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.

[technthread]

I have never used SD but it’s a lot harder for a seller to pull off some *bleep* and bull story when the tracking is there and they aren’t hiding it from the buyer or eBay. 

If I had to use SD I would do 100% btw. 

[blacksea213]

Yes it does say item has been dispatched as soon as you have downloaded the
label which is absolutely crazy. It should just say that the postage has
been purchased and dispatched when it has been accepted into which ever
postal service you are using. Then both buyer and seller know what is going
on!

[technthread]

I’m fairly sure the private seller is protected from late delivery defects using SD. I have to give eBay some credit they have put lots of protections in that as a business seller I would be envious of. 

[blacksea213]

I always have used RM 48 hour tracked and provided the buyer with the
tracking number. EBay used to include a nice little button to facilitate
this. Now it is twice as much trouble to do this.

[rugbyguy1960]

So true. Cd's are a nightmare especially ones that are signed and I only have one of each cd.

That's why I always used the largest padded envelope that LL allowed. I then added extra packaging and chose a heavier weight to allow for it.

Things like that wouldn't be taken into consideration by Simple Delivery.

The 1 time one arrived damaged me and the buyer sorted things out. The cd was returned and I got all my money back quickly from RM.

That is the type of thing that I would have no control over anymore.

[technthread]

I would rather have eBay SD with the backing of a full refund for loss or damage. 

Royal Mail will ask for proof of the original purchase. If you haven’t got that you might get some stamps. I’m not being flippant, most aspects of this that I look at have a big upside for SD. 

[technthread]

Got to be honest I have never used a padded envelope for a CD, I daren’t. I need to send them boxed, if not, that is one thing that would definitely stress me out 😂

[gmij1961]

A fundamental feature of SD is it forces sellers and buyers alike to use a tracked service, which as part of a tracked process should accurately tell Ebay when the courier has received the item which is the definitive indicator of when an item is actually  despatched. 

Informing a buyer that an item has been despatched when the label is purchased is Simply misleading and just causes unnecessary confusion .  These are things that really should have been fixed 

[rugbyguy1960]

My hobbies are collecting signed cd's and solid silver coins and bars.

I sent the cd's in metallic looking envelopes with bubble padding inside or proper Jiffy bags. I always wrapped them in bubble wrap too. Hence only once did one get damaged and that was posted 2-3 weeks before Christmas.

The coins and bars are easier to send because they are in protective casing.

Those things are just things that Simple Delivery would not take into consideration.

[technthread]

To be fair that’s well padded. I tend to use DVD size 2.5cm thick LL mailers with the CD bubble wrapped inside as I don’t sell many so I don’t buy the exact size packaging for them.  

The silver coins are expensive now. Best part of £50 for a 1oz coin with the inflated premiums. Lots of FOMO buying going on here on eBay this week. 

[erkanscars]

I've been sitting on eBay on and off over 20 years I think I can't believe they keep changing things this year there were so many changes it was unbelievable okay we had three months free selling. They shouldn't have done that The 4% charge to buyers is stupid because I had to reduce all my items by 4% so the price looked correct So we still getting charged because my products are now 4% cheaper Also the £0.75 Charge which I think has now been reduced on cheaper items is terrible There have ruined eBay as I've read so many people have said it was good as it is as for postage this stupid thing they have done You can't sell cheap items It's not worth the while trying to sell something for £3 and he wants to charge me £2 70 where it will just be a stamp Even though I see that they fixed it with some things that you sell That will let you use the stamp but it's not consistent As for selling comics some comics let you use Royal Mail postage as normal but then other comics you put you've got to use their postage system I was using their delivery service and was gonna carry on whenever I used Evri through eBay anyway it's just that the post Royal Mail for cheap for 60% items Also I'm a stamp collector and have thousands of pounds worth of stamps that I was using one of my main reasons for selling on eBay to cash in my stamps even though my sales were high I don't really make any money Most of my items were personal items I think they have to change it so that you can use the post at least for items being sold under £20 Maybe this will fix it for all those people selling things under £10 the crazy thing is they took all my listings down and told me to open a shop because I sold too much in a couple of months but I really think it was because all my listings were up with the old postage It's a shame because I used to and have promoted eBay I think I've managed to get at least 30 people to join over the years I just can't believe how bad they've been

[rugbyguy1960]

If Simple Delivery worked for me I'd no doubt be buying more again.

It just seems like the selling and buying on ebay that was fun has definitely gone since the changes made this year has been forced on us.

