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.

[gjalp]

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@akemp1 wrote:

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@infohelps wrote:

Have you tried Music Magpie?

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Yeah I've done Music Magpie and WeBuyBooks over the years but even they don't seem to want the more popular DVDs and old computer games now. I did a price check on them before giving them away as I'm not that charitable (although maybe I should be...).

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I’ve done the exact same thing! Music Magpie got some as did webuybooks. Those they didnt want, books went to a local second hand bookshop (its set on a local green estate and books are sold at around £1 each with spare funds going to the community in various forms like plants for school gardens), dvds if they were of non violence types were given to my son’s ward for patients (psychiatric intensive care) and cds to a charity shop. 

[lamulady2]

I have had very few orders since they went to SD & Buyers'Tax but had 2 this weekend. I ignored their postage label on  one from thursday & went direct Royal mail & bought what I wanted,  (which actually was only 20p difference!!) entered the code & also clicked the "sent" button & all seemed to go well. (I reimburse my customer anyway with their "tax" out of moral obligation as it is not much different from their old charges) & if post is drastically different I.e.too much, I add this to refund!! I am slowly changing all my older items with this info anyway. My order of today I have done the same,  out of principle,  I thought that they would be charging me as well but this seems not to be. I am beginning to wonder what the fuss (& about 500 emails from various ebay users!!) has all been about?
I have put several new items on since this stupidity began. Only one has had ridiculously high postage listed, so I added that extra wd be included in the reimbursement!!!! An extra bore but makes for possible better relationships with customers? It is no use offering post free as both taxs then go on the total. Lower the price & charge for postage.

[gjalp]

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@forestfeline62 wrote:

  So it means having to  make a trip the next day to try & post said parcels which isn't always Ideal but there is no concession made for being unable to post parcels ,2 days or you get a mark on your account if you are late ,totally wrong .

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I have NEVER had a late defect in all my years here (or ever since they brought the metric in), since the SD came in, I now have 4! Its going to start looking bad on my ‘dispatch’ metrics. Im spending far too much time these days swearing at the screen, its not doing my blood pressure or stress levels any favours. I’ll be glad when Ive sorted my remaining bits on my private ID out so I can close the door on that chapter. If they mess about with businesses as well, I have no qualms in doing the same there too and I won’t care about the door hitting me on the way out. It will be a ‘so long and thanks for all the fish’ moment.

[gnosemalf]

People may have heard of the Laffer curve which is usually applied to taxation but could equally apply to selling fees (and other eBay practices).

Basically, in its simplest terms, if the Inland Revenue tax at 0%, they get no tax and if they charge 100%, they get no tax - because nobody would work if all their income went in tax! Somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot where most revenue can be raised but it is frequently tweaked due to varying economic conditions. Often, cutting existing tax rates can actually increase revenue. Raising tax rates can cause high tax payers to emigrate or reduce their earnings to avoid tax thus reducing revenue.

It's very likely that eBay have applied such analysis to fees (whatever they want to call them). But in an indirect way, their other practices will affect their income and revealed in analysis. If their spreadsheets see their revenue diminishing, which it looks like it might, they will either have to reconsider or HODL (hold on for dear life) hoping that their private sellers will cave in.

Personally, this has disrupted my flow to such a degree that I don't see myself bothering to try to get my head around it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I always offer free shipping on BiN listings so, it should be my business how I send it. But I have read and reread the eBay guidance and it says that sellers can opt for the buyer to pay for free shipping - how does that work? Please don't try to explain, I've had enough and unless things are put back the way they were, I'm done.

[grapecr-30]

Can I ask why you have 4 late defects now, what causes it?

[akemp1]

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@gnosemalf wrote:

People may have heard of the Laffer curve which is usually applied to taxation but could equally apply to selling fees (and other eBay practices).

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It's so much more complicated with ebay-economics because of the knock on impact of a sale not happening to other transactions.

If you just build the model on the basis that a few low value sales don't happen but the revenue and margin on the other transactions are up enough to more than compensate then it's missing the big picture that buyers and sellers are fed up and not able to re-spend, leaving completely or at least reducing the volume of all types of transactions with ebay because they have better options elsewhere or just don't want to spend as often as they see less value. And then there's the knock on impact of lower buyer activity on if business sellers still feel the shop fees are worthwhile, etc.

By not supporting low value transactions at a reasonable cost by having a high fixed element of the buyer tax and removing low cost large letter rates they are damaging the foundations the whole business is built upon. It would be better to accept those transactions will still happen at lower margins but are necessary to support the higher value transactions.

