eBay simple delivery (merged)

soolin

shapala said:

soolin said:

messia07 said:

The problem with posting parcels genuinely, is that even Royal Mail will simply dump parcels at the front door if you don’t select / pay  a postage service which requires a signature.. that’s where I feel uneasy with posting items through eBay’s simple delivery.

in the past, I would even upgrade the postage myself, paying extra for signed or insured postage, just to make sure the parcel gets to the buyer safely. now I can’t do that.

does anyone know. If I post a small parcel via eBay / Royal Mail’s simple delivery  (value £40-100), is the parcel 100% insured? ..I can imagine myself posting an antique via SD and it gets left on a doorstep and goes missing.

Please read some of the recent threads on here. Simple delivery covers the seller against loss from the moment the courier accepts it- if you have concerns about your items going missing then SD would be perfect for you.

Incidentally signed for was always a poor service as it had very limited compensation , whereas SD covers up to £750

So I'm about to sell one of my old cameras which will be circa £650-700. Anyway, the buyer will likely be buying a label for RM 48 then, right? Is there no option for them to pay extra for RM 24 or Special Delivery, perhaps for their own peace of mind?

I have a biz a/c which is different in setting up courier options, of which I would opt for RM SD due to the value, but I bought this camera years ago for personal use hence I'd want to use my personal a/c.

There is an upgraded delivery service available to the buyer , I think it’s just tracked 24, so no difference in the service just a bit faster. 

Middledyke

Sorry it's a bit long but worth reading as I have discovered a workaround to being overcharged for Ebay postage BUT, and it's a big BUT, it's not worth doing except in situations where there is a big discrepancy between Simple Delivery charges and purchasing postage yourself outside of Ebay.

I've just returned to selling stuff on Ebay and it's changed a bit!  I always do 'free postage' as it makes it much easier for buyers to see the full cost.  Unfortunately Ebay now insists on using Simple Delivery for virtually all items over £10 and also for most stuff under £10 too.  You simply cannot get round this and this is a major issue as sellers are being made to only use tracked services so are overcharged for posting items especially in the Royal Mail Large Letter category (other couriers too).

I sold an item today for under £20 which weighs less than 100g and is well within the large letter category so I would normally pay £1.55 for Royal Mail Second Class postage (not tracked) which has £20 cover for loss/damage as standard (just need proof of posting).  However Ebay don't give this option so are charging me £2.72 for Second Class 48 hour Tracked (2p more than booked direct with RM) ... BUT I don't want to use tracked!!!  I only want Second Class non-tracked but there is no way to change this at all within Ebay as it's not an option, I HAVE to pay for tracked nearly doubling the postage cost!!!

To get to the bottom of this I just requested a call back from Ebay and had a nice chat with a lady, making my concerns know and was told that part of the reason for Simple Delivery having mandatory tracking is because of the number of complaints/feedback they've had about items not arriving or the buyer claiming they hadn't.  By making tracking mandatory it means that it can be clearly followed to see if 'porkies' are being told or if it is genuinely not arrived then a refund will be applied quickly without the seller having to intervene as the courier will deal directly with it all, refund the buyer and the seller will receive the postage cost back too.  All well and good IF you want that service, I don't, certainly not when it's making me pay for something that I really do NOT need. 

So how do you get round it in Ebay?  The simply answer is you can't!  The ONLY thing you can do is to accept the Pre-Paid Label but DO NOT USE IT and instead book the delivery direct with the courier of your choice with tracking and send your item out.  You must wait until it's been delivered then use the below link and request a refund for the unused postage label (it can take up to 30 days for the refund to be issued so this isn't a quick turnaround!):

Request a refund for Simple delivery

In order to process a refund Ebay will verify that you've met ALL of the following, the first 3 are easy to meet but it's the last one that is the problem:

• The label was paid for by you (you offered free shipping to the buyer).
• The refund request is created within 14 days from the item's sale.
• The label wasn't used within 14 days of the item's sale.
• The package was delivered using a different tracking number.

I would normally just get a 'Proof of Posting' from RM which has £20 of compensation built in it which more than covers smaller value items but I can't use it as I won't be able to get the original postage cost back so would end up paying twice!

As you cannot use a non-tracked service you are likely to be paying virtually the same cost to 'do it yourself' instead of using Simple Delivery as you still have to give a tracking number, this likely means it's not worth the hassle unless you can get a much lower delivery price with tracking by DIYing it. 

So basically Ebay are forcing sellers and buyers to overpay for postage which obviously impacts the prices, the only winner is Ebay which is putting a mark up, albeit small, on the postage cost compared to buying it direct (in the above case £2.72 versus £2.70 with RM direct), but bearing in mind how many sales are made via Ebay it's a nice little, more likely 'big', earner for them.  

