If the Post Office is your be-all-and-end-all for selling on Ebay

[aphystykqa]

I fall into the category of Private Ebay sellers who only posts items I have sold to buyers through means of the Post Office. In other words, I parcel up the item, and drive in my car to the Post Office, and then get served at the Post Office counter - and this is indeed a very successful traditional system. I always use the UK Royal Mail and never wish to change that option. It's like when wishing to buy food from a Supermarket. I like to have someone serve me at a checkout, even though (of course) you can use their self-service-points and scan everything yourself, and the other options - is of course to order your food and household products by ordering online.

So, why am I saying this. Well. Basically as years have gone by, Ebay has been trying to persuade it's members to switch from the regular Post Office counter option - and instead use GSP (Global Shipping Programme) - and - online Royal Mail and Other Postage companies with Click and Collect, etc.. etc.. - and (of course) - their new SDP (Simple Delivery Programme)

Now, I understand that Variety is often referred to as 'The Spice Of Life' Lol. Well, Yes I fully understand that there is a variety of different options for posting items to buyers through Ebay, but the most Important things to me, is that the traditional Post Office Royal Mail Counter system remains as an option, regardless of all the other options which Ebay is trying it's hardest to push us towards. Many on Ebay, just like myself wish The Post Office to continue to be our be-all-and-end-all for all time.

So, Ebay sends me an Email message today with the title :- More Protection For Your buyers - with a list of various changes, which have many Pro's and Con's for both the Buyer and the Seller. I am only going to focus on the subject-at-hand which is the part where it says that the Seller gets paid once the Buyer has received the item. So that involves the postal system, naturally.

I have copied-and-pasted the last important paragraph which relates to Ebay's advice in regards to how sellers should now start posting their items to buyers :-

[> Now, to give your buyers even more confidence when shopping, UK-based private sellers will be paid after item delivery, from 4 Feb. Your funds will be available in your eBay balance two days after delivery confirmation.*** We know it's important to get your money fast, so we recommend using a tracked delivery service either through Simple Delivery, or arranging for local collection <]

So, I read through the page about Simple Delivery through this link :- 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575

At the bottom it says that you can Opt Out of this system - which I copied and pasted below :-

[> "

Opting out

You can opt out of Simple Delivery when you're creating your listing by selecting Custom Postage from the delivery options. If you'd prefer not to use Simple Delivery at all in the future, you'll need to opt out each time this programme is recommended when you're creating listings.

Keep in mind that if you opt out, you won't benefit from the enhanced cover for loss or damage to the item during transit offered by Simple Delivery "<]

Q;- My Question is, does this Opting out still apply after these new More Protection for your buyers, and all these other new changes come into force in February 2025 ? - and can I still use the Post Office as before.

[reasonable-robert]

well i have seen this new simple postage it was applied to a rotovator i sold 

yes unlike some other sellers i was willing to earn my money by dismantling it packing and boxing it which is why it sold within an hour of it being put on ( lazy or cant be bothered to pack it collect only sellers take note dont expect to just get it out of the shed or garage you have to be willing to go that bit extra to make the sale )

anyway my options were parcelforce  tracked 48 at £13.63 or yodel store to door £5.66 seeing as our local coop is half a mile away and i dont drive i,d have done myself a mischief trying to carry a 10 kilo parcel there 

i nearly did packing the damn thing.

fortunatly i managed to circumvent simple delivery and send it royal mail door pick up but what will it be like if or when it becomes compulsory this one size certainly doesnt fit all. 

[valueaddedresource]

@jma2815 see the screenshot I posted above - from what I am seeing at this time, listings with Simple Delivery only show generic options for Standard Tracked or Express Tracked Delivery.

And that makes sense logically from eBay's perspective because in order for Simple Delivery to be a revenue generator for them, they need to have the "freedom" to select the most cost optimized (for them) options for any given shipment.

You can see the same logic in play with sneakers that are part of the authentication program where both in the UK and US, eBay has mandated managed shipping services/costs as part of that program.

