NO LONGER SELLING DUE TO SIMPLE DELIVERY

[rugbyguy1960]

AS OF 15TH APRIL MY DAYS AS A PRIVATE EBAY SELLER WILL STOP AFTER 19 YEARS.

I AM FED UP OF THE GREED OF EBAY AND I HOPE OTHER EBAY SELLERS DECIDE TO NO LONGER LET THE EBAY CONTROL FREAKS HAVE THIS MUCH CONTROL OVER PRIVATE SELLERS.

[wiganyankeeron]

If they don't want the 'Private Sellers' Then why don't they sell that part
of the business off to a company who does?

RON,

[akemp1]

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@wiganyankeeron wrote:
If they don't want the 'Private Sellers' Then why don't they sell that part
of the business off to a company who does?

---

Because there would be nothing of value left I guess.

[wiganyankeeron]

Well are they bothered? Its obvious they want to get rid of them.. So
instead of using "Back Door" methods. i.e. CONSTRUCTIVE DISMISSAL phrase
comes to mind. Just sell that part of Ebay off and get some money for it.

RON,

[theelench]

They tried something similar before I joined, new in a box stuff was turned into Ebay Express and second-hand, Collectables etc. left as it was. 

The old stuff carried on booming as normal but Express never took off and was later re-integrated.  Perhaps the longer term intention was to sell off the Boot Fair part back then, leaving Express as the shopping mall ebay wanted to be as a stand-alone rival to amazon?

IMO private sellers have suffered ever since.  Being slowly squeezed out as ebay encourages more and more businesses no matter how that affects the part of ebay that makes it a success and that businesses can live off.

That's ebay's real problem IMO, there are now too many businesses trying to turn a profit off a steadily declining number of private sellers.

Does ebay think the time is right to try again?  That now it's overflowing with businesses it can get along without private sellers?  Are we are seeing the final squeeze to maximise ebay's profit from private sellers as it pushes them off the end of the plank?

Businesses and ebay only make profit when they have buyers.  Talk to your family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, how many have bought anything on ebay recently or even bothered to try?

Unless ebay can magic up enough new buyers to replace private sellers there are going to be a lot of unhappy businesses on here. 

[dgl2226]

I also removed my listings last night after having a chat with the staff at my local Post Office who confirmed that they had never heard of ebay simple delivery or marketplace seller labels.

Doesn't exactly inspire confidence so I think I may wait and watch for the time being and perhaps return once they have ironed out the teething problems.

If a lot of people are doing the same I guess they will move on to other sites in the meantime and perhaps never return!

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"Are we are seeing the final squeeze to maximise ebay's profit from private sellers as it pushes them off the end of the plank?"

I believe so, yes.  Ebay have made no secret of the fact that they want to concentrate on attracting sellers and buyers of high-value products.  Those of us selling "car boot" stuff drag the platform down so they want rid of us.  As somebody mentioned earlier, all the things they are doing to private sellers appear to be a form of "constructive dismissal".   The reply one private seller got from ebay when he told them he wanted to close his account was a blunt "we'll help you do it", with no offer to welcome him back if he changed his mind.

Then for private sellers who remain on the platform, ebay squeeze them dry, just because they can.  It's a matter of public record that ebay's CEO trumpeted managed shipping (ie Simple Delivery) as an "revenue stream". 

The culture of ebay, at least under the present management, seems to know no boundaries with regard to its greed.  I think it's a culture that feels alien to many people on this side of the pond.

[alistairdavies]

I've been around 22 years - stuck with them through thick and thin.

My sales in the last month - about £9! This time last year it was usually around £200 per month.

Getting rid of seller fees was the start of the madness - transferring them into buyer protection fees stopped me buying on EBay. I guess it stopped a lot of buyers.

I refuse to pay for promotion of items I have for sale (some of my items are pretty rare - so promotion likely won't help). I was lucky enough to be interviewed by eBay last year when they were pushing the promotion thing, and made my views pretty clear.  I'm sure others had the same views and were equally ignored.

I suspect they want to get rid of the private sellers - well, they are clearly succeeding. I've not added a new listing for months and am now looking at other ways to get rid of my collection.

