eBay

rugbyguy1960 · ‎31-03-2025

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.

theelench · ‎02-12-2025

That's impossible to say. If ebay are hiding non-Sponsored items, my saved search results are not going to be accurate. Looking at the Sold page for the same search sales seem down by between 30 - 50%, but a 'surprising' number of those sales seem to for higher priced items where I've seen the same item at lower prices.

To me the implication is that I might be seeing those lower priced items, but are buyers searching for them being shown all the items or just the higher priced ones with Sponsorship being paid?

TBH my trust in ebay search results is almost zero these days. They are totally addled and manipulated, the point of the listing I mentioned in post #9933 was a sort of experiment which, to me, proved this. A reasonably priced but unsponsored item had little interest over nearly 2 months before selling. But where there are several of the same item available, according to the search results I see, buyers chose the more expensive over the cheaper items in an unlikely number of sales.

It could be that they find the lower prices suspect, or it could be that now ebay 'streamlines' the results differently to suit different buyers, it shows them higher priced sponsored items and leaves out the cheaper alternatives.

I know for an absolute fact that I've seen items in the same saved search for the first time when they suddenly appear on the Sold page, but I've never seen them during an auction because they don't fit my ebay buying profile.

1956glyn · ‎03-12-2025

What i have noticed is........in reference to checking my saved sellers (regular sellers) items for sale regularly/almost daily

Say a saved seller lists 5 items on a Monday........i look again a few days later. Yes i see those 5 items but well over 48 hrs later i also see an additional 10 items listed just before those 5. All in the same jewellery category. I know items can take a while to show.

Oooh Art Deco now you are talking. I/we collect the original figurines 🙂

1956glyn · ‎03-12-2025

You would love what i found in a box in our spare bedroom the other day.............loads of vintage 1960s cotton fabric and swatches etc etc all inherited from Glyns mother 🙂 There is loads of it.

We have a lot of craft fares by us so i may go chat to some stall owners 🙂

Me? I do not make it or cook it if i can buy it lol

steffi-jets · ‎03-12-2025

OK Ebay at its most stupid.

I have 3x listings all similar.

Decided to try "subsidised postage" as Freepost is complex. that means charging the buyer the smallest amount of postage, and I cover the rest.

1 listing lowest option is large letter is £2.72

2 listing lowest option is large letter is £3.46 - why is this different for the same /similar thing?

3 daftest one yet - it says I can't do simple delivery but can do Freepost !!

Also noticed there is no standard letter. How do people send say a postcard?

What is Ebay's software using to decide postage??

This is absolute stupidity at it's best

theelench · ‎03-12-2025

I think the search is completely distorted by ebay's manipulation and 'streamlining' (profiling). I made a determined effort to complete several dressing table sets, buying a series of missing pots, candlesticks and ring holders, mostly around £10 a piece. As sales were reasonably frequent I'd built a healthy balance in my collecting account so treated myself to a Bagley table lamp at around £80.

For the next month or two all my glass searches had expensive lamps added to them that had rarely been in my results before. Makes it kind of obvious that buyer's results are tailored to what ebay knows they are likely to buy. It also makes browsing rather boring and pointless. But where were they hidden before ? I don't believe that dozens of sellers noticing I'd bought one caused a stampede of new listings. Only ebay can do that by pulling back the curtain and revealing what I so rarely saw before.

If you mean the glass figurines made for float / centerpiece bowls you might find The glass float bowl man interesting. He's been researching them for years and has the biggest reference resource for them that I've found. Some are truly stunning 🙂

artslim · ‎03-12-2025

Absolute rubbish. 800 listings. one sale in 9 months.

1956glyn · ‎03-12-2025

Yikes i recently listed 5 items and one sold and i thought that was bad !

rugbyguy1960 · ‎04-12-2025

I totally agree.

This platform really has become such a mess all because of greed.

I still hope one day they will re-introduce Sellers Fees and stop hiding listings to try and get private sellers to promote listings which is just another money grab.

And last but not least, give private sellers the option to opt out of the useless Simple Delivery, and let them deal with their chosen postal option directly again.

rugbyguy1960 · ‎04-12-2025

My views are non existent because while Simple Delivery is so prominent i will not list anything, and there is no way ebay will get a penny from me to promote a listing even if I ever listed on here again.

bojangled · ‎04-12-2025

I purchased two items from a casual private seller last weekend, can see they’ve been using the platform for a good 20 years.

