Changes to your Multi-buy discount tool access - Private sellers can't offer multi-buy

[aksluk]

If adding one more fee wasn't enough they are now taking away multi-buy features from private sellers. 

"We’re writing to let you know about a change to our Multi-buy discount tool, which you’ve used in the last 6 months. As a reminder, the tool allows you to offer discounts based on the number of items a buyer selects from your listing. From 20 Jan 2025, Multi-buy will become exclusive to business sellers, and no longer be available to private sellers."

[themidnightcaller]

If i was to start listing my record collection they would be all in the same category and

i would hope to sell multiple records to the same buyer so they can save on postage.

[johnwash1]

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@1956glyn wrote:

and a minimum of 300 free listings a month is still way too many 🙂   I know people go on and on about collections.......then do what i do list items over months  BUT in our case its actually being around lately or bothered to list 🙂

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There I have to disagree.  At present I have about 250 items listed.  Before the October changes demoralising me I had more than 300.

Of course I wasn't making 300 NEW listings a month!  And so you might respond that since my automatic relists didn't count,  300 would be more than sufficient.  I would agree with you, except that I've found by experiment that it seems the only way to get a little visibility is to end items and relist them, at least once a month.

Demoralised, I hear you ask?  Yes, I actually found the old scheme, where a couple of times a month I'd get a 70/80% off fees offer would motivate me to get testing stuff and listing it over those 4 days.  Now, I just coast and list hardly anything.

TL;DR -- reducing my free listings below 300 would hurt me even more than the recent changes and the upcoming ones.

[abrahamtoast]

@1956glyn  I have just read your posts numbered 44-46 on this thread. You are usually one of the more sensible posters on these threads. Has your account been hacked?

Your crackdowns on private sellers would have a really disproportionate effect on genuine private sellers.

Private sellers often sell collections of magazines - variation listings are a great way of doing so, and enable buyers to find easily multiple issues from the one collector, thus saving on shipping costs.

Three hundred items per month is a sensible compromise. Even at that figure, it would take me many years to sell all the items in my personal record collection, before I even start on my magazines, football programmes, etc. before I moved on to all the other clutter which my kids have no interest in.

Likewise, the idea of banning private sellers from using only one category is just madness. Many people sell on eBay, purely to get rid of unwanted collections, so will use the same category almost all of the time.

Your "proposals" would hurt the very lifeblood of eBay - the genuine personal seller, who eBay believes will spend much of their proceeds onsite. These were the very people who built eBay up from scratch, and you want to get rid of them?

[johnwash1]

@abrahamtoast 

After all these years I've only just discovered on this forum that I could be using variation listings for my magazines.  I've been listing them as job lots of anything up to a dozen at a time.  Not sure I'll bother with this novel way in future, but it's an interesting alternative, that I guess could net me more cash.  Though frankly, sales is what I need most, not cash.

The lifeblood of ebay?  I wish.  Yes, 20 years ago.  And back then I actually called myself a 'member', rather than a mark ready to be exploited.  Realistically, the lifeblood of ebay is the shiploads of tat from China and private sellers are just a bit of tinsel around a giant Christmas tree.

[1956glyn]

No I have not been hacked and just expressed my personal opinion as a genuine private seller.

I just think that what i suggest would weed out the non genuine private sellers and help properly registered Business sellers.

Maybe i am being a little harsh on genuine private sellers because we do not rely on any income from Ebay at all.

[kempseykate]

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@1956glyn wrote:

No I have not been hacked and just expressed my personal opinion as a genuine private seller.

I just think that what i suggest would weed out the non genuine private sellers and help properly registered Business sellers.

Maybe i am being a little harsh on genuine private sellers because we do not rely on any income from Ebay at all.

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I think the thing is you, like me have a range of items, so a one category ban wouldn't hurt you (or me). But look at theelench, a glass collector who doesn't really list in other categories. Also if we were to sell on our inherited stamp collections (from 2 brothers) I wouldn't have time to list anything else, so that would all be one category. Likewise anyone selling off their vinyl collection, postcards, granny's crockery etc etc.

We don't rely on ebay money - but as I said earlier, it's nice to a) get something bag for items we paid a lot more for back in the day and b) have a little extra in the pot. You may not rely on it, but you do still list on here - you haven't just given everything to charity.