[alistairdavies]

Did they respond? No... thought not.

You can take solace in the fact that the genius who made these recent changes will be out of a job when their next results are published!

[alistairdavies]

Declaring yourself a Business Seller would, imo, be a BAD thing. You'd likely get attention from HMRC, and at best you will have to fill in forms, at worst, they won't believe your declared profit and tax you more on their "estimate".

[crn303]

Agree with your posting 100%.

I and others know by now know that eBay don’t listen or care about their
customer base.

Confident to predict that heads will roll amongst eBay management for the
ill thought out last 6/9 months and probably in the near future.

If those sellers and buyers that have left eBay especially in the past 4/6
weeks will want to return providing a solution is found is another matter.

Such a shame, eBay have not got real competition at the moment but who
knows what could happen sometime soon.

[gmij1961]

I am not sure Ebay will allow you to be a business seller unless you are a legitimate business now  , it vague and confusing , and is not a process I would want to do, as even   if I  could you can't downgrade to being a private seller if it doesn't suit you .  To me the term business  say you are precisely that 

Ebay's core market , USP etc is private sellers whether they like it or not .  Sadly we as  private sellers need Ebay to sell effectively , so the only course of action is to do precisely what we are doing  stop selling and make enough noise about it as possible. 

Has anyone noticed that after 00:03 this morning Ebay are no longer sending  an Email notification for each post .  Probably because it is hammering there email servers especially if anyone out there has Out of office reply set-up .  I haven't unsubscribed my notification 

[clearingmyshelves2025]

I raised the point about no printer or smartphone with Kat from Ebay - see link.

Re: Prepaid labels - UK eBay Community

I also raised the point about my disability (hearing difficulties) as to why I prefer not to use the Post Office counter service.

[wiganyankeeron]

Got this message by email??

RON,

[gmij1961]

A reality of Ebay is the stalwarts are getting older and the hobbies and collections that drive interest from  buyers will also reduce for the same reason

Etsy and Vinted have poached business in the more vibrant markets but the daft thing  Ebay have done rather than tempt them back by being Ebay they have tried to copy the model deployed and becoming just like  them  they  have given them less reason to come back . Etsy have a problem with holding on to payments and Ebay have just done the same thing and undermined a key reason some sellers may return . 

[biscuits_bargain_bazaar]

Correct. Ebay does not want private sellers. Same with Amazon. I am
finished with both as both a seller and buyer

[wiganyankeeron]

No post showing for 1 3/4 hours has Ebay blocked them??

[akemp1]

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@wiganyankeeron wrote:

No post showing for 1 3/4 hours has Ebay blocked them??

---

I don't think so as I don't have any emails that would have been sent if someone had posted.

I think this thread has gone quiet, maybe rugbyguy60 has taken a break from bumping it :0-) 

[wiganyankeeron]

Is there a way to see how many sales Ebay make per day /week?

RON,

[gmij1961]

If Ebay lost all private sellers its loses its core USP and  key market, it depends how much Ebay appreciate that , but lose that then Ebay will die quite quickly and that is the current direction  . Amazon is not a market for private sellers in my opinion .   Etsy is  craft market  and vinted is great for 2nd handed quality clothing again and both have taken a chunk of Ebay .  Ebay is haven for collectors groups and for these to poached you need specialists from those fields to launch specific sites and although there are some that could port in such a way the market has to be to be big enough 

It has to appreciated by Ebay execs that Ebay is past its prime due to it customer demographic an market place but it is still strong a healthy business that could go on for years but won't grow and can't be re-invented to be trendy and modern .

Ebay need to market its inheirent strengths and accept it may be past its heyday and consilidate the good things they have got .  There are also markets that are open to be exploited re conditioned Tech and electrical goods will grow given global economic issues for one but anything they try to grow can not be detrimental to their core founding business 

[drofter]

Possibly most have pulled their listings, or waiting to see what happens. I've pulled about half, left the ones that are supposedly exempt due to size/cost and waiting to see...

My last 2 posts, which were critical of ebay I guess, never appeared, so mods? may have taken a similar chop to others.