6th August

[sellingmystuff642]

So 6th August is when everything is supposed to switch to Simple Delivery, even existing listings. Not sure how that will work because I don't have dimensions or weights listed for any of my items. It will also be the day I take down my listings if it becomes mandatory and I can see myself buying very little in the future on ebay becuse the funds won't be there from sales. How to ruin a decent selling platform...

[*maetrix*]

100% agree.

[crafty_cat_lover]

Can I just give you my experiences of Simple Delivery before all the nay sayers add their comments.

My existing listings haven't yet been changed but I have posted some new listings that were done under Simple Delivery and I haven't bothered putting in weights or measures. The reason I've not bothered is because letting Ebay AI decide that for me means I don't have to spend ages trying to jam items into smaller boxes or try to reduce weight of packing because I have wrongly estimated them when quoting postage.

The agreement Ebay have with Royal Mail and Evri is that, as long as I accept AI's decision then the parcel will be delivered with no excess charges either for me or the buyer. Obviously there are weight and size limits but 20kg and 61cm maximum is fine for most of my items. I did list something that was 90cm long but

AI worked that out when I was listing it without me having to do anything and I was able to enter custom postage. Several of the items I listed have sold and I posted them with no problems.

The other big plus side is if a parcel goes missing or arrives damaged in the post then Ebay refund not the seller.

I have always used Royal Mail or Evri so don't have a problem with those two being the only options but realise that others may have issues withat. I also understand that there are some glitches in the system that need sorting but generally I think Simple Delivery will work for most private sellers.

[foresterdon]

To be honest it will be nice to take a break until eBay comes to its senses, maybe in 2026.

So I too will be taking the last of mine down the instant they are converted to Simple Delivery on 6th August.

[department28]

Yes, Simple Delivery will have a field day, guesstimating the sizes & weights of all sorts of items... and maybe even getting some of them right...

Perhaps it will go completely bonkers, and explode? 🤖 

August 6th will be an interesting day... 😄

[3942rick2005]

Inglorious 6th to come before glorious 12th?

[edwardian-dreams]

I don’t trust Ai to get it all right and know from experience they’ve changed thngs on relisting or revising willy nilly therefore come 6th august I will check every listing to see if the simple delivery package size / postage is correct 

will also be checking to see if they’ve overrided custom delivery where it is officially OK to use

and of course will be checking they haven’t chosen collection plus  postage as I don’t want collections

all my listings are on simple delivery at the moment but still….dont trust it not meddle again in the latest clean sweep

[theelench]

Like a lot of others I'm waiting to see what happens on the 6th and haven't been here much recently or trying to keep up with the continuous amendments.  

I read with interest @crafty_cat_lover 's comments regarding the advantages of just accepting A.I decisions and there not being any excess charges to myself or the buyer if it gets the postage wrong and the other "big plus" that if the parcel is lost or damaged, ebay refunds the buyer, not the seller.  That sounds good to say the least, it's a better deal than anything ebay has done regarding delivery in the decade I've been here.

But how long will that last?   Managing postage, just like Managed Payments before it, isn't about ebay providing a better service to buyers or sellers.  It's a revenue stream for ebay.  With delayed payments to sellers and refunds to buyers Managed Payments is a worse service than we had when Paypal processed payments.

How long after Managed Delivery is bedded in, will the sweeteners be stopped and sellers find themselves back to the previous position where buyers and sellers are charged for refunds or underpaid postage?  IMO it will be just too tempting to do so and make a few more $ billions for ebay at buyers or sellers expense.

[vinylscot]

This is true. eBay could change the t's and c's at any time, and may well do so, if they find their revenue isn't meeting their expectations/needs.

But, why not take advantage of what you admit is a "better deal than anything ebay has done regarding delivery", while it lasts?

Or would you rather just cut off your nose to spite your face?

