now mainly stress free, I post and that’s the end of it, no worries about INRs or items arriving late due to courier delays. 

EDIT just to add that if you send your exempt LLs using eBay labels they have delivery confirmation so funds are released quickly. A couple of LLs sent Thursday using eBay labels at £1.55 show delivered and my funds are due to be released this Thursday. 

Yes, I offered free postage to the buyer.

Regarding the other options, I said, ‘I understand they have now offered some additional postal options.’

There are no other postal options within SD, just the exemptions to it

You said, ‘I'm not sure what 'other options' have been introduced.’

I responded, ‘You must have missed the changes. This was taken from an eBay message: 'We’ve been listening to your feedback whilst rolling out this change, and are introducing a new parcel size option and new postage rates for Simple Delivery, which will come into effect on 20 May, 2025.’

As I’m sure you’re aware, one of the criticisms of Simple Delivery was the range of options available.

As above, SD is compulsory in most parcel categories , there is no opt out if an item is not exempt 

The item I sold wasn’t under £10. I’m not sure why you came to that conclusion. There’s no point discussing things based on a wrong assumption.

That was just explaining the items that are exempt from SD 

I am aware that Simple Delivery doesn't apply to items under £10.

There are some exemptions, not all items under £10 are exempt. SD still applies to all parcels, regardless of price and LLs in certain categories. 

Is there any information about these other groups or forums discussing Simple Delivery that you can post here?

A lot of them are not 'private' in that members ebay accounts can be identified so I don't post details as I don't like any of my accounts, business or private to risk being identified. However, if you start on facebook using specialised searches, for example I sold sci fi stuff back in the 1990s/2000s so joined a few groups for that- they evolved when sci fi took a nose dive and some split off to talk about other things . One split was for a DVD/VHS group- which I didn't join as I don't sell them. Likewise specialist china and glass groups , and when those categories died they became just general groups, ideas, strategies- warnings about couriers stopping compensation on items etc.

Obviously when ebay make major changes like managed payments and simple delivery that gets discussed a lot.  There was someone who did a price comparison for instance in a book group about how much to sell a thin LL item for to avoid using SD and whether the margin was better listing it higher than £10 but with SD (based on final price to the buyer) 

 I also am still a member of a lot of USA based ones as I used to sell a lot to the US, although I stopped a good 10 years ago due to losses in the post - but they can be chatty and I like seeing the way the US business sellers source stock - it is completely different to any UK model. If you find a USA one then check out their mention of the 'bins' . I'd post the US ones as there are thousands of users, but as they use a different postal system it is fairly useless for this conversation. 

I have placed answers within your post - hopefully in the correct bits.

 I think a lot of the issues between our posts is the language used. SD is SD, using Evri or RM, some things are exempt from SD - so they are outside the remit of SD entirely. I use SD to describe only the SD compulsory items, exempt items to me are not just an SD option- but something outside of SD - and that's where the same viewpoint is reaching different conclusions. 

kalsha

What's happening to SD/Custom postage??

I decided to end a few of my listings and relist them with new photos and changed some wording.  Used same category and same price.  They were all listed 2 months ago as SD postage of £2.70 and  3 day dispatch.  When I am relisting them, I noticed they had all changed to 2 day dispatch and custom postage of £2.75!

Tried to do similar on my husband's account.  All the listings which were less than 100g, less than £10 and were previously listed with custom postage of £1.55 - now I they all have to be SD, there is no option for 100g and dispatch has to be 2 days!  I looked at other private sellers selling the same items and they have listed with postage of £1.55 - so can't be SD.  And they are in the same category.
The custom postage and packet size of 100g has totally vanished.

savergrant

kalsha said:

What's happening to SD/Custom postage??

I decided to end a few of my listings and relist them with new photos and changed some wording.  Used same category and same price.  They were all listed 2 months ago as SD postage of £2.70 and  3 day dispatch.  When I am relisting them, I noticed they had all changed to 2 day dispatch and custom postage of £2.75!

Tried to do similar on my husband's account.  All the listings which were less than 100g, less than £10 and were previously listed with custom postage of £1.55 - now I they all have to be SD, there is no option for 100g and dispatch has to be 2 days!  I looked at other private sellers selling the same items and they have listed with postage of £1.55 - so can't be SD.  And they are in the same category.
The custom postage and packet size of 100g has totally vanished.

I have listed an item today using;
Switch to advanced options

I was able to select RM Large letter at 1.55/2.60.

Is your husband's account established for selling?