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.

[department28]

'I've decide to send that separately with a note included in camera and case shipment explaining what's gone on. In summary I am having to smuggle a message to MY customer to explain what I am doing so that I can honour my offer.'

You'll have to hope your buyer is a nice, understanding person, and doesn't open an 'item has missing parts' case... 

These automated 'your buyer has reached out...' messages will take away the last bit of freedom & enjoyment from selling on eBay, imo.

[eddypolak]

I wonder if anyone here and a mate would like to try this experiment. The first guy or gal lists an item. The other guy or gal is aware and buys it immediately. The seller sends the other a message on eBay mentioning SD but not saying anything worse than I did, like telling the buyer they didn't understand SD and as a result the promise of Special Delivery can't be fulfilled. Then wait...probably not very long! If we are right the buyer will never get the message and the seller will get the 'buyer reached out' one. Screenshots should be taken as evidence.

If someone does that I will offer to take the evidence to Trading Standards. Greed is one thing but deceit and illegal practises are another.

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"Next thing I got the 'the buyer has reached out...' message. I have received nothing from the buyer in spite of imploring him to contact me. I expect all my messages have been blocked"

One of the reasons why I preferred buying off ebay rather than A.N.Other ecommerce site was because you were able to directly contact the seller on ebay which you can't do on the other site.  Regrettably this is yet another distinguishing feature which ebay seems to be in the process of removing.  Without distinguishing features, it just becomes a matter of buying on price.  I’m not buying on ebay at all at the moment because of SD, but when I used to buy, price wasn’t necessarily the deciding factor.  If something was only slightly cheaper elsewhere, I would still buy from ebay because I preferred being able to see who I was buying from and being able to contact them if necessary.  If ebay are removing that “value added” feature, it just comes down to price being the deciding factor, and other places are often cheaper.

[eddypolak]

Yes the case of the missing case! I'd like to think if he is told the case is coming and I send him the proof from the post office (just thought of that) he'd see I am doing my best. I've also thought that I should encourage him to message me and we'll see if that gets through.

There is another angle here I've also just thought of.  Imagine a seller sending an item but with a missing part. Buyer messages seller (because they mucked up not eBay) and eBay block it.  There is no 'delivery related issue' there was a mistake in packing. So if my buyer raises a case it will at least be interesting. 

Now I am going to pour a glass of wine and forget this nonsense for a while....Cheers!

[eddypolak]

Final thought 🙂 If I send the case 1st class signed for tomorrow Monday it should get to the buyer before the camera as that is going RM48. Hmm..I can send the case on Monday but have until Tuesday to send the camera. I have a plan! 

[goodibags]

Given the current state of play re the inability to scan Tracked 48 QR codes at the P.O. your case may well arrive 2 weeks before the camera does! You 'll have time to enter into letter correspondence with the buyer before then.

[grapecr-30]

Yes, the disconnect between Buyer and Seller is beyond ridiculous, whenever I sold anything, I would always write to the buyer when they paid, and tell them when I would be sending the Item(generally the next morning) and then I would write to them again once I had sent it,to confirm that I had sent it, and tell them if there was any problems at all ,to write to me and let me know, and if anyone lives close to me, I would drop the item round to them, and refund the postage, one of the big things eBay claimed to want, was good customer service, and they have removed that now, it can happen quite alot when you need to have a discussion with a Buyer or a Seller, and sort any problems out, and reassure the Buyer. I really don't get it anymore....!! And haven't used eBay for months now, and won't unless they make some positive changes,like giving back control of who you want to send your item with and simple things like communication with buyers, they could call the new initiative "Simple Communication".... Remember when people used to do that.... communicate....!!!

[department28]

Only the parcel with the camera will have the eBay SD tracking number though, so if you send the case separately, no matter what service you use, the buyer could still claim they didn't get it...

You'll have to take a chance you don't get a sneaky, dishonest buyer... 😟

[4minutemile]

I really like your thinking. But if you post it for free with the cost in the overall cost of the item you'll save yourself some administration. But somehow I suspect that Simple Delivery will kick in and force you to pay using their preferred method. Simple Delivery is a death trap that I don't want to be involved with.

[4minutemile]

It appears that you have to have Special Needs to get a knighthood.

[blacksea213]

That’s why change your listing to collection only. Are you in the UK?

[blacksea213]

Or be of the correct political persuasion when the sitting government
decides to hand out the gongs!

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"One thing that annoys me is that the seller's address now appears automatically on the printed label for Royal Mail."

Unless Simple Delivery overrides your setting, you can remove the return address.  Go to Account Settings > Personal Information & Privacy > Addresses > Return Address > Edit > Delete.

[edwardian-dreams]

Scrub it out with a felt pen

it won’t invalidate the label 

[infohelps]

I messed up folks.  I have had a Time away from selling banner on since 1st April, and have been on the ball with renewing it as you can only put it on for a month at a time.  But it was inevitable that eventually I would forget to renew it, and it dropped off at the end of July.

Remember those heady days when you heard your phone go Ker-ching and you excitedly thought "oooh, I wonder what I've sold?"     Well, on Friday I got a "You made the sale for........" email from eBay and my stomach turned.  Feeling a sense of dread,  I went to look at the item I had sold.   The sale was  WITHOUT Simple Delivery (which it shouldn't have been due to the weight of the item).   So with an overwhelming feeling of relief, I was able to write out my own label, post using the local post office, input my tracking number and communicate directly with the buyer in the wonderfully comforting old fashioned way.

But the Time Away banner is now back on, with a reminder on the calendar to renew ahead of time.   A close shave indeed.   How sad that things should have come to this.   

[chew3953]

Thanks, I will look into this if I ever come back to ebay. It's useful to know. I've ended my listings for the moment though. Too many other issues with SD - I want to be able to choose a non-tracked postage option, for example. I can still send it by non-tracked post and claim back for the non-used postage label but there's no way to stop my listings being advertised as tracked service so that's not an option for me.

[chew3953]

Just came back from the post office having sent my final two parcels. Didn't get a proof of posting because they don't give them for SD parcels. Proof of posting is really important to sellers.  We need to get that so we have concrete proof that we posted it! The parcels were marked "dispatched" on ebay as soon as I printed the labels, which is stupid because printing a label is very different from dispatching a parcel. I'm glad I've ended all my listings because I don't find this system acceptable and I've had enough. 

[chew3953]

Sorry to have to tell you this but I think that from today (4th Aug) all our listings will automatically become SD whether we set them that way or not.  Pretty sure I was told that when asking about it, which is why I've now ended all my listings.  I shared your sense of dread when seeing I'd sold something. 

I've now set up a reminder to come back to ebay in a couple of months to see if SD has gone away.  Apparently ended listings will remain re-listable for 3 months. 

[department28]

I don't sell much, but I find if I set Time away, but allow sales, that is invariably when something sells... 🤔

Up until now, if you didn't update/alter a listing, your original custom postage remained... but SD will soon be mopping up all these left over listings...  who knows how long it will take, though? Will the take over happen all at once, or will there be more 'staggering'...?

Ever since the BPF & SD were introduced, I have spent more time checking listings, changing prices to allow for the BPF, checking everything again etc, than actually creating any new listings...

I'm sure many of us will be looking back fondly at the 'good old days', especially after Aug 6th... 🤖

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"The parcels were marked "dispatched" on ebay as soon as I printed the labels, which is stupid because printing a label is very different from dispatching a parcel."

I don't get that either.  I just don't understand the way ebay thinks.  Didn't anybody at ebay think that a label could be printed out on a Friday night but the item not posted until Monday.  There could be all sorts of reasons as to why that could happen.