[gjalp]

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@technthread wrote:

I’m fairly sure the private seller is protected from late delivery defects using SD. I have to give eBay some credit they have put lots of protections in that as a business seller I would be envious of. 

---

Nope, they are not. I always send on time and I have never had a late defect…until now. Im getting an uptick of them. When I check the delivery metric it states ‘buyer said late delivery, courier confirmed late delivery’ and these are tracked items, dispatched on time within the ‘dispatch by x date’ I have on my sold list. 

[gjalp]

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@rugbyguy1960 wrote:

I do agree.

If I needed to sell then I would also look at things differently.

I only sell things from my collection to make room to buy new releases. 

If I had a spare room, or a large free space then I doubt I'd bother selling from my collection.

You are right by saying different private sellers have different reasons for selling.

---

We are selling and switching out our collections of ‘stuff’ due to need caused by a redundancy. We need to pay bills and put food on the table and while we used to cover all and have funds spare with a regular job income and an ebay business ID, this is no longer the case. Redundancy came at the same time as a death requiring support for my MIL who we had to relocate and getting another position was not viable anymore. We are doing the only thing we can right now which is running the ebay business, added a website and then sell off most of our collections and accumulated inherited ‘stuff’. 

[technthread]

The eBay T&C’s state:

If the item is posted with the prepaid label provided and scanned by the carrier within your stated handling time, you can also benefit from the following protections:

• Your seller performance standards and service metrics won't be affected by late deliveries
• You can request the removal of negative or neutral feedback about delivery using Seller Help

I’m not sure how the late deliveries work in practice on the seller standards dashboard. I guessed they eventually remove the late mark. So if not, you can get a late delivery defect, eBay won’t scrub it but it doesn’t affect metrics anyway is the worst case scenario? That’s still better than we have to deal with on our business accounts. EDD’s are one of the reasons I’ve taken a break here to sell elsewhere.

[gmij1961]

Ebay need to manage expectations properly . I.E make sure guidelines are clearly that and are not hard and fast expectations. One of the key expectation to manage is fact that most items are second hand and sold without warranty  and there is significant element of buyer beware.   

A problem with SD is the buyer liaises Ebay who did  not actually post the parcel  . If they have a condition issue they liaise Ebay who did not sell the items . Its an incoherent process and if the seller is not involved it is very likely it won't be solved to mutual satisfaction 

These are tangible reasons why I object to SD as I know that by dealing direct with my buyers I can addresses issues fairly , that is less likely to happen with SD .

Ebay need to appreciate that they need to protect all customers and not just pretend they are protecting buyers . It really is a dreadful set-up when you look at it .

[marla_3725]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the complaints, the facts seem to me to be;

1- A large number of people have stopped selling on eBay due to SD. Some post on here, most do not, but the vastly reduced number of items available for sale shows the extent of the exodus.

2- Many of those people have also stopped buying, hitting eBay's profits.

3- Many sellers who are still active (or like me have been forced to become active again) hate SD and find it a miserable experience.

Possibly we're all Luddites who just hate change, but either way eBay currently has a lot of customers and potential customers who are unhappy due to SD...so if they care at all about customer service and experience they need to change the policy!

Make it optional across the board, and not via some convoluted "application" process. Just a simple click box; "buy it now/auction", "collection and delivery/delivery only", "SD/custom postage". Done!

As for all the flippant comments about becoming a business seller to avoid SD, then no! I looked at it but there were some in-depth questions about your "business" to answer. Given that eBay now reports private sellers' sales to HMRC if they sell over thirty items in a year and/or over a certain value, I imagine business sellers sales are flagged up also, and if you're claiming to be a business the HMRC will be taking an interest in you!

[clydeandrascal]

Agree.  I've given many items to charity which I would formerly have sold on eBay.   The SD system has many flaws & they are not being addressed, which adds weight to the opinion that eBay is trying to edge out private sellers, rather than looking at them as a draw for collectables & household items which would increase sales through commercial sellers.

SD is designed not to facilitate procedures for private sellers, let us be honest, but as an additional way for eBay to make money as they will receive profit from their contract with the couriers.  As others have posted on this forum, there are huge problems with not being able to contact couriers when things go wrong.  Note that eBay ends its responsibility when a carrier says an item is delivered, which is far from the end of the story.

[lucy_farmer]

'As for all the flippant comments about becoming a business seller to avoid SD, then no! '

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Absolutely.

My earlier comments about 'presenting' as a business when you're not, don't just make things awkward with HMRC.

It is also a technically illegal act of 'misrepresentation'......

[marla_3725]

Good point