eBay postage options are a SCAM
Summary: stamps4sale criticized eBay's delivery options, expressing frustration over being charged higher postage fees than expected. the_repair_man and cobwebcottage suggested that adjusting their account status to a business account could alleviate the issue by offering more control over postage. Others, like theelench and cobwebcottage, discussed the distinction between true private sellers and those who misuse private accounts for business purposes, highlighting the need for stricter adherence to eBay’s rules. jonatjonatjonat emphasized the importance of addressing all forms of misrepresentation on the platform to maintain its integrity. The conversation also touched upon how eBay’s policies can restrict private sellers but protect them and buyers in transactions.
eBay delivery options are an absolute SCAM
They call it simple I call it theft
I'm being FORCED to pay £2.72 postage on items that should cost £1.55! how is this fair to anybody.
Even when you do get options for postage they don't provide all the different weight classes, you have to edit each and every sale before purchasing postage.
I pray some watchdog organisation fines eBsy for unfair practices.
theelench
·2 weeks ago@jonatjonatjonat
"Come off it. No one thinks one form of illegal misrepresentation..." etc.
No, I won't, I don't need to. But perhaps those in favour of more restrictions on private sellers do.
The regular lack of distinction between private sellers and "private" sellers who are really businesses isn't always an oversight. Those who regularly disrupt threads to call out illegal selling DO know better, but happily join in calls for an end to ALL free roll-overs of private listings or just a blanket restriction on the number of listings ALL private sellers can have at any one time.
Your story of a speeding driver you can see and a drug dealer on the other side of town might be entertaining but is spurious and misleading. We're not talking about real world situations. We're talking about EBAY, where they know every listing, roll-over, purchase and sale, who made them, how often they did them and how much profit they made on them. Illegal misrepresentation by business buyers is just as easy for ebay to detect as is businesses selling on private accounts.
It isn't even all that difficult to detect in any niche category, if one cares to look. To dismiss it as a difficult to detect, rarely ever happens, non-problem that isn't worth mentioning, let alone demanding that ebay acts to stop, is just ignoring the other side of the problem. No matter that it is also huge, it's brushed aside or denied because it's the basis of so many business models, some also selling as private sellers but also some that are correctly registered.
thedudesstuff
·2 weeks agoAs a private seller who is housebound Simple Delivery works for me it may not look great for buyers on lower cost items.
With this we get a free collection 30p outside of each per item.
A free prepaid sticky label for each order
A scanned process at the front door so when its done I get paid, its in the system and out of my hands.
Each order is tracked and insured in eBay for loss or damage in shipping so neither party looses.
I encourage buyers to consider all this and add lower price small items to the basket.
I cannot post this scanned tracked and insured cheaper.
Hopefully now this open basket idea will encourage shoppers to add more items
Otherwise I have to take all items daily to post box or post office which im unable and unwilling to do and there would be no tracking and insurance given by eBay
...sometimes you have to figure the pros
technthread
·2 weeks agoThe buyer can choose click and collect and get 15% off so on £2.72 it’s going to be around £2.30 tracked.
Versus £1.55 untracked, the 75p would be more than swallowed up with insertion or shop fees and final value fees on the other type of eBay account.
I do feel for people who want to send <£20 items as a letter for 91p and simple delivery keeps overriding those listings but that’s about it. You’re completely protected from loss and damage with SD and if you have lots of items for sale it does encourage multiple purchases as buyers are more likely to make more use out of the postage charges.
theelench
·2 weeks ago · Edited@cobwebcottage
"I am not here to fuel your views and feed your need as you don't even sell on Ebay anymore....."
You don't need to fuel my views and whether I currently sell on ebay is hardly relevant. My views are consistent, that misrepresentation of account status is against ebay rules and the law, both when it is used to undercut properly registered businesses and also when used by businesses to the disadvantage of private sellers.
It's a simple question. Do you believe that ebay rules and the law should be enforced fully and impartially wherever misrepresentation occurs on ebay, or only when it impacts registered businesses ? It is a question that goes to the root of the safety and integrity of ebay for both sellers and buyers. I am still an active buyer and have spent over £1000 on ebay in the past couple of months.
As someone who "Plays the same tune. The one that says 'Follow the Rules'", it should be easy to answer.
theelench
·2 weeks ago · Edited@cobwebcottage
Yes I do use private sellers quite a lot to try to remind other posters (and readers) that there is a difference between private sellers and "private" sellers, something they sometimes seem to forget. Confusing to those that spend less time here than we do and who may be mislead into thinking that they are both the same. I am scrupulous about making the difference obvious and wish that others would do the same. (For my views on "private" sellers just read my comments on the BSB "Same Old Chestnut... " thread.)
Yes, a few months ago I was going-on about misrepresentation, so were you. Anyone who pretends to be a private individual in a trading situation when they are actually a business is guilty of the crime of Misrepresentation. We both think it is wrong, reduces trust in ebay and hits sales. That is equally true whether they misrepresent themselves as a private seller or a private buyer.
