New postage policy seems a bit dodgy...

[lord.ford]

Anyone else find the ‘new’ postage process for sellers frustrating and a bit suspicious?

Specifically:

• Ebay now require sellers to select the postage service during the listing and only allow them to use that postage service once the item has sold. 

• This would not be too bad but they do not display the costs for the various services at the point of selection (as they used to when selecting after sale) and so buyers are committing to buying a postage service without knowing the price - as such this is not technically a valid contract (under UK law at least).  

• Ebay also no longer allow sellers to insert tracking numbers for items they have posted themselves (i.e. sellers who did not buy postage from eBay directly). This is bad for buyers but also disastrous for sellers as eBay also now only releases funds 2 days after delivery has been confirmed - in the absence of the ability to add tracking numbers or for buyers to confirm receipt, it means sellers not buying postage from eBay now have to wait up to 2 weeks(!) for funds to be issued. 

I’ve been an eBayer for 18 years and never once posted on these forums but these changes seem a bit ‘dodgy’ at best. 

OK, so eBay are trying to reduce seller fees and recoup it by selling postage services, I get it. But at least allow sellers the choice of not buying postage through eBay and at the VERY least give us an idea of what the postage service we are buying through eBay will cost.

Questions to eBay: why are you to forcing sellers to confirm delivery service at point of listing with no way of changing it afterwards? Why do you not list the prices for the deliver services at the point when the seller is forced to select? Why do you not allow sellers to add their own tracking numbers? Why do you not allow buyer’s to confirm receipt (same way as you can for collections)?

In the hope of getting some response from eBay, I’m not even sure forcing sellers to choose postage without knowing the price is legal in the UK - said it.

LF

[ankocat]

This too has just happened to me, I sold a 132g videogame in a LL packet to an international buyer, I fill everything out, even writing the weight on the customs form, all the usual stuff. I thought it was a little pricey, but the buyer selected RM International Tracked so I thought it was ok.

After I post it, I go back into the order when I get home and of course it's been sent it as International Standard Small Parcel for 1000g, I didn't see any option to change it or select anything different when I paid for the label, the buyer had paid the correct price for tracked that I had put in my listing for the 132g so I ended up paying the difference myself from which was already lowered funds from it being an offer.

But now I feel so bad for the buyer I'm also going to have to apologise and give them a partial refund since they paid more for a delivery service that they didn't get AND they have no tracking at all which eBay seems to want to push, so this is just super frustrating.

Why are they doing this?!

[jess123_blue]

I will not be selling on eBay anymore. I have recently cleared a family home and sold hundreds of small items all collected from my home by Royal Mail. If I had had to drive 5 miles to the nearest EVRi collection point and pay to park when I got there it would not have been worth it. Also EVRi are so unreliable that I imagine many items would never arrive 

[jckl1957]

You can still choose to send only by Royal Mail if you use Simple Delivery.

If you can print your labels, you can still have your items collected by RM - although they have just introduced a charge of 30p per item for collecting parcels.

[edwardian-dreams]

You don’t have to use evri

you can deselect them as an option in postage preferences under courier options 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf

[sin-6737]

Nope, I can’t find a way around SD and yes you are right re 30p!
Sent from my iPhone

[jckl1957]

Simple Delivery is being rolled out as mandatory across the site for private sellers so there is not a way around it.

I said you can choose not to use Evri.

Opt to use Royal Mail only here  https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf

Go to 'Simple Delivery' and 'Courier Options'.

[darrenyeomans634]

It now looks like ebay are forcing me to use their postage, as the custom choice has been removed. I just canceled a sale due to this, and was already being made to wait 2 weeks for payment on each sale. I totally new that so called free selling was a total B.S. lnstead, they have switched to buyer protection fee's, and now controlled postage like Amazon, who have been ripping people of with their postage for years. I was told to get an ombudsman involved if i didn't like their conduct. I am totally *bleep* off, and will probably be leaving them. Talk about moving the goal posts. Pass the info on.

