A Conspiracy Theory

[rugbyguy1960]

Hi everyone.

I had to post this to get the thought off my mind.

When Simple Post is compulsory what is stopping ebay from their postage rates being slightly inflated.

They could then pay the companies they have contracts with the normal rates and pocket the difference on every item posted.

This might sound far fetched but not impossible.

Private sellers would have no choice but to comply or stop selling as this would become policy.

At the moment a postman collects items I send which is great.

There is no way something like the O2 bot would collect packages sellers send.

I would be interested in your views and your comments.

[goldenwolfman]

My immediate thoughts on postage was to ask how I ensure the buyer use my postal option and not obeys.

I always use Royal Mail, because its convenient to me - AND because I have inherited 'LOTS' of stamps that are still usable. I also have a lot that I exchanged in the swap out scheme (which is a story for another day).  So postage is MY best option as I make back a few pounds with something I no longer want. Since I sell a lot of these inherited stamps to collectors - they WANT stamps on a a parcel and not delivered by some delivery company with a label on the package!

However with my other items, I considered including the postage cost into the item cost and giving FREE recorded post through the PO at my expense. This means that should they choose EVRI or any other delivery option they have to pay for it and that would prove prohibitive - so they would opt for my cheaper postal option. Now am I correct in that assumption? (That is until of course Obey remove MY options to give any delivery choice).

[rugbyguy1960]

Royal Mail works for me too.

All I do is book a collection and pay the postage cost.

There is no collection charge as the postman collects it. They bring the printed label. They collect from my home. Items I sell aren't bigger than a large letter. I mainly sell from my collection of Signed cd's that I have built up to make room for new ones.

I pay for packaging items etc out of my pocket.

But for 2.70 which is all that postage costs me and all that I charge buyers I think even ebay know they can't compete with that.

Hence making SD compulsory for sellers.

That's why I'm looking into other options like Marketplace. 

[dch2112011]

I just feel SD is a natural progression where platforms control and earn from delivery - it's just ebay always lags behind Amazon  who have had controlled banking and delivery for a long time.

Amazon Delivery although vastly independant still uses Royal Mail, Evri, Yodel, DPD and more independant partner carriers  with vans signwritten as Amazon  owned by the drivers and courier companies, yet people accept Amazon Delivery as if it was  Amazon themselves delivering everything. 

It will eventually be the same with ebay delivery which  people will come to believe  is ebay themselves making all the deliveries.

People already believe they are buying from ebay and will believe ebay are delivering to them - hence no  notification of the carrier when choosing the delivery  service. 

Sellers will be pressurised into dispatching quickly and the couriers will be under pressure to deliver  quickly to help make this work, customers generally want quick delivery - it has become the expected service level online.

ebay will also have to settle claims quickly and easily to help build trust and for SD to become the customers choice.

Ebay already have fulfillment centres is this set to grow for businesses ?  Will private sellers control be the precursor to Amazon style business selling ?

[rugbyguy1960]

The issue here is SD becoming compulsory. 

That way they pay who they have contracts with a negotiated price.

Once it's policy and compulsory ebay can charge sellers what they want.

Even the might of ebay can't compete with the service I get and what RM charge me.

When I lose that choice then no more ebay selling for me.

I will just make a point of looking around to find a option somewhere that gives freedom of choice.

[jc-1973]

Are we sure SD is going to be compulsory, or is this just an assumption for the future?

[rugbyguy1960]

By all accounts and I've been told many times it's only a matter of time and is a case of when not if.

[rugbyguy1960]

I'm sure better confirmation can be found somewhere on here.

Maybe no exact dates yet but to many sellers are giving up on ebay for it just to be speculation.

I will carry on selling until I lose my freedom to choose.

[rugbyguy1960]

I do believe it will happen because even the might of ebay can't compete with the service and price i get from RM.

That is something they won't and don't like.

[insidethe93]

dch2112011 wrote: ...Amazon style business selling ?

eBay would need to vastly improve its customer service to draw level with Amazon let alone compete - from reading eBay's discussion boards too many customers want to speak to a human at eBay customer service but can't, or are fobbed off by what they want to hear but it doesn't solve their problem, or are told different things by different CS staff.

With Amazon livechat and phone-you-back you must endure some automated reply rubbish, but eventually you do livechat with a human and they do phone you back usually promptly. Amazon CS has deteriorated in recent years though e.g. they've buried their "talk to a person" link (find it once and bookmark it) and they've put AI BS on the front end.

[rigbyl01]

No one has mentioned about feedback from buyer , giving star ratings for P&P , wnen this SD comes into force , is eBay going to give us automatic 5 stars , or are we at the buyers mercy even though we have no say in what they are being asked to pay ?

[dch2112011]

They are offering seller protection for feedback relating to delivery - you do have to ask them to remove though ? 

I guess it depends on what the whole feedback comment referred to, but it is part of the added protection 

[svincec]

See En*bleep*ificaion on wikip'a, sums up how 'customers' are treated, by any/most organisations.
Sadly these organisations seem to treat is a mantra rather than morally decent, its called screw your customer base to the max... Nothing decent/ fair  about 'business' scruples these days, after all their legal department is bigger than yours, and it is a legal system, not a justice system (as some can't proffit from that).

[wintersdawn1]

I'm sure eBay made sure their new income streams are legal but that doesn't mean they are very nice.

In other words they are legally being greedy.

[rugbyguy1960]

I love the variation between Ozzy Osborne and ABBA.

Oh no doubt ebay have made sure their policy changes are legal (even if only just).

It's just their don't care, not bothered, and power mad attitude that has really got my back up.

[rugbyguy1960]

No doubt ebay will leave us to the mercy of buyers.

After all the longer they hold onto our money the more money they'll make.

The buyers with sense will know it's not sellers making them pay a bit extra on every purchase.

The only possible plus is that buyers will then begin to hate ebay as much as seller's now do.