THE EBAY OF 2025 - WHAT TO EXPECT AS A SMALL PRIVATE SELLER - SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO ?

[bittyboy101]

Just as the title says...

Apparently a few disturbing/concerning changes to eBay coming in January & February 2025... 

1) eBay Managed Shipping.

2) Payment Holds until delivery of a sold item has been confirmed.

So I'm a bit confused about number 1 - eBay's managed shipping... Not sure how this is going to work ? and whether it will be something like Packlink (only made compulsory instead of optional) ... or will it be like an "eBay Global Shipping program" type of setup where we send our sold items to eBay's 3rd party distributor and they then forward the item to the buyer by their default postal service ??... something tells me this could be Evri  (Hermes ! )  - Not happy or comfortable with this !  knowing Evri aren't always great !  😞

Moving on to number 2 - payment holds/delays until a sold items has been confirmed delivered (or 14 days have passed since buyer purchased the item and the buyer hasn't opened any cases during that time)... This can now be time consuming to get paid... Like eBay's new managed payments wasn't already slow enough !... now it's getting even slower !... not ideal if you've  got little money in the bank that week and have to 'find money upfront' to pay for posting sold items (this can get pretty expensive if 2 or 3 heavy items which cost £20 to post sell on eBay at the same time to different buyers)... Oh wait a moment... Conveniently eBay now does managed shipping and  they'll let you have an advance on your buyer's payment to cover shipping costs PROVIDING YOU BUY IT AT AN INFLATED RATE FROM EBAY ONLY !... How nice !  😞 

Now the debate of whether I should stay ? or go ?

I have always loved buying and selling on eBay for many years... Would it be worth carrying on with these new changes which are very worrying... or would it be better to do what the old saying says and QUIT WHILST YOU'RE AHEAD ???

All comments welcome - The good, the bad and the ugly - Let's know what you all think !

would a small private seller be skinned alive by the new 2025 eBay ? I wonder ! 🤔 🙄 😁   

[podlingsmum2007]

You could evaluate on a week to week basis to stay or not to stay. I feel the same about this myself. At the moment I use a click and drop account with Royal mail and get my items collected. Would that still be an option with the new system? So far I have not seen the new simple delivery offered to me to use because my postcode is not included. I am ok about waiting for the money until confirmed delivery. But what about the odd lazy delivery person who fails to scan the item as delivered? Some of my parcels get scanned but the odd few are missed. Will ebay accept a buyers message to seller stating yes it's received or feedback confirming receipt? This is going to be a bit chaotic I think.

[wyntersemporium]

i use click n drop and get items picked up from door. I have seen it on my private page. And they give a buyer 30 plus to chose from.

i certainly cannot do inpost as no lockers wouldn’t anyway as lockers can be opened. Don’t like evri either. 

[leadhills_scot]

Only you can make that decision. As you pay no fees you could try just listing the odd item and see how it goes.

Don't know when they are bringing in all this rubbish for private sellers and frankly no longer care what ebay do. Stopped selling mid December as a business costs to high and don't/won't have a private account.

[bojangled]

@bittyboy101 

I’d just wait and see how it goes, nothing to lose by listing a couple of items and seeing how the process works. 

Every platform has issues. 
Have you looked at Vinted? Seems to be the same experience there, but lower prices, depends if you want to shift them or get best price. 
I don’t doubt it’s going to be a bit messy while these new processes get introduced.

Jo

[bittyboy101]

Thanks everyone for your replies on this so far !

Lots of you are saying I should wait and see how it goes and what happens next !

It is certainly uncertain how this will all turn out and whether they will be noticeable changes/restrictions on what postal services we can use to get our sold eBay items delivered safely to our buyers...

We can only hope that they won't be too much disruptions and delays with buyers not receiving their items within a timely manor...

I personally like Royal Mail's Special Delivery service for items over £30, as it gives peace of mind and I have used it for years without a problem, except for one late delivery which my buyer was very understanding about... as once you hand over your buyer's item to the delivery service whatever happens next is out of your hands and one can only use a reputable delivery service and hope for the best...

I am also old fashioned and like to take my items into a Post Office where they can weigh them correctly and charge me the right price on postage, as I don't want to underpay or over pay on postage using online label services... which may not be always 100% accurate. 

 As I said regarding the holds/delays on seller's payments... This could be very inconvenient in some cases, especially if more than one heavy item should sell and they cost about £16 - £20 to post for each item, hence needing approx £50 - £60 pounds upfront from your OWN money until eBay confirms a delivery and lets you have your buyer's money...

At this stage all we can do is play by ear and  see what will happen next... 🙄  

[themidnightcaller]

Maybe not list for the moment and see what changes are implemented by the end of February ?

[bittyboy101]

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@themidnightcaller wrote:

Maybe not list for the moment and see what changes are implemented by the end of February ?

