@underpinned wrote:
@aphystykqa wrote:
So, when AI gets it wrong, then (I can only assume by whats been said), that The Post Offices's are left to pick up the tab if the cost amount falls short. Maybe the Royal Mail itself is putting pressure on Post Offices, as AI (guesswork) is losing them too much money. Also, another important factor, is, that Mandatory Simple Delivery will cost the Post Offices a fortune, as many sellers shall not even use the Post Offices, and many shall divert to Evri. So causing trouble for Ebay sellers could be part of their protest, as why should they lose even more money when AI screws up.
I'm sure eBay pays Royal Mail the difference through their business account arrangement. It would be eBay that pays. Royal Mail / Post Office would be at no financial risk at any time in this. The weight / cost on the label won't be the actual upper limit weight or real cost to anyone, it's probably just placeholder information to fit existing Royal Mail product range. Not sure if Post Offices are still rejecting parcels, but if so, that's probably a miscommunication between Royal Mail and the Post Offices - if they were to just scan it in I'm sure it should be fine.
The Point which mainly concerns me, is that at the Post Office counter service, I know that there is Scales provided to weigh the parcel 'Exactly' - so there is 100% guarantee that the parcel shall be weighed correctly. AI is not able to do this. So Ebay UK is replacing a system that worked correctly 100% of the time, with a system that perhaps works 92% of the time. So, as Post Offices are indeed turning down parcels sent by this Mandatory System of Simple Delivery (controlled by AI) - then it's in no way an improvement. I believe that Ebay UK should demand 100% efficiency. I have NEVER had a Post Office staff member ever refuse to take a parcel.
As for everything else you mentioned in that paragraph you wrote. Well, yes many things are possible. I just thought it was worth a mention. I think all of this decision came from Ebay taking a Huge Gamble when ditching sellers fees for Private sellers, and they lost that gamble, so have had to find 'Additional' ways to recoup money they lost by making that decision. I must admit, I Never would have ditched sellers fees from any seller. Ebay is not a charity case. Making profit should come first-and-foremost above all else !!
@underpinned wrote:
@aphystykqa wrote:
As the famous saying goes. If it's not Broken, then why Fix it ??
I think eBay were losing market share to companies that do exactly this model, like Vinted.
Yes, Vinted was what first prompted (or should I say) Triggered Ebay into firstly offering Private sellers FREE selling fees on selling clothes, and then took the almighty Gamble of offering Zero Selling fees on everything except Vehicles, Cars, Motorcycles. But, did that Gamble work ?? - Well, I would say NO, it did not work to plan - which is why there has been these sudden 'Changes' - such as Buyer Protection Fees, and Mandatory Simple Delivery. Also, other changes as well, to encourage sellers to keep their money in Ebay, rather than withdrawing it, and of course, holding on to our money until the buyer has received the item. No doubt they'll be More changes to try recoup what Ebay lost by making that initial Gamble.
@underpinned wrote:
@aphystykqa wrote:
Yes, UK Business Sellers are very lucky so far. I guess 'Money Talks' 😉
You're unhappy with zero seller fees and a free postage label, and would prefer to pay listing & final value fees, and pay for postage, out of the cost of sales?
Of course I am happy with ZERO sellers fees. Who wouldn't be ?? Lol. However, in the way I sell my items, I have a policy whereby I start with the Minimum Starting Price/Buy it now Price I am willing to take, and then add the P&P + Ebay Seller Fees to that price to the buyers - and offer Free Postage (meaning) P&P included in price. So, (for example) a £100 record jumps up to £122 (approx) with all fees included. That is is only to UK buyers, as with International Sales, I have to add Extra premium for P&P. So, when Ebay offered this Zero Selling Fees offer, then I simply deducted the Fees from my starting prices. So I myself never gained any extra profit. Only the buyers who bought from me benefited, as the Price got reduced.
To be honest, why would I ever need to buy a label or even get a Free label, when all I need do is to use my hand and a felt tip pen and write the buyers address on the front of the parcel, and then go to my post office. It's Ebay who has Forced this on all us UK Sellers. So we have to go learn a whole brand new system, which I find very unattractive (to say the least) !!
@underpinned wrote:
@aphystykqa wrote:
Although, since Ebay started 'Punishing' Buyers by Forcing them to pay an additional 4% + 75p Buyer Protection Fee (as they chose to call it)
Between the buyer and seller, someone was always paying some fees - eBay is a business - AFAIK it's just moved it from one entity to the other. So if before the buyer was paying £10 and seller used £4 to cover fees and postage, it's now the buyer paying £10 of which £4 is fees and postage paid by the buyer, the seller receives £6 and gets a free label, the seller pays no fees.
So on an individual order it's pretty much the same for buyer and seller; but overall I'm guessing as it's free to sell it encourages more individual sellers to list items they might not have risked listing before (ie to avoid the listing fee).
Initially when Ebay first launched it's ZERO Sellers fees Policies (beyond) Clothes. It did NOT release any Buyer Protection Policy costing 4%. So. Why the delay ? - Well, it's exactly like I said. Ebay took this almighty Gamble, and it simply did not pay off. So swiftly, they had to bring forth a series of dramatic changes. Let's face it. They could hardly come forward and say to us all, 'Ooops, we got it wrong, so let's just reverse the decision' Haha. That would have been far too embarrassing for them to do, so instead they followed the path in which they did - which (sadly) has now led to Mandatory Simple Delivery for all it's UK Private Sellers (which I'd expect) shall be rolled out in the not-so-distant-future to Other countries and even Business Sellers in time. We are merely the Guinea Pigs lol. Try it first upon the UK Private Sellers, and see how it goes.
@underpinned wrote:
@aphystykqa wrote:
then Most items by Private Sellers are very Odd amounts, of Pounds and Pence, rather than round numbers generally ending in a Zero
Yeh, this is a little bit annoying - I think there was a preview of final price for buyers in the create listing page, but it's quite fiddly to get the buyer to see a rounded price.
Yes, mildly annoying but I can live with it. But like I said to the other person in this thread. It does make it easier when looking through the Ebay listings of who are the Business Sellers and who are the Private Sellers, without even clicking on the items link, as it's less likely to see our items ending in a 00p or 50p, as 4% + 75p is more likely to end up with some odd-looking number of pounds and odd-pence. But, in the scheme of things, it really is of a low priority to me.
8HzeYiHBMl7k4)ovw~~_7.JPG "aphystykqa"){kind=avatar}
