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 ! 🤔 🙄 😁   

[johnwash1]

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@scooter_boot_sale wrote:

Simple Delivery is an option. as a private seller you dont have to use it. it just means waiting longer for payout.

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You don't have to use it AT PRESENT.  The fear, which I share, is that it may become mandatory.  If I can't use Click and Collect by RM from my porch then I'm either done, or changing everything to local collect.  And I know how badly local collect will slam my already slow sales.  At last my wife may get her wish and have a skip for her birthday, unless I can find another good venue.

[scooter_boot_sale]

the current FAQ says:

Opt in/opt out and eligibility

Can I opt out of Simple Delivery?

Yes, you can opt out of Simple Delivery when you’re creating the listing.

does the quote you posted supercede that?  do you have a link? very interested.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

simple delivery is only optional at the moment but will be mandatory soon and then i will be gone.

[trishthedish.0199]

I have used Ebay to sell on no longer  needed items, mostly clothing for a couple of decades. I live in a small village in the Scottish highlands and the only reliable delivery service is Royal Mail. I usually use 48 delivery as it can take a few extra days from here to the the rest of the UK, but 48 hr often makes it in 2 - 3 days. I generally get the postie to pick up (he is known in the village and really helpful) or take to the pharmacy in village, attached to doctors surgery, as they have a small post office counter within (we used to have a real post office, but that closed last year). Evri is totally unreliable, things usually get stuck in Inverness and stay there about 4-5 days before moving out here (12 miles) or going on to the rest of the UK. A pick up usually takes 10 days and is randon (i.e. you get no notice of when they arrive!). The nearest point to take Evri is the main post office in Inverness, 12 miles away, and that is due to close next year. I do not drive, and the bus is about 3 times a day. My husband drives, but it feels a long way to just go for a parcel. Funnily enough the nearest courier drop off is usually given on websites as Beauly, which is about 20 miles away, a much more difficult journey and no bus there at all! Incoming by RM, no problem, but if they take the local pick up option away, I wil stop selling, other options are just too difficult here. As it happens, a friend on Skye, as to do get two buses to pick up courier deliveries, as Evri no longer deliver to home addresses there. Amazon and RM are the only real options for him.

[beerbeerbeer!]

I dramatically stopped selling on eBay after they dumped PP, stopped sellers leaving negative FB and used thier own system for payouts, this is just another reason i am stopping selling on here, the platform provides next to no support for sellers and backs the buyers all the time, meaning that this platform has become a haven for fraudulent buyers, chancers and scummers, this new move means that i will stop selling completely.

I can see eBay losing a huge amount of sellers, forcing changes without consultation never works out well.

Its plain to see that eBay wants total control over payments, postage and the excuse to refund a buyer without the seller ever having a say in the process, stinks of corporate overreach and greed so thats me done after 20 years....

Bye bye eBay ya greedy money grabbing corp. eejjits 🙂

[scooter_boot_sale]

that raises a question - other than FB marketplace, what other options are out there to sell on? I know some dedicated music sites, but used or unused older items what are the options?

[reasonable-robert]

question is the effect it will have after the 4th of feb ...

1, will sellers walk away from e bay and it implodes from within.

2, how quiet will e bay be after the 4th will sales plummet to the point of it no longer being viable to sell on eb.

3, i assume this will ripple not only from retail sales but to vehicles as well say for example you win a car in auction for £600 will you still pay 4% and 75p  which makes it £624.75 i cannot see people wearing that.

4, will buyers turn to e bays biggest rivals amazon or ali express to buy there as someone pointed out if they wanted a £10 blue ray dvd thats what they want to pay not £11.75 and would shop elsewhere to get it at that price and if not the above rivals but tesco, sainsburys ,morrisons or asda when they do their weekly shop.

5, the BS are dancing with joy about this and snipe it will prevent so called BS on private accounts having unfair advantage which i think is absolute hollyhocks .. we all dont all have £1,000 plus to buy stock and afford to sit on it some of us are happy minows  and should get off their self rightous soap boxes if the buyers have gone where will your sales come from.

6, i think this will be the biggest disaster experiment e bay have ever tried and will come to regret it maybe even back pedal rebrand and return to the old system of 10% for buyers and sellers to attract people back to e bay.

i personally have decided to wind up nottinghamshire.preloved on or before the 3rd of feb subject to stock

[johnwash1]

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@scooter_boot_sale wrote:

that raises a question - other than FB marketplace, what other options are out there to sell on? I know some dedicated music sites, but used or unused older items what are the options?

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The only way FB would work for me is if I go to the inconvenience and expense of setting up another PC (no problem, I have plenty) and buying another mobile phone.  No way I'm having FB invading my privacy.

So I'm very interested in answers to your question.  Perhaps Freegle or Freecycle may be my answer, though I've no experience of them.

Otherwise I hope ebay get their mandatory 'simple delivery' to collect from my porch PDQ.  If not, game over.

[podlingsmum2007]

There is 'ebid'. I joined recently and you can sell if you choose from 3 options 'silver' 'gold' and 'platinum'. There was an offer on 'platinum ' that cost a percentage less to enrol and pay no fees to sell. This is from the FAQ pages

 On eBid it is free to list your item. After you have joined you will need to upgrade your account from FREE to either SILVER (free but card validation required) or GOLD and PLATINUM LIFETIME (security subscription required).