You can see the buyer is just shown a generic offering of "eBay Delivery", which allows eBay to choose the actual carrier used to best optimize the service and their revenue gained from it based on a variety of factors that can change at any time.

It's the same in the US with the eBay International Shipping program as well - which is as close as we have so far to any kind of managed shipping service offered by eBay. In that program, the seller ships the item to an eBay hub in the US and is only responsible for that domestic part of the shipment, then eBay handles the forwarding leg to whatever country the buyer is in.

And again, because eBay needs maximum flexibility and control of carrier choice to make the financial side work for them, the buyer is simply shown a generic "eBay International Shipping" on the listing, not something which indicates a specific carrier or gives them a choice.

Given all of that, it's highly unlikely eBay will allow buyer choice of carrier for Simple Delivery because their ability to maximize revenue from the program depends almost entirely on them being able to make that choice on the fly based on their own criteria.

[suema_62]

Without reading all replies so apologies if said;

You can opt out of Simple Delivery after it becomes 'mandatory' but instead of being able to bulk opt out you have to opt out on every single listing. This shouldnt be an issue. HOWEVER ebay say you the seller (assume) wont get the protections of Simple Delivery. If the buyer doesnt get them they still get the normal ebay guarantee stuff?

Ebay have not engaged brain that sellers may sell different things, different sizes and weights and with SD could be sent to several different dispatch hubs as a result.

Ebay also in quoting Packlink refer to Evri. Question is Evri has a long exclusion list for compensation for items and it contains a large proportion of what private sellers may sell. Has ebay done a deal to cover these items or will the work experience ebayer from accounts face a nasty surprise having to compensate for items that should not have been sent?

[valueaddedresource]

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@suema_62 wrote:

Without reading all replies so apologies if said;

You can opt out of Simple Delivery after it becomes 'mandatory' but instead of being able to bulk opt out you have to opt out on every single listing. This shouldnt be an issue. HOWEVER ebay say you the seller (assume) wont get the protections of Simple Delivery. If the buyer doesnt get them they still get the normal ebay guarantee stuff?

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@suema_62  what you are describing is how it currently works with Simple Delivery - yes, you can opt out at the listing level, for now.

However, that is not how it will work once it becomes mandatory - otherwise it wouldn't be mandatory. 😂 

CEO Jamie Iannone has been very explicit that the plan is to make Simple Delivery mandatory for all eligible items from private sellers sometime in Q1 and once that happens, sellers will not be able to opt out for those items.

From the Q3 2024 earnings call:

"Managed shipping is currently live for C2C pre-owned apparel listing in the UK. In Q4, we plan to expand managed shipping horizontally on an opt-out basis, before mandating the program for eligible items listed by C2C sellers during Q1 of 2025."

Full quote and other context here:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Will-2pm-Wednesday-chat-go-ballistic-over-mandatory-S... 

I suppose technically once it becomes mandatory a seller could still choose to not use the label provided by eBay and purchase their own label outside of eBay instead.

But I have no idea why anyone would do that since it would be money out of their own pockets and they wouldn't have any protection for loss or damage and probably wouldn't even be protected if the customer claims INR - not to mention eBay might eventually consider that a violation of policies with a variety of possible consequences most accounts would likely wish to avoid.

[sml192]

I don't think there is a bulk out option at the moment?  It has to be done at the time of listing currently. 

The plan is to make Simple Delivery mandatory for all eligible items from private sellers.

'Eligible' is the key word there, so sellers won't be required to use Simple Delivery for items that are not covered by Evri or Royal Mail.

Packlink were only part of the original pilot version of Simple Delivery and won't be involved going forward. 

[1956glyn]

Firstly let me apologise as i have not had the time to read this whole thread.

So what happens to sellers shipping times?    We say 5 days to post. (An awful lot going on in real life at the minute and it gives us a lot of leyway regarding possible late delivery defects). 

