Any discussion about Compulsory Payment Holds or Use of Ebay Delivery, if so Where?

[theelench]

I saw a couple of comments on both in related threads, but now can't find them.

As both of these are soon (next February?) to become compulsory for all private sellers I would have thought there might be at least one thread started by private sellers on the topic, but apparently not?

Don't they know ?

Don't they have any opinions?

Are there any private sellers here?

[jckl1957]

Ebay have said that it will become mandatory in the first quarter of the year.

I think Simple Delivery will suit some sellers, but not all.

Because I am lazy, I am going to copy and paste my own reply to a discussion about this from May, when Simple Delivery was first mentioned and was optional.

My thoughts on 'Simple Delivery'.

I don't like the idea of 'being sent a label'.

Actually, I won't be sent a label to put on the parcel - I will be sent a link to print a label. I have a printer but it is about 14 years old and is a bit temperamental and uses expensive ink cartridges which suddenly and randomly run out.  (I can also get a code on my phone.  Not everybody has a smartphone or a printer - so, you're excluded from selling on Ebay.)

What about the padded envelopes I buy, plus bubblewrap and tape? Currently, I include a cost for those in my postage costs. I am a private seller and not looking to make a profit, but I do need to cover my costs.

So, having printed the label on my old, temperamental printer, and put it on the padded envelope that I am providing free of charge, I then have to drop the parcel off in my small town.

I can walk to the Post Office - at least one of the parcel shops would involve a drive and as for 'inpost lockers', I am not quite sure what they are or if there are any close to me.

I'll admit, I am 67 and don't like change. Especially when it looks like change for the sake of change.

With mandatory Simple Delivery and waiting up to 2 weeks for payment, I think my time on Ebay will be over.  I don't think I will be the only older seller who leaves.

[vinylscot]

One more situation which doesn't seem, on the surface anyway, to be considered with "Simple" delivery (from memory of the original conversations on here), is combined postage. I appreciate it won't apply to business accounts yet, but what happens if a private seller sells a number of items to one buyer? The dimensions and weight of his parcel may change, meaning none of the "simple" options are suitable. The procedure for offering combined postage also isn't clear. If a private seller is selling bits and pieces from around the house, these can be different sizes and weights, and require different shipping methods, so eBay's automated combined shipping rules don't work for them.

eBay really needs to make this much clearer before forcing it on folk. I get the impression UK private sellers are being used as guinea pigs in something which really hasn't been completely thought through. 

[theelench]

I hadn't even thought about the new requirement to sell on ebay of having a printer.

Twelve years ago I bought one to go with my shiny new lap-top, it worked with it and several replacements, but not with my latest model.  As I very rarely used it, it wasn't replaced.  So now I'm supposed to buy a new one to sell on a site which has managed to sell just 4 items this year?  🤣

If next year was to be as bad as this one, I'd probably not even sell enough to recoup the outlay.   When ebay recently said that 76% of private sellers make less than £150 p.a by selling on ebay I think rather a lot of private sellers will think the same.

[purrfectcatpurr]

Post Offices!

Many small local post offices already struggling and many closed down in recent years.

I am wondering what effect "Simple Delivery" is like to have on their viability / future.

Not good news I fear.

[wyntersemporium]

Try vinted or Depop very easy to add listings on there 

[wyntersemporium]

With selling on vinted the buyer chooses the postage. And then you’ve to take it to a store to send.

But some days I cannot get out of the house due to being in agony with either a chronic migraine attack or my back causing me bother. 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Will hurt no doubt, i sell from 0 - 5  a week (probably averages out at 2 or 3) and our post office (a sub one) is usually pretty busy  with lots of parcels going in but even if you had a hundred parcels/large letters less it would make a difference to them i should imagine.  They also sell cards and some gifts which people often get at the same time so it is a knock on effect.

[jckl1957]

I believe Royal Mail will still be an option - it has been RM and/or Evri in the trial run.

I also assume (although I don't know) that RM is likely to be the choice for Large Letter size items as their price is more competitive for those.

I can imagine an elderly person (I mean me), who has been lucky and sold 5 items, at the Post Office counter with a queue behind, 5 little parcels, 5 codes on her phone and no clue as to which code belongs to which parcel.

[kempseykate]

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@jckl1957 wrote:

I believe Royal Mail will still be an option - it has been RM and/or Evri in the trial run.

I also assume (although I don't know) that RM is likely to be the choice for Large Letter size items as their price is more competitive for those.