Where we differ is that I think ebay should take action to stop BOTH forms of misrepresentation on its platform. You have campaigned for years against sellers misrepresenting themselves to gain an unfair advantage, but seem oblivious to the other aspect of the crime. Businesses using private buying accounts to gain an advantage. I think BOTH should be stopped on ebay. Do you ?
Let me also clarify for you why I mention the "other E site" from time to time. To make a direct comparison between it and ebay. It is the only other site I sell on. Just as other sellers, both business and private here do, when they compare their experience on ebay with that on the 'A' site (usually business sellers) or the 'V' site (more often private sellers). So why do you object to my adding another selling site to compare ebay to ?
But back to the topic of THIS thread.
I posted earlier that I think forcing private sellers to charge more for delivery by restricting their options and increasing their sale prices, discriminates against them and reduces their chances of making sales.
To add: This leads to them having less money to spend on ebay which, in turn, is likely to have a knock-on effect that hits other sellers (both business and private) sales.
Do you have any views on this?
cobwebcottage
·2 weeks agoMy original post was to the OP in reply to their postage queries and their use of the words SCAM, THEFT and being FORCED to use SD when they are actually trading.
You jumped in to have a go at me for pointing this out and have now gone off on a tangent.
I am not here to fuel your views and feed your need as you don't even sell on Ebay anymore as you have told us for years. My interest in replying to these posts is because I sell as a business on Ebay and would like to see others buying and selling with confidence and not duped by unscrupulous sellers which would make Ebay a trustworthy site for all.
If you want to talk about other topics, then I suggest that you open your own thread.
vinylscot
·2 weeks ago · EditedI try to ignore that poster as much as possible. While his comments are often relevant, he has been "out of the loop" for so long that he really is commenting "blind". For example, he has no idea how SImple Delivery works in practice; he simply jumped on a bandwagon and refused to get back off. His constant references to the other "e" site are almost certainly a complete misrepresentation. If he is getting sales there, it is because he is directing interested buyers to his listings. There is simply not the passing trade to make listing on that site remotely worthwhile without doing so. (He could do the same on eBay, if he so wished, which would get him his direct sales, as well as a massively increased amount of passing traffic, but he's made his bed...)
theelench
·2 weeks ago"His constant references to another "e" site are almost certainly a complete misrepresentation."............... etc.
One reason I post very little here now is because I know that I'm getting further "out of the loop", so no longer comment (much) on current usage of ebay, confining myself to more general topics.
I'm replying to you only to correct a couple of points where you are factually incorrect.
"If he is getting sales there, it is because he is directing interested buyers to his listings."
I have no idea how to 'direct' buyers to my listings. I'm careful to ensure that my ads. will be uploaded to google shopping (which the site does automatically), I don't pay to promote, use social media or any other form of promotion except an on site Plug Your Auction thread. I don't even know if my sales come via GS, passing footfall, or the thread. (Perhaps a mixture of them plus consistently positive FB.)
Whatever number of sales I quoted and that you found so unbelievable I can assure you that they are accurate and verifiable. To keep an accurate count of my sales I ALWAYS leave FB for my buyers, it's public and anyone who cares to can go count my sales (disregard any that mention YDC, they're internal charity auctions, so I didn't count them as being real sales and are not included in numbers mentioned here).
Just to maintain the accuracy of MY statements I will add that the past two years have been dire. Instead of annual sales in the 20s they have been back into single figures due, IMO, to changes in GS and a general decline in disposable income.
jonatjonatjonat
·2 weeks ago“I think BOTH should be stopped on ebay. Do you ?”
Come off it. No one thinks one form of illegal representation should be stopped while another is OK.
Look at say a driver speeding on the road outside my house as well as someone else drug dealing on the other side of town.
Both are illegal. I think both should be stopped. But the drug dealing on the other side of town is something I can’t see and is harder to spot. And it doesn’t impact the fact I might be run over when I leave my front door.
*vyolla*
·2 weeks ago · Edited@stamps4sale You might be trading on the incorrect type of account, in which case you shouldn't have to use eBay's Simple Delivery - it's mandatory for private sellers, and a private seller is defined as somebody who is just selling off their own personal possessions such as bits from their wardrobe/loft etc. Private sellers don't have multiples of new items to sell.
A Business seller is someone who buys or makes items to sell on. They need to be registered as a business to meet the requirements of UK law. They need to declare income to HMRC once they reach £1,000 worth of sales (eBay will be providing HMRC with your details anyway so it's vital to keep correct accounts for your tax return). You can obviously offset more expenses as a business seller, but can't offset any at all as a private one.
If you're also selling your own items, just open another eBay account (you can have more than one).