What happens if a buyer selects express shipping.    Or as i have seen in relation to simple delivery ...will that 5 day time frame be reduced to a maximum of 2 or 3 days?

[lucy_farmer]

'.......'Eligible' is the key word there, so sellers won't be required to use Simple Delivery for items that are not covered by Evri or Royal Mail.'

Aaahh! so people who are selling things on the 'Evri exclusion list' (which is very long 😂) should be 'opted out' of Simple Delivery? 😁

That'd be good news and might make some sellers happier to stay, like those selling glassware and vinyl records....

[valueaddedresource]

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@1956glyn wrote:

Firstly let me apologise as i have not had the time to read this whole thread.

So what happens to sellers shipping times?    We say 5 days to post. (An awful lot going on in real life at the minute and it gives us a lot of leyway regarding possible late delivery defects). 

What happens if a buyer selects express shipping.    Or as i have seen in relation to simple delivery ...will that 5 day time frame be reduced to a maximum of 2 or 3 days?

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@1956glyn  yes, with Simple Delivery the maximum handling time allowed is 3 days, so once it becomes mandatory, you will have to ship within 3 days for those eligible listings that are required to use it.

While eBay hasn't given exact details of how the mandate will work, I suspect that once it is in effect, if eBay determines based on the category, title, item specifics and other details that your item is "eligible" for Simple Delivery then Simple Delivery will be the only option you have in the listing form and they will just remove the button that currently allows you to "opt out" by selecting custom postage instead.

If that is the case, then I also suspect that if eBay determines it is an eligible item, the listing form will also only show you handling time options up to 3 days with no ability to set it for anything beyond that.

eBay already has programming in place which allows the listing form to be dynamic (meaning it changes and shows different options to different sellers at different times, depending on certain criteria) - for example different item specific fields are displayed when you change the category or eligibility for Authenticity Guaranteed may show or not show within the listing form depending on the price and other settings etc.

So I expect Simple Delivery eligibility and mandate will be handled the same way - the listing form will likely dynamically change to show or not show certain options or settings as you fill in item details.

[sml192]

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@1956glyn wrote:

Firstly let me apologise as i have not had the time to read this whole thread.

So what happens to sellers shipping times?    We say 5 days to post. (An awful lot going on in real life at the minute and it gives us a lot of leyway regarding possible late delivery defects). 

What happens if a buyer selects express shipping.    Or as i have seen in relation to simple delivery ...will that 5 day time frame be reduced to a maximum of 2 or 3 days?

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As noted by @valueaddedresource rhe Seller Centre help page states that the maximum handling time allowed is 3 days.  However, interestingly there is no mention of that requirement in either the main help page or the actual Terms & Conditions, only that it has to be despatched within your stated handling time. 

With regards to express delivery the main help page states the following (not very well worded but is basically saying that your handling time is not affected by the delivery speed the buyer chooses):

'When your buyer pays for the item at checkout, they may be able to choose either a standard or express delivery option. If they choose express, your handling time will still be the same – this is the speed the item moves through the carrier network.'

It also says the following in regard to late delivery defects:

' If the item is posted with the prepaid label provided and scanned by the carrier within your stated handling time, you can also benefit from the following:

• Your seller performance standards and service metrics won't be affected by late deliveries
• You can request the removal of negative or neutral feedback about delivery using Seller Help.'

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575&st...

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/shipping/delivery/seller-terms/

[1956glyn]

Thank you.   That is just another reason why simple delivery will not work for us.    My gut was telling me it will probably be as you have said and thanks.

Any idea who stole my picture?   Its been missing a few days lol 

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

If there were no change post would still be rattling past you on a stage coach *bleep* turpin would  be nicking it 

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

Ok then RICHARD TURPIN😜

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

Our local post office is diligently attempting. The world record queue title

They apply every rule and check they can think of when accepting mail

our local royal mail delivery office is just wonderful they just accept the mail

As long as its not grunting or smouldering 

[insidethe93]

Enjoyed the way you put it. A post office I know is perhaps a candidate for your long queues Award, but only because it's competent and importantly friendly and helpful so people come from miles (it's 22 miles from me, some come further). They have chairs for the infirm (or merely tired) - if you sit you're almost automatically noticed and a staff member appears from the rear room to serve, with everything done sitting.

