@papso22 @vintagefunk01 unfortunately, as you can see in the part quoted above, Jamie didn't give specific details but if you combine that with some if the information from the slides in eBay's earnings presentation, you get a little more context to draw possible conclusions from.
eBay's stock price dropped a bit after that call, mostly due to the fact that eBay provided weaker guidance for Q4 revenue than they had previously given - and that expectation for lower revenue in Q4 was primarily driven by the consumer to consumer (C2C) initiatives in the UK (fee-free private selling) and the fact that they had not yet "remonetized" those sales with buyer fees and mandatory managed shipping.
You can see by this slide their "context" for lower revenue included "minimal contribution from UK Managed Shipping in Q4" - the unspoken other side of that coin when taken with Jamie's other comments is that the lower revenue will be temporary since they expect to drop the "minimal" part by starting to ramp up auto-opt in for some sellers in Q4 and then making it mandatory for "eligible" items from private sellers in Q1.
Given that they have positioned this to investors as not just a break even deal, but something they expect to be a revenue/profit center - my totally wild, but fairly educated guess is eligibility will be determined primarily by whether or not eBay can make money on the shipment. 😉
In all seriousness though, as @sml192 said, what they are talking about is what eBay is calling Simple Delivery and the help and policy pages for Simple Delivery already list eligibility criteria.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575
What listings are eligible for Simple Delivery?
Simple Delivery is currently available to private sellers in the UK selling:
- Clothing items that have a ‘Buy it Now’ price, auction starting price, or reserve price of £500 or less
- Items in all other eligible categories that have a 'Buy it Now' price, auction starting price, or reserve price of £750 or less
- Items (once packaged) within the following dimensions and maximum weight:
- For shop drop-off: where no side exceeds 120cm in length, the volume is no more than 245cm and the package is up to 20kg. To calculate the volume: add together the two shortest sides and multiply it by two, and then add the length.
- For locker drop-off: 61cm x 46cm x 46cm and the package is up to 15kg.
Authenticity Guarantee and bulky listings are currently excluded from Simple Delivery.
The help pages also go on to give the usual exclusions for most shipping carriers of various prohibited/restricted/hazardous items.
So I would expect at least initially when this becomes mandatory for private sellers in Q1, that eligibility criteria will likely apply and they may make changes over time to try to figure out how to get more items included in the program if/when it makes sense from a revenue and risk/reward perspective.