[grapecr-30]

Yes.... I for one will no longer be buying anything from eBay on principle, and I'm pretty sure the majority of people feel the same 

[moonlight-rhapsody]

I used to buy several items a month on ebay but I haven't bought anything now since 29th March.  I'm using either the big A or Google Shopping to source items that I would normally have bought on ebay.  I'll only buy on ebay now if I can't get the item elsewhere, and so far that hasn't happened.  I don't see why I should support a company that has been at such pains to make my online selling life so difficult and not worth the effort, just so that the obscenely rich bosses and shareholders can make another buck or two.

[punzel9072]

SD is very easy to use, cheaper for the buyer and simpler to initiate. 

...but much dearer for the seller on low value items, and therefore dearer for the buyer as the high cost has to be built in, e.g. a DVD that would cost £2 to post by Royal Mail now costs £2.70 on SD because it has to be tracked, when normal post offers compensation if the item gets lost at no extra cost with a proof of posting.

[fatbob*ian]

Probably, unlikely but hopefully.

[papso22]

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@sunflowers4me59 wrote:

I sold some books this afternoon, which because no printer or smartphone and will not use stupid delivery, I had the books collection only. Of course buyer didn't realise, so has now asked to cancel! So eBay has lost that BPF. Expecting a lot of cancellations as my listing's go over to collection only. I wonder how many before eBay realise I have a lot of buyer initiated cancellations!

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People are not going to expect your kind of items to be collection only and you are massively restricting your market by doing that.

If you want to stick with it I suggest you use your spare title characters and put COLLECTION ONLY in the title.

[knightinarmour]

That is true. But for small parcel items (1kg or up to 2kg) the SD prices appear cheaper certainly for me on Evri. (£4.06 when I was charging £5.39 previously). 

I feel using SD has boosted my sales as the apparent drop in postage has offset the buyers premium to some extent. 

[wiganyankeeron]

Small parcel 1-2kg. Tracked 48 with R.M. insured up to £150 £4.05

RON,

[jonatjonatjonat]

I get your point.

‘eBay came for me and I did something’

but have you sold on Amazon recently? Because trust me, they ain’t on the sellers side.

if you are of the opinion that you don’t shop somewhere that treats sellers unfairly…it shouldn’t just be eBay on that list.

[sunflowers4me59]

I know, I've said that all along, nobody is going to come for a knitting pattern, but that's what eBay have reduced it to, no other choice for me. Apart from no printer, no smartphone, I have a life so cannot drop everything when eBay says I must post within their timeframes, not mine! People are getting defects for that.

[knightinarmour]

Tell me more about these “defects” please? I haven’t got one (yet!) but I have also never seen one on a seller account when I’m buying. Where are they displayed? (I’ve been using eBay since 2001 and I’ve never seen one). And what’s the real effect on selling? I.e. if you get 10 defects are you stopped from selling? 

I always check the seller when buying - checking their location, feedback etc but don’t know where to look for defects. 

[1956glyn]

Ebay expects everyone to keep to a certain standard when selling on their site.   Take a few minutes to read this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347&st=3&pos=2&que...

Only a seller can see their own defect rate and this is not visable to everyone.

Defects are bad.  Ebay can reduce the visability of your listed items and can even stop you from selling on the site.

[infohelps]

I have still got around 80 'new' copies of my Dad's book that we self published in 2002.   Selling on Amazon doesn't work for me, but eBay had been OK, on average selling one per month.   

I was at first upset when I thought that I would no longer be able to sell them on eBay due to the whole BPF/SD debacle.  However, my real reason for selling is not the money.  It is to get Dad's story out there while there are still people in the world who are interested.

Last week I contacted our local hospice, and offered them some books for them to sell to raise funds for the hospice where my Dad actually passed away in 2003.  On Wednesday I am going to formally give several to the hospice, (to start with) and have my photo taken for social media (Yikes!).    I have also donated a copy to each library in our borough.

(If anyone is interested, the book by John Heath Brook is called "No Bacon and Eggs Tonight" and is about his experiences in 617 squadron in WW2, being shot down, interrogated, POW camps and the Long March.  It is unusual as it is a humble and very 'human' account as opposed to one of those "I shot three Gerries down today" type of war memoir). 

There is life after eBay, so I want to thank eBay for the betrayal.  Some good will hopefully come from it for our local community.  

[sunflowers4me59]

See post 6183.

[moonlight-rhapsody]

My stuff isn't suitable for Amazon.

Erm, if I want to just put ebay on the list, that's what I'll do.  Or maybe I do have others on the list, who knows!  Although no other ecommerce platform has so far "been at such pains to make my online selling life so difficult and not worth the effort".