Make SD Optional
As a member of eBay for 30 years (since eBay was called Auctionweb!), SD is the worst change that eBay have come up with. It Simply Doesn't work. I have started to sell off my personal collection of comics, and eBay think that a comic can go in an envelope, which shows they know nothing about the type of packing needed to safely send even one comic through the mail. I tend to list comics singularly, or sometimes in small sets, and there's been many times where the same buyer has won multiple listings which I have then combined into a single box them and charged just one postage charge. This can't be done with Simple Delivery, and it just makes everything too expensive for the buyer. I will never, ever use Evri to send out my comics, or any other stuff that I may sell. I want my stuff to arrive with the buyer, and in good condition. With Evri, there's a probability of less than 50% that it arrives undamaged, or even arrives at all. I also want to choose and decide what type of service that I want to dispatch by, depending on many different factors, including the value and packing needed for any particular item. One size doesn't fit all. There are many other reasons why SD won't work for me, and most people on these boards know all the reasons.
BPF - Revert to Seller Fees
I knew where I stood with seller fees, and I could always factor those fees into my listing prices. BPF makes things extremely difficult, especially when it comes to offers and counter offers. Buyers and sellers are seeing different prices to each other. It also makes low priced items too expensive for buyers. I list some items at £0.99. Previously, the buyer would actually pay £0.99, plus the postage. After eBay fees, I would probably make around £0.60-£0.65, which was fine with me, as I'd just like to see those items go to someone who wants them, rather than throw them into my bin. Now, my 99p items are listed as £1.75 to the buyer - how is that better for the buyer? If the buyer wants it, they are paying more than before, and if they don't want to pay that much, then I won't sell it. And then you have the auction items. If I was listing something rare and expensive that was going to attract a lot of bids, I knew that I would be paying fees on the final price. Now, the higher the bid price, the higher the amounts go up for the buyers, which could turn buyers away from bidding. How is that a good thing for buyer or seller? Especially considering that ALL buyers on eBay were already protected by eBay's MBG, what extra things are they suddenly protected from that they have to pay for?
Excuse me for boring you all to death with my rants. As a member that was there right at the beginning of eBay (before they were even eBay!), I know that it was the private sellers like me that helped make eBay the success it is today. Now they appear to be waging war on private sellers, and are doing everything they can to get rid of us on their platform altogether.
The BPF is bad enough, but I think the SD is going to be the final nail in the coffin for me. I'm leaving my listings as they are for the moment, as they are still relisting using my own postage options and not SD, although since BPF, I've noticed a lot less interest. When I'm finally forced to use SD, I may see how the first one goes, but I'm pretty sure that I'll end up cancelling all my listings, and start looking at selling on FB groups or elsewhere instead.
I just feel incredibly let down by eBay.