[1956glyn]

We have given absolute loads to our local charity and they have had more than enough especially as i think they could be a little more appreciative than they are.  By this i mean actually say thank you for the donations and not just "put it over there".   Over 90% of what we list is inherited so cost us nothing,

I used to list on Ebay because until recently i was often on my own most days.........

This Christmas is going to be especially hard for us....hence listing now is more of a distraction tactic 😞

Everyones personal situation is different.   

[1956glyn]

and on that note i am signing off here for a while as we are going to be here there and everywhere.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all xx

[kempseykate]

Same to you! Have as good a one as you can. (It's not going to be an easy one here, either)

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

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@the_book_seekers wrote:

How about rogue sellers?

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A few years ago when I operated a security systems business (whilst not as bad as 80s double glazing, not short of crooks there I'm afraid, and sadly most customers didn't like to pay the 'extra' upfront for honesty and long term viability...) I received a letter which was hand stamped and I would suggest had been sent out to thousands of businesses nationwide.

In large letters at the top 'HELP US STOP ROUGE TRADERS - JOIN OUR PREMIUM WEBSITE'. And continued to mis-spell each and every time. Dyslexia isn't funny, but if that's you then get it proof-read  before you spend £1000s on marketing.

Best. Advert. Ever.

[the-nutwood-collection]

You are so right about charity donations!

I bought a pair of very costly designer shoes that were comfy in the shop, but agony when worn.  They went to the charity shop, in their box with all the packing and shoe horns, perfect condition, worn once on a carpeted floor, price on box.  The shop is in a wealthy area, and their prices are high - which is why I took them there.

The assistant looked at them as though they were rubbish and, when I asked whether she wanted me to fill in a Gift Aid form, just shrugged her shoulders and said, 'You can if you like'.  Charities really should train their people to look a tiny bit grateful for decent stuff - then the person will bring more - and also claim Gift Aid.

I think the rest of my classy shoes that I can't wear since I broke my toe will probably go on Vinted. 

[the-nutwood-collection]

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too, @1956glyn 

[lucy_farmer]

Happy Christmas Glyn ☃️ 

[theelench]

"Appreciative"??

When I was clearing my mother's flat I quickly learned that some of them around here seem to think that they're doing people a favour by allowing them to donate at all.  Also to look carefully at their doors and windows for notes saying "No donations", or "No donations today" or "Donations ONLY on Wednesdays", often without a Please or Thankyou.

I know they often rely on volunteers so can be short-staffed at times but surely if they're relying on people's generosity to raise funds they could be a little more welcoming rather than making it seem like a chore to accept what they're being offered?

Happy Christmas @1956glyn  and to all the other regulars 🙂

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

So I think the issues can start when some charities go from being one shop to many. There is one round here that used to be great. Couple of locations, one clothes, the other unheated old garage, sensible prices. Local tradesman welcome to drop off boxes of unused stuff as long as its OK (1980s MK sockets, that box of yellow coloured cable clips [for 110v site cable, in case you're wondering!], that unused odd shaped U bend they've had the in the van since 1998, etc...) all dumped into bins and sold off for 'everything 50p'. Great!

Then they and many many others started (oh, irony) looking things up on here as a price guide. As we know, this place is often a very poor price guide. Just because someone is getting bids (and who knows if they got paid) of £600 for a single multicolour (flow change) LEGO brick, doesn't mean they will. Just because a mint ZX81 never used goes for £1000, doesn't mean you'll get that at a bricks and mortar auction house. Less so one in a tatty box, missing manuals, and you can't test because you don't have an analogue TV!

Then they stopped taking donations at the shops. I do get why they don't want shops with limited volunteers distracted by SORTING stuff perhaps, but surely, surely, use some that space to just take the donation and use the van you already have running around daily between your shops to do a daily / weekly courier to the main depot - rather than alienating locals with small amounts and/or no car.

Last Christmas we had some great bar stools that we sadly had to get rid of, and a matching glass table. So off we went to the former Iceland that's now the charity megashop and central 'drive through donation centre' (someone has clearly been to Florida on a flydrive and seen a Goodwill, let's just hope it was a holiday and not a business trip on charity money - don't think it doesn't happen).

