eBay Private Selling

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Colonel Cupcake said:

One thing I have noticed about simple delivery is that once I have bought the label from Royal Mail, and paid the 30p for them to come and collect the parcel, if someone else buys something later that day then I can't add the 2nd package to the first collection. I have to pay another 30p and arrange a seperate collection.

Thats because eBay are buying the label, not me. If I buy the label myself, I can later add any number of additional parcels for collection and only pay 30p once.

If your postman is friendly they will pick up other parcels on the same delivery even if you haven't paid for collection on them. Well, mine will anyway.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

I had need to read the small print of Simple Delivery today with regards to weights and I thought that what I learned may be of interest to readers of this thread.

Basically, if you use Simple Delivery and go with eBay's recommended weight, but your packaged item is in excess of this weight, then eBay will not charge you a surcharge for going overweight. It doesn't explicitly say that the buyer won't be charged a surcharge but you would hope not.

However, if you choose a weight other than their recommendation then you may be charged a surcharge if you exceed the declared weight.

Some of my graphics cards are on the limit of 1kg and often go over as I package them very well, so I was choosing 2kg to be safe. But from now on if eBay say 1kg I'm going to go with that and not worry about it.

[Escy]

I was reluctant at the start using the simple delivery but I like it now. Taken lots of stress out of it all, I no longer care about size and weight, just pack them up and send them off. Had one go missing, usually you'd need to mess about contacting couriers, now ebay steps in to handle it. They gave the buyer a refund. I'd never had a successful insurance claim with a Royal Mail, you need to jump through so many hoops (what you sold something for apparently isn't proof of it's value).

I'm at the point where if someone approached me directly and wanted to buy something that I needed to post I'd probably prefer to go through ebay so I'm not liable for the postage

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Escy said:

I was reluctant at the start using the simple delivery but I like it now. Taken lots of stress out of it all, I no longer care about size and weight, just pack them up and send them off. Had one go missing, usually you'd need to mess about contacting couriers, now ebay steps in to handle it. They gave the buyer a refund. I'd never had a successful insurance claim with a Royal Mail, you need to jump through so many hoops (what you sold something for apparently isn't proof of it's value).

I'm at the point where if someone approached me directly and wanted to buy something that I needed to post I'd probably prefer to go through ebay so I'm not liable for the postage

Yup.

As I buyer I even coached a seller what to do to cause eBay to refund me and not stiff him. I felt sorry for him - he had sold a graphics card as "tested and working" but had only tested it under Linux and I could demonstrate that it clearly did not work under Windows (XP, 7, or 10) so it worked out fair for us both. And if eBay are running an insurance scam (which they are) then they should pay out.

[witko999]

Here's a slightly random question.

I sold something on Ebay and bought a delivery label from them. A week later the buyer tells me the item hasn't arrived. The items cost me next to nothing so I can send another no problem. I still have the postage label in my emails which I bought from Ebay. I assume if I try to use it again, it will somehow be voided and the replacement item won't be delivered?

I know the correct course of action is to claim my postage back from Royal Mail, but we're talking about 87p here.

[egomeister]

If you bought the label through ebay with simple delivery then surely you wait for the missing item process to play out and get your money, while the buyer gets a refund. Then they can re-buy again as a fresh transaction

[CoolHands]

I think you should take one for the team and risk it. Report back

[witko999]

egomeister said:

If you bought the label through ebay with simple delivery then surely you wait for the missing item process to play out and get your money, while the buyer gets a refund. Then they can re-buy again as a fresh transaction

It wasn't simple delivery. Simple delivery starts at £2.72 which is hardly worth it on a £10 item. I just bought standard 2nd class 87p postage, which is not covered by simple delivery.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Quick tip for sellers using Buy It Now with Offers Accepted, and who are using Simple Delivery

If you accept offers, but require immediate payment, then buyers won't be able to select the cheaper Click & Collect postage option and may factor that into their offer to you.

I discovered it today when making an offer as a buyer, and googled it. It seems that this has been an issue since 2023 and eBay say they are "working on it" which they clearly are not.

In the meantime, the workaround is to untick the "Require immediate payment when buyer uses Buy it now" checkbox on your listing(s). I'm going through mine now.

[ashleyman]

I would not recommend unchecking that box otherwise you get an offer which you accept and then the buyer flakes on paying. Happened to me more times than sales. Like a lot more.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

ashleyman said:

I would not recommend unchecking that box otherwise you get an offer which you accept and then the buyer flakes on paying. Happened to me more times than sales. Like a lot more.

Yes, fair comment and the reason why I've always had it checked.

The seller in question has got back to me and asked what I want to pay and, if they are happy with it, they will send me a direct offer (with "require immediate payment" enabled). Seems fair

Update: I can confirm that they did, and that I was able to select Click & Collect for delivery thus saving a couple of quid.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Wednesday 22 October 11:36

[Jamescrs]

witko999 said:

Here's a slightly random question.

I sold something on Ebay and bought a delivery label from them. A week later the buyer tells me the item hasn't arrived. The items cost me next to nothing so I can send another no problem. I still have the postage label in my emails which I bought from Ebay. I assume if I try to use it again, it will somehow be voided and the replacement item won't be delivered?