[suelel1968]

Hi Lench, @theelench

I don't think ebay will be picking up many underpaid parcel costs, as large letter and small parcel are virtually the same price on SD, so technically it might be the wrong label, but costs are covered. It seems that unless you have weighs and measures set on a listing it gets put into a small parcel anyway. I agree about the benefit of ebay dealing with lost item refunds etc. I just have a problem with overpaying for small items. 

According to the Ebay Inc accounts SD in the UK is one of a small number of one off  "headwinds". It is estimated to have costs around 30m usd and no comment was really made about popularity of the system or the effect on sales. It is hard to believe there hasn't been an effect, more down to poor implementation than anything else. We should have had a system on the 15th April that worked as intended and learned to live with it. With less than a week to go to full cross over of all listings i imagine all CS leave has been cancelled and another surge of complaints. 

[**play**]

Can someone tell me.. how I can ship my 0.87p letter items?? After 6th august

[moonlight-rhapsody]

Well Eve Williams announced that they had adjusted the BPF and the payment dates because they had taken account of feedback from users.  So on the same basis, they should be making Simple Delivery optional on August 6th.  

If they don’t, then it will be confirmed that the BPF/payment changes were nothing to do with feedback and everything to do with the hit they’ve taken, and they will have been caught out in blatantly manipulating the truth.

[suelel1968]

Short answer, no! @**play** 

Not with any certainty, but they may not change at all. If they do you can try changing them back.... It's very exiting isn't it?

[theelench]

---

@vinylscot wrote:

This is true. eBay could change the t's and c's at any time, and may well do so, if they find their revenue isn't meeting their expectations/needs.

I don't think "could" or "may well" comes into it.  Inevitably ebay will not be satisfied because their expectations continuously increase but their sales do not.  Therefore their only answer is to squeeze more from what is left.

But, why not take advantage of what you admit is a "better deal than anything ebay has done regarding delivery", while it lasts?

Because it isn't just Managed Delivery, it's the progressive erosion of what made ebay a success with private sellers which has been going-on for years and has intensified since Managed Payments were introduced.  Not one change has increased my sales, my revenue, my enjoyment or the convenience derived from using ebay, if anything, rather the opposite on all counts.

As with every other change SD, when not looked as a single unique event, every change has been a step down resulting in less sales, less enjoyment and always more inconvenience and control.

Or would you rather just cut off your nose to spite your face?

It would only be cutting off my nose to spite my face if I was losing something of value by following a course of action that would replace it with something with something of less value.

Unfortunately ebay now has little value to me.  I will, no doubt, lose a handful (literally) of sales, but I will just as undoubtedly gain from not wasting my time negotiating a frustrating and controlling site who's T&C's are no longer acceptable to me. 

I came here when ebay could at least plausibly claim to be "just a platform", hosting my listings.  Enabling me to sell my items to the best of my ability, (including how I delivered them to my buyers).

Now, ebay dictates what I must put on the listing form.  Sabotages the coherence and attractiveness of my adverts and even hides them with Sponsored Listings.  It decides if and when I get paid and now has taken control of my delivery options.  The whole 'experience' has become a non-productive, tedious, grind.

That may be acceptable to you, it's all in a days work as an agent for ebay, but this site is no longer, in any way, what I signed-up to and it isn't for me any more.   Other pastures may not be greener (but how green are ebay's these days with the continuing sales drought),  but they certainly smell sweeter without the stench of decay.

---

[vinylscot]

I didn't expect a more positive answer from you, and, to a certain extent, I do understand your points, exaggerating them as you may be. If it doesn't suit you, and you have found somewhere which suits you better, fair enough.

My business account is on course to return its second best month in the past year, even adjusting for it being a five week month. Admittedly, I am having to put more effort into selling than before, but sales can be made.

Obviously, the business account isn't directly affected by SD, although I have had some buyers mention that they now avoid buying from private accounts because of all the recent changes.