I understand the reasoning for it but I don't like being forced to pay for something that I don't need as the 'proof of postage' has been more than sufficient for me in the past even when I've had to make a claim.

It's really annoying as I've listed loads of stuff, much of which is smallish in size and/or value so I'm gonna get hit with an extra of between 22p and £1.18 for each of these items totally unnecessarily - personally I think it's extortion!

jeffuk

This has already been discussed in this post.

eBay simple delivery (merged) - Page 45 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

soolin

I've merged the post 2 above as jeffuk says this has been covered several times, once quite recently. I would add my usual warning that as SD is compulsory any work round and reliance on always being able to reclaim your unused SD postage should NOT be relied on , even now it says it 'may' refund your money and makes no definite promises. 

RedImp_2

Personally my response would be to abandon giving free delivery, I think buyers are capable of working out total price ( indeed EBay offers a sort by price including delivery)

WLM21

I've just sold two items and both buyers have bought pre-paid labels with EVRi.

When I go to download and print them, there is the same error on each one .. basically there is no gap between the front and back of the postcode. AB123EF, rather than AB12 3EF.

When I try to edit this, there's a comment on the lines of .. Ask your buyer to cancel and re-order with the correct postcode.

I didn't bother with that 

Arctos

As a buyer there are a few issues. 
1. I'm charged VAT on the postage and on the imposed "buyer protection"
2. There's no indicator on the item listing that there will be those additional charges - so it comes as an nasty little surprise. This is particularly unpleasant when making an offer which requires an agreement to buy before the offer is submitted.
3. The first time I experienced this the seller was unaware of the VAT [despite both seller and buyer being private individuals in the UK] and they were as upset as I was.
4. The second time the seller said that SD specifies the package size and postage - so I had an A4 cardboard envelope and postage charged at Large Letter. This dwarfed the item which was a miniature stamp sheetlet measuring about 4 by 3 inches. 
So 3 & 4 experiences do nothing to promote positive experience of the transaction, I suspect. My second seller said that they had had less than 100% reviews as a consequence.

soolin

Arctos said:

As a buyer there are a few issues. 
1. I'm charged VAT on the postage and on the imposed "buyer protection"
2. There's no indicator on the item listing that there will be those additional charges - so it comes as an nasty little surprise. This is particularly unpleasant when making an offer which requires an agreement to buy before the offer is submitted.
3. The first time I experienced this the seller was unaware of the VAT [despite both seller and buyer being private individuals in the UK] and they were as upset as I was.
4. The second time the seller said that SD specifies the package size and postage - so I had an A4 cardboard envelope and postage charged at Large Letter. This dwarfed the item which was a miniature stamp sheetlet measuring about 4 by 3 inches. 
So 3 & 4 experiences do nothing to promote positive experience of the transaction, I suspect. My second seller said that they had had less than 100% reviews as a consequence.

I agree it can be confusing to see the VAT element of the postage shown separately on some earlier listings, but it is clear before you commit to buy what the total is and the VAT issue is being addressed as most now show the total when you look at the listing page. If you look at this one for instance (chosen at random:
Boohoo Chocolate Cable Knit Jumper Dress Size L Brand New | eBay UK

It clearly shows postage as Standard Tracked Delivery

Estimated between Thu, 21 Aug and Wed, 27 Aug  Postage: £2.94 - with no breakdown of postage showing VAT separately.

As for the seller claiming that SD has hit their 100% feedback - i would suggest the seller is being less than honest as anything on feedback left due to the ebay system is easily removed. 

EffieTrinketsWig

Is anyone having difficulty sending a shower gel or similar using simple delivery?  I spoke to eBay customer services who spent 40 minutes vetting my listing and couldn't find a reason why the simple delivery option wasn't available, they explored wether or not it exceeded Royal Mail's limit on liquid, prohibited ingredients or the category it was in, checked the listing description word by word to ensure none were flagged, eventually they gave up but agreed it should be eligible.

kalsha

EffieTrinketsWig said:

Is anyone having difficulty sending a shower gel or similar using simple delivery?  I spoke to eBay customer services who spent 40 minutes vetting my listing and couldn't find a reason why the simple delivery option wasn't available, they explored wether or not it exceeded Royal Mail's limit on liquid, prohibited ingredients or the category it was in, checked the listing description word by word to ensure none were flagged, eventually they gave up but agreed it should be eligible.

I have some toiletries listed in the same category but couldn't understand why for some SD was not available!   I will look to see what exactly it was.  It is the same with listing similar stationery.  I need to spend more time and find out the reason.