We turned up and the guy started chuntering about safety labels. That's fine but he was basically putting us off without just being open and saying 'we don't want this'. Now as far as I know safety labels are for stuffed furniture and I'm unsure if they apply to thick leather stools that I think had at best 10mm of inner filling. The rest was bare metal. You see it was 2000s era stuff from a major name (John Lewis). I was certain that there was actually a label sewn into the seat bottom, but hidden by the self-assembly frame. I said if he had a screwdriver, I could really quickly show him. 'Oh no' he says, 'go round to the shop and have a chat with the manager'. So we went to the shop (entrance about 100m away) and they act surprised as to why we are not having this discussion at the drop off! As I'm explaining we've just come from there, ten seconds later the same guy comes through from the back anyway!! Well, that seemed worth it...

Anyway, they caused such a fuss (I would have been FINE if they'd just straight up said 'we don't want them, thanks') I took them the 30 mile round trip to the specialist furniture charity place, guy said 'oh don't worry looks exempt from furnishing regs to me, if not we can pop a disclaimer tag on' job done, sorted 😂

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Have to agree with you about the pricing that they do, way over the top for me these days.  I am a jigsaw nut and i cannot remember when i last bought one from a charity shop.  If i see one on e bay i like i will pay more because of the postage etc but generally i get them all from the car boots, much cheaper than a charity shop and just as likely (or depending who is selling) to be complete.   When i sell something on here i always look at what the item has sold for not what we are all wishing for!

[johnwash1]

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@theelench wrote:

"Appreciative"??

When I was clearing my mother's flat I quickly learned that some of them around here seem to think that they're doing people a favour by allowing them to donate at all.  Also to look carefully at their doors and windows for notes saying "No donations", or "No donations today" or "Donations ONLY on Wednesdays", often without a Please or Thankyou.

I know they often rely on volunteers so can be short-staffed at times but surely if they're relying on people's generosity to raise funds they could be a little more welcoming rather than making it seem like a chore to accept what they're being offered?

Happy Christmas @1956glyn  and to all the other regulars 🙂

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Yes, some years ago I gave up taking stuff to our local charity shop after a snooty woman in twin set and pearls peered into my boxful and rejected it.  Most of the items subsequently did ok on ebay and I donated the proceeds to charity.  Not to their charity, obviously!  They seem to want virtually new designer dresses.  Good luck with that business plan.

I can imagine that some of the local businesses get as incensed with charity shops as business sellers on ebay do.  A high street business selling cards has to compete with a charity shop's handmade cards that likely gets zero rates from the council and all the 'employees' are volunteers.  How is that fair?

[theelench]

Oh yes, the snooty woman in pearls!!

I must have met her sister where I live.  She too looked into the heavy box I'd carried from the car park and declared that "We don't need any more glass, we've got plenty upstairs".  In such a way as to make it sound like I was offering her some chipped pint mugs and a few old milk bottles.

Luckily there was another charity a few doors away that was happy to take my donation and even put some of it in their window, from which it disappeared far quicker than the stuff in the first shop did.

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

The local RSPCA shop donates to the local branch (I know some people (and regulators...) have misgivings about the main organisation and how they spend their money) and will take almost ANYTHING non-clothes. I am not naïve to the fact they likely also bin things too, but I make sure I only give them stuff that could sell, and in return they sell things for sensible money, 20p for glassware (not the new normal £1 for a Sainburys Tapas bowl that came with the food!), 25p for DVDs, 5 for £1, so it SHIFTS. It doesn't end up sat around. A much better way of doing things IMHO.

[lighting_signs_and_vintage]

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 They seem to want virtually new designer dresses.  Good luck with that business plan.

I can imagine that some of the local businesses get as incensed with charity shops as business sellers on ebay do.  A high street business selling cards has to compete with a charity shop's handmade cards that likely gets zero rates from the council and all the 'employees' are volunteers.  How is that fair?

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Again I think this is an issue with the sector, they see something working somewhere else but they are not quite as dynamic as other retail and end up copying things that have long stopped working elsewhere, even where the conditions were right.

There WAS a time when a few charities like Oxfam at the right time (90s, early 2000s) could get away with special 'designer shops' in areas like Bath and London that took big name items and got good money back, but the buyer still got a bargain.

Fast forward to the squeeze in economies even for the upper middle classes, the ease of selling online (V1nted etc) and the temptation to KEEP that £20 rather than giving it to charity, and this model is blown apart. But some shops seem to think it's still a go-er.

Regards the new goods thing, I believe that the shops have had to set up 'trading co's' that receive the funds for new items such as cards even if they go through the same till, and to get charity shop BR exemption no more than 20% of goods sold can be new. And yes a lot of businesses are rightly upset still.