I've barely used my private account since SD came in, and it ticks over as I'd expect it to. I don't know when I'll next add listings to it, but I still reckon eBay is a better place to sell, because it's a "one-stop shop". I have sold clothing, football programmes, magazines, CDs, and other bits and pieces on there, and it's much more convenient than spreading the sales out over multiple platforms (the business account does sell elsewhere - it is not 100% reliant on eBay).

I've tried other platforms, eBid and discogs extensively, over long periods of time, and more recently Vinted. The first two are too slow for anyone looking for a quick or regular cash boost, and Vinted is even more down-market than eBay, with decent sales, but at very low prices, and exceptionally poor customer service as a buyer and a seller.

I do think that you, and other posters like you, have massively over-reacted, and you're just feeding each other with your constantly repetitive, and at least partly unfounded, diatribes against eBay. As a user, eBay isn't what is was five years ago, but neither is the world.

[gjalp]

Im pleased you are doing well. Personally, as a business, my sales are at their lowest in over 20 years. I managed to have ebay as my main source of income during that entire time period. Now the opposite is true and for this year only (been doing my tax return figures for the last financial year and sales were adequate), my sales are in free fall. Im actually thinking about not being self employed and gettin a job as Im not covering my bills anymore. Ive dipped into savings for 3 months in a row now and its not sustainable. 

[moonlight-rhapsody]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation.  If SD were to be made optional, hopefully people would start buying from ebay again as well as selling.  I would anyway, and I'm sure many other people would who stopped buying when they stopped selling.  SD has got a lot to answer for.

[theelench]

You don't understand my points or you would not say that I'm exaggerating them.  They are the same points that so many other private sellers have been making for years, culminating in the thousands of recent comments on the latest down-grading of ebay's service to private sellers.

Even the CEO, who is paid a fortune to put the best possible spin on ebay's fortunes, acknowledged that they are one of the "headwinds" ebay has faced this year and that they've had a noticeable effect on this quarters financial statement.

Quite possibly your business account hasn't been affected, yet.  But as primarily a business seller, which ebay has been making most of it's changes to help, you will have accepted that if your private account has suffered at all, it's a beneficial trade-off.

As a business you will run your private account with the same expertise, looking at your overall position, accepting any detrimental effects on your minor account because of the larger benefits for your business.   It's no exaggeration to say private sellers have only seen the down-side of changes since MP, but what you call a massive over-reaction to the latest restrictions is nothing of the sort.

Seen from the perspective of a private seller SD is another line in the sand on a par with the loss of Paypal (when there were also thousands of protesting posts) and IMO the lasting effects on ebay will be just as deep and long lasting.

Perhaps it is you and the dwindling band of ebay's apologists trying to tell private sellers on every thread, that everything in ebayland is looking good, that has massively under-estimated the effects of another mass walkout of private sellers/buyers will have over the next few years ?

[gjalp]

Im used to highs and lows, good selling days and bad but it all averaged out in the end. This is a whole new level of low. Ebays fiddling has absolutely played a part. I have a lot of repeat buyers and many have told me they are not buying so much as they are not selling much themselves, these buyers tend to fund their hobby by selling unwanted items. The cost of living hasn’t helped but for many of my buyers, ebay itself is to blame. I know from selling on my private ID, selling is no longer easy despite ebay’s ads telling us otherwise. Their ads just say its free to sell, there is no mention of it not being free to buy or that if you do sell, you have no control over how its sent. Or that postage can cost a lot more than the item price (I sell to clear with a lot of 99p start auctions or BIN at under £5). The change in BPF has helped a little with that however.

[foresterdon]

 "eBay could change the t's and c's at any time, and may well do so, if they find their revenue isn't meeting their expectations/needs."

They can but they must inform us and then give us an opportunity to decline to accept the new terms and leave the scene .

What they cannot do legally is what they are doing which is to unilaterally change the terms we the sellers are offering Our buyers on Live listings.

They should pull all listings with Custom postage and Invite us to relist under their new Terms and conditions.

Someone should legally challenge this unilateral 6 August action.