I know the correct course of action is to claim my postage back from Royal Mail, but we're talking about 87p here.

You are correct, Royal mail will have already scanned the existing label, assuming of course the first one got to the first scanning point and it will throw up an error and likely get removed from the delivery process. It may be returned to you for a fee or it may be lost to Royal Mail forever.

[CorradoTDI]

Jamescrs said:

witko999 said:

Here's a slightly random question.

I sold something on Ebay and bought a delivery label from them. A week later the buyer tells me the item hasn't arrived. The items cost me next to nothing so I can send another no problem. I still have the postage label in my emails which I bought from Ebay. I assume if I try to use it again, it will somehow be voided and the replacement item won't be delivered?

I know the correct course of action is to claim my postage back from Royal Mail, but we're talking about 87p here.

You are correct, Royal mail will have already scanned the existing label, assuming of course the first one got to the first scanning point and it will throw up an error and likely get removed from the delivery process. It may be returned to you for a fee or it may be lost to Royal Mail forever.

If it's lost you claim the price of the item plus the postage fee - if it's not very much though they pay you in stamps which is annoying!

[Granadier]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

I had need to read the small print of Simple Delivery today with regards to weights and I thought that what I learned may be of interest to readers of this thread.

Basically, if you use Simple Delivery and go with eBay's recommended weight, but your packaged item is in excess of this weight, then eBay will not charge you a surcharge for going overweight. It doesn't explicitly say that the buyer won't be charged a surcharge but you would hope not.

However, if you choose a weight other than their recommendation then you may be charged a surcharge if you exceed the declared weight.

Some of my graphics cards are on the limit of 1kg and often go over as I package them very well, so I was choosing 2kg to be safe. But from now on if eBay say 1kg I'm going to go with that and not worry about it.

That's interesting. I had a case some months ago where the post office refused to accept my parcel because it was overweight for the postage bought through Simple Delivery. I had to go home, repack the item in lighter stuff, and try again. This is much more of a risk with Royal Mail than Evri as RM has strict size/weight limits for large letter, etc.

[Granadier]

witko999 said:

egomeister said:

If you bought the label through ebay with simple delivery then surely you wait for the missing item process to play out and get your money, while the buyer gets a refund. Then they can re-buy again as a fresh transaction

It wasn't simple delivery. Simple delivery starts at £2.72 which is hardly worth it on a £10 item. I just bought standard 2nd class 87p postage, which is not covered by simple delivery.

My wife sells unwanted clothes on both eBay (using Simple Delivery) and Vinted, and in many cases the postage is more expensive than the price of the item. It always amazes me that people are happy to spend say £3 in postage/buyer's fee when the thing itself is only "worth" £2.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Granadier said:

That's interesting. I had a case some months ago where the post office refused to accept my parcel because it was overweight for the postage bought through Simple Delivery. I had to go home, repack the item in lighter stuff, and try again. This is much more of a risk with Royal Mail than Evri as RM has strict size/weight limits for large letter, etc.

That's a fair point. The Post Office could indeed refuse to accept it if they are in the habit of weighing.

At my local Post Office they don't bother weighing pre-paid parcels, and only weigh if you are paying over the counter.

[trackdemon]

Granadier said:

witko999 said:

egomeister said:

If you bought the label through ebay with simple delivery then surely you wait for the missing item process to play out and get your money, while the buyer gets a refund. Then they can re-buy again as a fresh transaction

It wasn't simple delivery. Simple delivery starts at £2.72 which is hardly worth it on a £10 item. I just bought standard 2nd class 87p postage, which is not covered by simple delivery.

My wife sells unwanted clothes on both eBay (using Simple Delivery) and Vinted, and in many cases the postage is more expensive than the price of the item. It always amazes me that people are happy to spend say £3 in postage/buyer's fee when the thing itself is only "worth" £2.

I sell a few bits very cheap but you're forced to pay *whatever* for postage - end of the day, if the total is still a good deal to the buyer then I think they just see it as a 'sunk cost' same as I've done when buying some stuff on Vinted....

[Clockwork Cupcake]

trackdemon said:

I sell a few bits very cheap but you're forced to pay *whatever* for postage - end of the day, if the total is still a good deal to the buyer then I think they just see it as a 'sunk cost' same as I've done when buying some stuff on Vinted....

Indeed. If the all-inclusive price to them is acceptable they will pay.

It's like when you find out the colleague next to you is earning a different rate than you are. At the end of the day you both accepted the contract.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Monday 3rd November 11:23

[nickfrog]

I absolutely hate not being able to organise and control delivery when I sell. But I am currently hating it even more when I buy. I bought an item a week ago. I paid £16 DHL, which is ridiculous as RM would have charged £10 but anyway at least it's not Evri.

Except the seller has dropped the item on Monday and it stil hasn't been picked up from the drop off point. He has tried everything with DHL and they're not helping.

It might be there next week but I am out and about and I don't even have a choice of asking them to leave it in my porch, that's not an option.

I wasn't in a hurry but probably 10 days for a short UK delivery should mean a full refund of the shipping but that's never gonna happen.

[Escy]

You complain to ebay about it. They'll look into it, you'll probably get a refund and the seller gets to keep the money.