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mmm Smart approach...

We let the others jump in to the pool first to see if there are any deadly sharks in it before we get in !

I like it !  😁  😁  😁

[thesmokingrunner]

@bittyboy101 

One of the main challenges of Managed Shipping/Simple Delivery on which few seem to have picked up is that it will (apparently) present the buyer with various shipping options from which to choose; the buyer will then pay eBay direct and eBay will send the seller a shipping label.

All well and good you may think, but - and it's a big but - the list of shipping options given to the buyer by eBay will, from what I have read, be based on the seller's location and courier dispatch points available within a (currently non-specified) 'convenient' area.

That may well be fine for some sellers, but not so much for other sellers who for whatever reason cannot or do not want to travel to a drop-off point, perhaps due to disability, lack of public transport or just plain inconvenience.

Additionally there may be an issue regarding seller's locations. Your account, for example, shows a location of Wirral. Big place, The Wirral, and whilst the may well be, for example, an Evri drop off point in Wallasey it might not be much use to you if you live in Heswall and don't drive.

I know of someone who lives in a village 6 miles from me but whose location is the nearest town, and a friend of mine still has the location of his former address (still occupied by family members) showing on his account even though he now lives 50+ miles away because it's convenient as he works nights and doesn't want to be disturbed by the postman after a shift. I really cannot see Managed Shipping being able to identify 'convenient' courier options for sellers such as these.

Removing a seller's option to choose by what method they post an item is, in my opinion, pretty short-sighted and given the manner in which eBay has dealt with the introduction of EDDs, IS, AI and numerous other "improvements" it does not exactly fill me with confidence that they'll get this right either. I think your "wait and see" approach will be one taken by many, many sellers.

[podlingsmum2007]

It might be that a seller is able to disable some simple shipping couriers that they cannot use and leave just the ones that they are able to use. Like they do on vinted. 

[bittyboy101]

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@podlingsmum2007 wrote:

It might be that a seller is able to disable some simple shipping couriers that they cannot use and leave just the ones that they are able to use. Like they do on vinted. 

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I certainly hope so.

Nowadays eBay seems to give us sellers less and less options which are in our favor ! 

[department28]

I think it will be the Managed Shipping that will push me over the edge.  eBay have already interfered in so many areas... doing away with the Classic pages, messing up the search function, introducing promoted listings, shoving in sponsored stuff everywhere, Managed Payments, & now Payment Holds. Surely that is more than enough meddling, without taking control of our postage options?!

And calling it 'Simple Delivery'...!! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I first saw that.  Anything that eBay says will 'make it easier for you', will inevitably do the exact opposite.

I've just had a look at the explanatory page, & this is the opening phrase:- 'What is Simple Delivery? Transform your eBay selling experience with Simple Delivery* – a solution designed to make sending your items easier.'  

I don't want my 'selling experience transformed' - I want to be left alone, and to choose the postage option that suits ME best, not eBay!!!  😫😡 

[manyjamjar]

I doubt i'll be hanging arround if the only option to buy postage label is via ebay.

I like to say hello to the folks at my local PO and I will ONLY use Royal Mail to post my items.

Even if I'm paying few pennies more I will only use RM.

BUT like some members have said above, I will wait and see. I stoped listing items for three years when ebay switched to managed payments.

[bittyboy101]

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@thesmokingrunner wrote:

@bittyboy101 

One of the main challenges of Managed Shipping/Simple Delivery on which few seem to have picked up is that it will (apparently) present the buyer with various shipping options from which to choose; the buyer will then pay eBay direct and eBay will send the seller a shipping label.

All well and good you may think, but - and it's a big but - the list of shipping options given to the buyer by eBay will, from what I have read, be based on the seller's location and courier dispatch points available within a (currently non-specified) 'convenient' area.

That may well be fine for some sellers, but not so much for other sellers who for whatever reason cannot or do not want to travel to a drop-off point, perhaps due to disability, lack of public transport or just plain inconvenience.

Additionally there may be an issue regarding seller's locations. Your account, for example, shows a location of Wirral. Big place, The Wirral, and whilst the may well be, for example, an Evri drop off point in Wallasey it might not be much use to you if you live in Heswall and don't drive.

I know of someone who lives in a village 6 miles from me but whose location is the nearest town, and a friend of mine still has the location of his former address (still occupied by family members) showing on his account even though he now lives 50+ miles away because it's convenient as he works nights and doesn't want to be disturbed by the postman after a shift. I really cannot see Managed Shipping being able to identify 'convenient' courier options for sellers such as these.

Removing a seller's option to choose by what method they post an item is, in my opinion, pretty short-sighted and given the manner in which eBay has dealt with the introduction of EDDs, IS, AI and numerous other "improvements" it does not exactly fill me with confidence that they'll get this right either. I think your "wait and see" approach will be one taken by many, many sellers.