[jas1952john]

If the seller wants to charge for delivery it now appears that it is obligatory to pre select one of the carriers tariffs  e.g. Royal Mail, which now means that the seller has to measure and weigh his parcel first and can no longer include packaging costs.

I therefore considered it now easier to sell "postage Free" and very recently tried this. I thought that it would avoid all of the new rigmarole, but the system insisted that I did it, which I ignored and simply posted the sold item in the old way.

I thought that I had cracked it but although the buyer has paid I cannot get access to the money as I have not supplied tracking details because you are now unable to enter them manually. 

Lastly how the hell do you print a Royal Mail Postage Label yourself?

I am now seriously think of selling on another site.

[beauty557]

I agree with you entirely.There is an old saying that"If it is not broken,why fix it"? and Ebay seem to be floundering to be competitive.First,they offer private sellers "Nil" selling fees,then they introduce an "Insurance" fee deducted from the sellers proceeds and now this "New Postage" gismo. They seem to think that the Ebay community would not see through all these various "schemes" as just being to enhance their profit margins.I,for one,will look for alternatives to Ebay as I am sick and tired of being "manipulated".Maybe it was AI that thought this latest one up??

[parsley2003]

I have used RM click and collect for 2 years have a personal account and can book collection and print the label

[parsley2003]

It's all AI now and it's messing things up everywhere not just here 

[wurlycorner]

Yep, I’m really not happy about this.

I like to support the local post office and Royal Mail, so where possible I like to use them to post items I’ve sold (and if not and I’m using another courier, then a) I like to be able to choose one that’s convenient for me to drop off at that particular time, b) I like to chose one that has been reliable for me in the past and avoid ones that aren’t). This change makes all that impossible - eBay dictate who you use and you can’t go elsewhere.

I only discovered this when I went to post something I sold, yesterday. My only option was an eBay pre-printed label using eVri. When I originally set up the listing, I had selected a suitable Royal Mail service. It wouldn’t let me access the sellers address, so I couldn’t address the parcel myself and take it to the post office.

This is not good, it’s taking freedom of choice and convenience away from the seller, money out of key local services (post offices) and putting it in eBay’s pockets instead. Monopolistic abuse.

[beauty557]

My view entirely.

[sin-6737]

Yes I agree, if you have sold an item you have entered a contract with the buyer and should be able to access their details and address.
Sent from my iPhone

[robmuir_78]

eBay's new Easy Delivery policy is a "RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICE" and is probably extremely questionable as regards the legality in respect of this.

[mary-ann-singleton]

I don't like that Ebay don't show how much they are charging the seller for postage. They don't allow the seller to input postage themselves after a sale any more. I always pack  an item after it has sold, and weigh it accordingly. If I overcharge, I always return postage to the buyer. Now you have to pack a parcel up before selling it to know what size, weigh etc it is going to be. Who is that organized?!!

[mary-ann-singleton]

Plus, having just looked at the label Ebay have generated for me, the weight of the item is not shown, in fact, there is no weight listed on the label at all. Is this the new normal, or has something gone wrong with my label?

This new postage label system is a mess. I don't feel in control of my listings any more. Might be time to move to Etsy!

[beauty557]

It just seems a right old messup.I will look to go elsewhere too.

[lucy_farmer]

'The weight of the item is not shown, in fact, there is no weight listed on the label at all. Is this the new normal, or has something gone wrong with my label?...'

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

Nope, the label is 'working as intended'!

The label has 'Marketplace Seller' printed on it. These are the magic words that mean the post office/Evri shop have to accept the parcel, *regardless* of whether or not the weight/size is actually correct......

Apparently Ebay and R.M/Evri will 'settle up' any over or underpaid postages between themselves later.

(there may still be a very few post office counters somewhere that haven't got the memo about accepting 'marketplace seller' parcels, but they should all have got the message by now!)

[mary-ann-singleton]

Do Ebay now charge all postage costs to the buyer, using the figure the seller put on the listing?