A SILVER account gives you access to our STANDARD listing format which is free to list with a 5% Final Value Fee. If you pay to upgrade to GOLD or PLATINUM LIFETIME you can use our FREE listing which is also free to list but also has 0% Final Value Fee. See our Registration FAQ page for more details on upgrading your account. GOLD subscriptions can be purchased for 30 days, 365 days or a Lifetime giving you zero listing fees and zero final value fees for life. Check out our current special offer for half price PLATINUM LIFETIME upgrades. No more fees for life

[department28]

'in my years on this forum i have never seen so many people so in agreement about upcoming changes.   I cannot even get through all the threads as they are coming fast and furious.   E bay really did themselves a disserve by putting through so many changes in a very short period of time.'

Yes indeed!  If I'd kudoed all the posts I agreed with re Simple Delivery & Buyer Protection Fee, I'd have a Repetitive Strain Injury*....

* or worsened the one I already have from all the extra clicking you have to do on eBay these days...😄

[bojangled]

@scooter_boot_sale 

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-simple-delivery-managed-shipping/

This is value added resources comprehensive guide to the Q3 earnings call.

Jo

[scooter_boot_sale]

If it does become mandatory, I'll be closing my store. easier to sell on other platforms or just off load at an actual car boot sale... 

[scooter_boot_sale]

I dont mind FB, just as intrusive as other platforms, its all the scammers there that are the problem.  Prob just go out and deal with people f2f at the car boot sales, or unload what I have left to a dealer...  both options better than ebay looks to be come Feb...

[vintique*violet]

Excerpt taken from the link Bojanged supplied from Value added resource...absolutely worth a thorough read. 

Many sellers have already raised accessibility concerns about the program for this reason and if does not change before the mandate goes into effect, those with disabilities or who live in remote or rural areas may be unfairly disadvantaged by the new policy.

Ebay obviously have not addressed this - So those affected will what? Disappear from the platform? 

[mikle65]

it has all changed when they started to keep your funds on THEIR account. this is the elephant in the room. Why you may ask? they probably expect a % of the funds to stay on their account all the time so they can invest it in a yielding product, like bonds or a fund. ebay is financialising itself.

[bojangled]

@scooter_boot_sale 

Why not just wait and see.
There is a lot of speculation, fury, misunderstanding and muddling on the boards at the moment. 
Goodness knows the platform has changed a lot in the last 30 years, when managed payments took over from PayPal the world was going to end according to many. That’s the PayPal that many distrusted and didn’t want to sign up to in its infancy….

There was a time when you had to wait for cheques to clear before posting items, when you think about that process, now you’d have to wait for the item to be delivered before cashing the cheque!! 

I’m just saying let’s all have a cup of tea….

Jo

[valueaddedresource]

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@mikle65 wrote:

it has all changed when they started to keep your funds on THEIR account. this is the elephant in the room. Why you may ask? they probably expect a % of the funds to stay on their account all the time so they can invest it in a yielding product, like bonds or a fund. ebay is financialising itself.

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@mikle65  there's no probably about it - eBay has openly acknowledged they earn interest on processing and held funds in their Payments Terms of Use since October 2023.

[buffster1963]

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@bojangled wrote:

@scooter_boot_sale 

Why not just wait and see.
There is a lot of speculation, fury, misunderstanding and muddling on the boards at the moment. 
Goodness knows the platform has changed a lot in the last 30 years, when managed payments took over from PayPal the world was going to end according to many. That’s the PayPal that many distrusted and didn’t want to sign up to in its infancy….

There was a time when you had to wait for cheques to clear before posting items, when you think about that process, now you’d have to wait for the item to be delivered before cashing the cheque!! 

I’m just saying let’s all have a cup of tea….

Jo

I remember those days, i used to have cheques for weeks before i cashed them as it wasnt worth bus fare for one small cheque ( all items posted though). I even used to have buyers sending cash through the post. Everyone went mad when they were forced to accept paypal for payments. 

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[scooter_boot_sale]

for me, its the price point of what I sell.  mostly under 10gbp stuff, so a 1gbp item is going to be 1.79 to the buyer now, and there are plenty of businesses with websites selling what Im unloading for 1gbp. So I cant compete. I might just lump remaining items into 1  listing and see if someone wants them in bulk, but if its managed post as well, then I dont think it will be worth it, already get plenty of lost/delayed items through RM poor delivery, and buyers not bothering to mark items received (60% or more already dont do feedback, so getting them to mark items received will prob be about the same) means long delays on payments its too much of a headache. 

[vintique*violet]

There was a time eBay warned sellers NOT to post until their funds were cleared!!!

This was to avoid being " scammed".... 

Now they expect us to wait for payment whilst they hold the funds, (gaining interest) and the buyer has your item in hand and the " automation"  deems it delivered by a postal service that we have no choice on? 

Who is doing the " scamming" now? 

*As an add note - Being as many of us are experiencing zero visibility, views, watchers, sales etc fall of a huge cliff for months,  will eBay "adjust" their algorithms so that all of a sudden everyones items are " magically" shown AFTER their " managed"  implementations come into play? 

Would be very interesting observation if this does happen? 

Edit ... *add note.