The pure frustration they felt when it came to Simple Delivery. The label declared 2kg, combined weight was 4kg. They contacted CS just to confirm this was correct as didn’t want any issues. Which as a normal human being is a decent call. They spent 20 minutes with the CS agent telling the seller what a wonderful system SD was and how easy it was to sell now, without actually answering the question.

Had a conversation by eBay messages with them about the whole performance, with that damned annoying message from eBay about ‘Your seller/buyer is using Simple Delivery …blah.blah’ after every interaction.
From my knowledge of SD I assured them that it will be okay because of the marketplace seller thing etc.

But they are so put off by the rigmarole of it, that is of course if you can log in without 17 texts and 4 capture quizzes.
It’s just ugh for private sellers and I can see why V is doing well, because it’s really easy!

Jo

gjalp · ‎04-12-2025

@steffi-jets wrote:
OK Ebay at its most stupid.
I have 3x listings all similar.
Decided to try "subsidised postage" as Freepost is complex. that means charging the buyer the smallest amount of postage, and I cover the rest.
1 listing lowest option is large letter is £2.72
2 listing lowest option is large letter is £3.46 - why is this different for the same /similar thing?
3 daftest one yet - it says I can't do simple delivery but can do Freepost !!
Also noticed there is no standard letter. How do people send say a postcard?
What is Ebay's software using to decide postage??
This is absolute stupidity at it's best

Ebay probably sets postcards the same as stamps. As a large letter! It’s insane and driving me nuts! Also a stamp over £20 and combined with, say 3 further stamps at £1 each, is coming out as a small parcel on simple delivery for me. Needless to say Im not listing any more above £20 as I find the whole thing ridiculous. I will also not send stamps via Evri, Inpost or Yodel as no matter which way I do it, unless Im selling an entire collection in one go in albums, they are always letters and will easily get lost with a parcel courier service. I don’t really care if ebay covers losses or damaged in transit. I prefer my items get to their destination as some collectors get upset if they don’t receive their item. Even as a business buyers nearly always say they want their item rather than a refund in INR cases.

theelench · ‎04-12-2025

That they're frustrated is so right, whether buying or selling. Although I've given up selling I still check my Saved Searches from time to time for a few items I'm looking for.

I found a Brockwitz 'Meissen' bowl that might be one of them, but the seller had used A.I for the description so the diameter and height are not mentioned anywhere on the listing (frustration 1). The 3 photos had nothing to indicate scale so I thought I'd Contact the Seller. It took some time and patience just to send the question as not doing it in the correct sequence only leads to a greyed out "Send Message" (frustration 2).

But I got there and sent my message. Haven't had a reply yet although ebay tells me they usually reply within 24 hrs. (perhaps they're having problems sending their reply ?).

After all the frustration I realised I hadn't asked which delivery company they intended to use. All the 'details' of postage told me was it would be sent "Standard Tracked", which from what I've read here, I think means Evri if SD is used, which in this area (block of flats) means it might be left on the doorstep, if I'm lucky. Or it could be left with anyone who opens their door, with nothing to tell me which flat it was left at (frustration 3).

So If the seller answers and it is what I'm looking for, I'll have to go through the message rigmarole again to find out if they will send by RM or pay and hope that one of the stores that operate Click & Collect is near enough to get to (frustration 4).

I rarely even try to buy on ebay these days due to multiple log-ins, reminders about pass keys / speed up log-in/ Kaptur puzzles and demands that I set up another payment method before bidding on auctions. It used to be so easy to buy, but not any more. It's getting like ebay really doesn't want private sellers to sell anything.

theelench · ‎04-12-2025

Just to confirm that the seller did reply to my question within 24 hours, but (silly me) I was expecting a (1) to appear next to "Messages" to indicate a new message.

But not any more apparently, now I should open messages regularly to check if there are any new. I wonder why that that is ? Just to be even more unhelpful, time wasting and frustrating ?

But hey-ho at least I found a long, long list of messages from ebay about 'make an offer', 'this item is no longer available', etc. etc.

Pity ebay is nowhere near as helpful or as anxious to get sales as their sellers are.