I can imagine an elderly person (I mean me), who has been lucky and sold 5 items, at the Post Office counter with a queue behind, 5 little parcels, 5 codes on her phone and no clue as to which code belongs to which parcel.

---

Given that Tracking a big part of Simple Delivery I think it may mean that if you post a small booklet/item (LL size) instead of 2nd class being 1.55 (cost of a stamp) the ebay price will be 2.70 for tracked. I currently use stamps for a few items, so I guess they will be the first casualties, even if I do give SD a try, and it's a very big IF at the moment.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Well apart from the fact that i will not be doing simple delivery if and when it comes in i would agree with your scenario about the little old lady (yes, i am one too!).  Of course as i do not have a smart phone or other more modern technology (tablets etc) to have a QR code then it will never be me.

[vintique*violet]

Well considering the latest post by a seller on here - All private sellers if sold only one item will be " forced" to upgrade to a Business account? ...Apparently...so if that is true,  everyone will be made to adhere to eBays rules if they want to continue to use the platform.  

??@XYZ%@^^^Pfft! 

[vintique*violet]

It absolutely will affect them - it will be a knock on effect.

I only use RM and take to my local  post office and have done forever to support them. 

I will continue to do so, and IF this is not an option for me to choose, on eBay , then my dealings with this platform is over and out! 

[vintique*violet]

I wonder if the CEO likes his job? 

[lucy_farmer]

Well, any system that forces me to buy a printer and a smart phone will be the end of my ebay selling career.

Shame, I've been a private seller for 20 years, but I will have to leave when Simple Ebay Delivery comes in. ☹️

(As I've been selling *1*  item roughly every 6 weeks recently, it won't make a lot of difference to me....)

We are currently getting a younger, computer-happy friend to set up a web-site to try and sell hubby's technical *bleep* on, and the un-technical stuff will be charity shopped....

I don't think I'll be able to give up coming *here* and reading the problem pages though!

[jow1995]

Ebay are not earning money from private sellers unless promoted listing ect. This i believe is a way of making money, this is a knock on effect of the free selling fees. If a regular private sellers decides to leave its not a great loss financially to Ebay. 

Ebay are not worried about your local postoffice.

[vintique*violet]

eBay are making bank from Genuine Private Sellers as these sellers buy far more than they sell!

If eBay are not concerned with local Post Offices then they are NOT concerned with anyone/thing, of course other than their shareholders & profits.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

e bay chose to go down the free fees selling route.  I will choose not to go down the simple delivery route.  I can find another place to sell, E Bay will not find it so easy to replace those private sellers who leave so yes it will be a loss to them financially, they just do not see it yet.

[crg_music]

I really like it. I dont know how the ebay system works but you can choose from about 10 different services. I literally only have inpost which can go to locker or door, buyer chooses. No way you will catch me running around at different locations dropping parcels off.  They cant force you to accept everything, its just not possible if theres no drop off point.

As for the holding of funds, if it means they do away with the current claims system it will imo vastly streamline a transaction. Once a buyer accepts the item and ebay releases the funds thats it, buyers opening claims weeks down the line will be a thing of the past. It will encourage people to post faster and not sending will become pointless. 

I do think people should wait and see how it plays out before leaving, nobody is 100% sure what ebay will do beyond holding payments, I'll go out on a limb and say I think the vinted system works better than the current Ebay.

[theelench]

My nearest InPost lockers are in a windswept Lidl car park on the east coast of England.  Not ideal on a day like today when it's drizzling and windy.

I shop at Lidl and have sat in my car and watched people huddled under the tiny 'shelter' over the key pad/screen in wind and rain fumbling around trying to get their parcel, was amazed that the electronics still worked at all given how exposed it was to the weather.

More importantly to me as a glass seller was the time I watched a driver picking-up parcels dropped off for collection.

As each locker was opened whatever was inside was chucked into a pile on the tarmac by the back of the van, scanned(?) then thrown inside.  He had to chase one item across the car park as it blew away in the wind.  Admittedly that day was windy but dry, but would he have done the same if he was out in the rain and hurrying to get finished before being soaked?

And of course the whole InPost thing relies on smart phones ??

Certainly not something that I'd want to try, either as a seller or a buyer.

[eastern-lights]

I too have reservations about lockers. I did try them for a while, but did not like the way sometimes when it tried to open a locker for me to put a parcel in, there was a lot of clunking and it failed, then it tried another locker successfully. Now what if my parcel was already inside that locker before it failed to open? Say if the collecting van could not open it? Just how long would it take for me to retrieve my package once I knew it was stuck?