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Cracking post !

You've brought up some very important points... This managed postage is now even more complicated than I ever imagined it could be !

Yes, the Wirral area looks really tiny on the UK map but it's quite big for it's size once you're here !...

I live near Brirkenhead so we have a few shops and some drop off points for various couriers... some local patrol stations also accept Evri parcels too, but they can sit there sometimes for up to 72 hours before being collected... So not ideal for grumpy volatile buyers ! who want their stuff within 24 hours after paying eBay !

To be honest this managed shipping thing should never be forced on everyone, as everyone's circumstances are different because they live in different places and have different services that are available to them... also transport could also be an issue if someone does not drive or have easy access to public  transport...  

I would just like to keep selling on eBay and posting items directly at my local Post Office counter like I have always done without any problems for 17 years... I would not like to have to drive around to special places just to drop off parcels because eBay says so !

I believe in every business for it to work well, there must be a degree of flexibility and CHOICE available.       

[vintique*violet]

eBay will expect you to keep funds in your " payments" from items sold so you can pay for the " postage" of their choice... That is my thinking, and sorry but it is a big No from me. Part of my experience is visiting the Post Office and chatting with the locals AND choosing the correct service for the item sold. For me, that is RM, and I would not use another service ( and never have)particularly for fragile Items. 

[galloway_cycles]

I live in rural Scotland & I will only use Royal Mail as they are very reliable.  Know all the posties names, they all take pride in doing a good job.  I do also use ParcelForce for large items.

The local Evri person is excellent, but when he is off, collection usually doesn't happen and the nearest drop off is 10 miles away. Also with Evri, never know what will happen at the other end.  Stopped using Evri years ago due to too many issues and wont go back.  Never tried the others.

So if Ebay is saying buyers can chose Evri, and I am forced to use them then I cant sell.  I am shutting down for a month in January for a break.  Will check back in Feb and see if its clearer how this will work before I sell again.

[thesmokingrunner]

I think you inadvertently hit the nail on the head there, @bittyboy101 , and it pretty much sums up one of the primary issues which eBay will encounter with Managed Shipping.

Your account location shows as Wirral although your more specific location is Birkenhead. Now, your statement regarding drop off points for various couriers is one made with local knowledge - you know the area, you know which courier drop-off points are within a reasonable travelling distance and you know which ones to avoid (the ones which don't collect for 72 hours, for instance).

eBay know none of that, and therein lies the problem. You know precisely where you live; Managed Shipping will simply compile a list of courier drop-off points 'local' to a seller and present that list to a buyer. Granted, a seller may well be able to deselect some couriers when creating a listing but that has currently not been confirmed, and if (again, no information is available at present) Managed Shipping looks at couriers within a certain radius, the onus could be on the seller to identify and select/deselect couriers which they wish to use within that area.

It remains to be seen what eBay will define as either 'local' or 'convenient' or whether shipping options will be based on a pre-determined radius. However, whilst a 5-mile radius of Birkenhead could see you being sent to a drop-off point in Anfield, a similar radius from, say, Edale in the Peak District wouldn't even get you to the nearest town. That might work for you but it won't for a seller in Edale, and whilst the obvious solution would be to give sellers an option to select a radius within which to dispatch any results would be based on a 'crow-flies' radius, not a distance-by road radius, which could be equally as difficult to use as an eBay-generated list of dispatch points.

Personally I cannot see eBay being able to code Managed Shipping for such variations and I suspect a 'one-size-fits-all' approach will be taken. For some it will work, for others it will not. Unfortunately eBay have been less than forthcoming with the detail regarding Managed Shipping and given the lack of information for what is after all a fairly fundamental change in how buyers and sellers interact I do wonder if eBay themselves actually know how it's all going to work.

I suspect they don't but, as usual, if anything goes wrong it'll be the seller who carries the can.

[bojangled]

I know this doesn’t affect business sellers, but as someone that lives in a small rural market town with many satellite villages this roll out isn’t particularly small town friendly. We’ve lost 2 Post Offices in villages in the last 18 months.  And it’s actually really good to hear the support for local PO’s in these comments. 

As I said in the weekly chat, what about physical accessibility to the locker/courier facilities, it seems incredibly assumptive that everyone has the ability to do this. 
Jo

[kempseykate]

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@vintique*violet wrote:

eBay will expect you to keep funds in your " payments" from items sold so you can pay for the " postage" of their choice... That is my thinking, and sorry but it is a big No from me. Part of my experience is visiting the Post Office and chatting with the locals AND choosing the correct service for the item sold. For me, that is RM, and I would not use another service ( and never have)particularly for fragile Items. 

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No, it will be the buyer who pays for postage, then the seller will be sent a label for the service the buyer has selected.

[kempseykate]

Simple Delivery will only be forced on private sellers.