My local (part-time) post office is in a house, tiny room the size of a small bathroom, postmistress and customer sit either side of the counter. That post office also gets very long queues, by town standards - two people in the rear hall, rest in her back garden.

[aphystykqa]

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@suema_62 wrote:

Without reading all replies so apologies if said;

You can opt out of Simple Delivery after it becomes 'mandatory' but instead of being able to bulk opt out you have to opt out on every single listing. This shouldnt be an issue. HOWEVER ebay say you the seller (assume) wont get the protections of Simple Delivery. If the buyer doesnt get them they still get the normal ebay guarantee stuff?

Ebay have not engaged brain that sellers may sell different things, different sizes and weights and with SD could be sent to several different dispatch hubs as a result.

Ebay also in quoting Packlink refer to Evri. Question is Evri has a long exclusion list for compensation for items and it contains a large proportion of what private sellers may sell. Has ebay done a deal to cover these items or will the work experience ebayer from accounts face a nasty surprise having to compensate for items that should not have been sent?

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I know that for at-least a 'Temporary' amount of time, that Ebay is allowing private sellers to Opt out of the dreaded Simple Delivery system - but however it has been also said, that the option to opt out is only going to be allowable for a set period of time. Some have mentioned that the owner of Ebay shall make it mandatory for everyone (without exception) from March 2025 - hence why I (and many many others) are extremely angry !!

I remember when GSP was made as a default setting for Ebay sellers, and we had only a small window of opportunity to opt out of the GSP. Thankfully I opted out in time. Like I say, it's like they are doing everything they can to cut our Post Offices out of the loop of Ebay altogether. It's the same thing as Tesco's, Asda's, Morrisons and Sainsbury's owners saying that ALL customers shall only be given the option to use Self Surface checkouts - or - buy your shopping through their websites only - thus binning all their checkouts where supermarket staff serve customers. (Obviously) if 'either' or 'all' supermarkets did this, then there would be a public outrage !! - So the owner of Ebay (selfishly) is choosing this option, which means that 100% of Private sellers (so far) as Business sellers may also be facing the chopping-block in the future to also be mandatory forced to use the Simple Delivery system only - will all have to go down the DIY (Do It Yourself) route - which is what Simple Delivery is, unlike with the Post Office whereby staff do all the work for you, and too many people globally do this and like it - such as myself

[lucy_farmer]

😂😂

Thank you for this morning's laugh.....    (a grunting or smouldering package! 😮🤣🤣)

[jma2815]

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@vintage-emporium-jedburgh wrote:

Ok then RICHARD TURPIN😜

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Thanks. You made me laugh!

[bailey2agd]

I have two days off in a week and no post office in our village. I have a Wednesday (stated as my posting day) where I can drive to the nearest small town to use the PO and my other day off is a Sunday (post office is shut). I list my items with a 5 day handling time, there is no way that I can work to 3 days unless I have all the listings end on a Sunday I suppose. 
95% of my mail outs are letters not parcels, most of my items are £1-£2, the new buyers fees and increased postage will finish it for me.

Also, will the ‘cover’ be like the PO office offers? Ie. Recorded delivery , if it goes missing you need to have proof of purchase for the item to make a claim. I sell mainly from my collections of stamps and some diecast, some of this I’ve had for 50 years, there’s no receipts, recorded/indurance is a waste of time/money. The buyer gets a refund, seller gets stuffed. 

[tressygirl]

You are the perfect example of  how Simple Delivery will not work for you, and sellers in the same position.

@bailey2agd 

[indiannasmith]

From my experience of the PO in Jedburgh, if they went any slower they'd be going back in time.