So, you're doing yourself a bit of an injustice here. It's not an unfair practice because you don't need to be using Simple Delivery.
theelench
·2 weeks ago@cobwebcottage
I don't spend nearly as much time on here as I did when it was a more interesting discussion board and I was an active private seller.
What I still do, as a still active buyer, is give my views on ebay where they might be helpful to other private sellers, from the point of view of an ex-private seller. I do this because, IMO, as most of the (good) advice given here is given by business sellers it is, slanted from their perspective. Not always a bad thing, but in some cases does not take into account the different objectives that private sellers hope to get from ebay.
You may think that is "slating" ebay, I think it realistically reflects ebay's changing attitude towards private sellers. My often negative comments move on with time as ebay has become more restrictive and controlling, downgrading and disadvantaging private sellers as it has sought to become more attractive to businesses.
My comments may, or may not have helped some private sellers. Hopefully it has opened a few eyes to what (IMO) is really going-on in ebay. Whether it has or not is uncertain and debateable. But what is not in doubt is that years of repetitious calling out and disruption has not persuaded ebay to change its attitude to the problem and done nothing other than ruin many threads that could have helped sellers if they had not been de-railed by a small group with a single-issue agenda.
cobwebcottage
·2 weeks ago · EditedYou have mentioned 'private sellers' in each of your paragraphs and yet, the sellers who are called out are not private sellers. They are sellers who are trading. And there are a lot of them which is why it is pointed out when they have a moan about unfairness and yet the unfairness is affecting the true private seller and the businesses who are trying to make an honest living, most who may be selling the same products ( with Consumer Rights).
A few months ago, you kept going on about misrepresentation, quite rightly, so why are you not bringing that up now?
You change your tune to suit your own agenda. I play the same tune. The one which says 'follow the rules'.
simplyessential_uk
·2 weeks agoBut thats exactly what Ebay are doing - ensuring people select the correct business by restricting options - However putting that aside the OP is not happy about being forced to select a parcel when in reality they could have a Large letter at £1.55 but as we all know Large letters are not scanned and this lack of tracking is exactly what protects both parties - Now if the seller was registerted as a Business and decided to take that risk then they have to refund out of their pocket and they know that - Many private sellers are not aware of this and from reading many many posts from buyers not happy about losing their money from this then Ebay is protecting both parties - Also seller knows this when they are posting the item and should factor this in
suelel1968
·2 weeks agoHi @stamps4sale you need to put the price of the item in first. Then select Large letter under simple delivery. If the custom postage box does not appear, you need to try another category.
For instance for your plate switch
Home, Furniture & DIY > DIY Materials > Other DIY Materials
I just tried a listing and this category allows Custom Postage.
Hope this helps
fribblecollectables
·2 weeks agoI hope the following helps stamps4sale.
eBay say in their Ts & Cs - "An eBay seller must register as a business if, for example, they sell items they have bought to resell".
This is on this page: www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/business-seller-policy?id=4710&utm
eBay require you to use what they have called a 'business' account. This does not necessarily mean you employ people, or have registered as a business legally. It's just what they call it.
It is easy to do and takes just a couple of minutes.
Go to this page and read the bit about 'Changing from a personal account to a business account'
www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/creating-account/creating-ebay-account?id=4191#section5
You don't want your account suspended or listings removed simply by having the wrong account type. But it's your own choice of course.
And you get to choose exactly how you wish to post your items!
theelench
·2 weeks ago · EditedIt's been so nice not to have business sellers squabbling with each other at every opportunity for the past few weeks. SC had sort of returned to being a place for polite and interesting discussion that it once was, before it became a playground for those who contribute nothing to the discussion other than accusations and inuendo.
All your calling out and repetitive posting over the years has achieved exactly nothing in the way that ebay treats this problem. All you have achieved is to disrupt many discussions on so many different topics. I wonder at your persistence in such a pointless activity when it achieves so little but wastes so much of your valuable time.
But it still remains a fact that SD is a restrictive and discriminatory levy on genuine private sellers.
cobwebcottage
·2 weeks agoI'm a business seller and spend a lot of my time online and if I can help other sellers on the boards, I will. If another moaning 'private' seller needs calling out for trading on a private account, I will also continue to point this out as right is right and wrong is wrong.
For someone who has slated Ebay for years and constantly told us that you prefer the other E site and dont sell on here anymore, you spend just as much time on the boards as I do and very offer any help or support to issues so it could be said that your posts are pointless.
cobwebcottage
·2 weeks agoBecause Simple Delivery is sent tracked and insured so private sellers are protected against any losses or damage.
Although, all of your listings are for new items and most with multiples available so it is questionable if you should be trading on a private account.
I'm sure some 'watchdog organisation' may have an opinion on this too. Harsh words to use on a public platform, scam and theft when you are not entirely squeaky clean.
the_repair_man
·2 weeks agoIf your account was correctly registered as a business which you clearly are, you wouldnt be using simple delivey, and could therefore control the postage buyers are charged