Enforced simple delivery on made to order listings in the UK

[baz8755]

I am not a business but I do sell the odd item that I make to order.

As I do not hold stock I need to order the parts required when someone buys the item I therefore had a handling time of 15 days.

However now eBay have made all my items simple delivery with a handling time of 2 days, this is just not workable.

As well as now dictating how much I can charge for postage which again makes things problematic.

Is there any way to opt out

[vinylscot · Accepted solution]

Your first sentence is totally contradictory.

If you make items to order to sell, you should be running a business account for these items, no matter how few items you make.

Could you perhaps open a business account to deal with these items only, as  simple delivery doesn't (yet) apply to business accounts; you would have more control over your dispatch times; and you would be trading legally?

In addition, your buyers wouldn't have any "protection fees" to pay; and potential buyers may be more confident buying from a properly registered business, , so you may be able to sell a little more.

[baz8755]

Given that I offer these items with little to no profit at the bequest of members in the Ember reddit community (only offer through Ebay to simplify transaction) I see little point in creating a business account.

The solution I will be forced to adopt is to just delist these items.

[johnwash1]

A 'bequest' is property given by way of a will.  I hope you're in good health.

If they're requesting these items, why not deal with them direct or find another site with low fees?  I'm sure there are people here who could make suggestions, but that might invite censorship.  You could try asking in the ebayuk subreddit.

[vinylscot]

That's fair enough. But if, as you say, you are only fulfilling a few requests here and there, you're not likely to rack up enough in sales to attract the tax-man.

You would be paying fees, but your buyers won't be paying the BPF, and you would be back in control of your postage, so you could increase your prices slightly to offset that, without costing your buyers anything (or very little) extra.

I don't see that you have anything to lose. (Unless of course, you just want to stop providing the service)