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 ! 🤔 🙄 😁   

[sml192]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

For those forced to use simple shipping - simply not using the label will refund the buyer and the seller can then buy their own label at the sellers cost - so the shipping cost for the seller not wanting to use simple shipping labels would have to be included in the selling price !

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Where does it say that the buyer will be refunded if the label isn't used? 

[dch2112011]

I think you can try and close when you want but possibly it will not be closed for up to 60 days and you may be asked for info depending on the circumstances - see the link below

close account 

Once you submit a closure request - your account is locked and you cannot access it !

[vintique*violet]

Once you submit a closure request - your account is locked and you cannot access it !

Would that mean I could not access the community board here? 

[dch2112011]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@sml192 wrote:

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@dch2112011 wrote:

It is all guesswork but if free delivery was allowed I would imagine it would just allow the buyer to choose free delivery or an enhanced chargeable service -  there would be no charge to either buyer or seller for the free service  

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If there is no charge to either buyer or seller then that would mean that eBay would be paying for the postage label.  I don't think so! 

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You are misunderstanding ' free postage' when offered by a seller - if offered by the seller and under simple delivery it gave the option to a buyer to select this free delivery  - neither the buyer or seller would be charged extra for a label - the cost of the label is absorbed into the sellers sell price - so either the seller would buy the label  either via ebay  or  from the carrier or another possibility if it was allowed  is that ebay would deduct the label price from the seller's received funds for the sale - who knows it's all guesswork until it is made compulsory 

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[vintique*violet]

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

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? 

Come on does this sound right? 

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? 

[valueaddedresource]

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@mitchiemasha wrote:

We keep overlooking 2 words here "eligible listings". 

So considering "those words were not just off the cuff remarks. They were part of the CEO's prepared statement for investors which would have been scripted, vetted, and approved by high level legal, compliance, investor relations and communications stakeholders for the simple fact that those statements carry significant weight with investors and the US Securities and Exchange Commission."

Those words would of been "all listings" for private sellers, unless some listings weren't going to be part of this plan. 

The choice of word "eligible" still gives ebay massive room to manuever. Just a thought! Clothing is a yes though. I still haven't seen simple delivery as an option. I may list my old denim jacket later to see what it looks like. Very eager for the 4th to see which categories it will appear on.

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@mitchiemasha  correct - not all items are or will be eligible.

eBay has not given specifics yet about what it will look like once mandated, but I believe it's likely they'll probably start off with the eligibility criteria being pretty much what it is now and just take away the ability to opt out.

There's a whole section in the FAQ that lays out size/weight/value criterias as well as a list of postal codes that are currently excluded.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery

The help and policy pages goes into more detail about what is included and also what is restricted or prohibited from the program.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575 

Sellers should carefully read all of the relevant policies to understand how this change will affect them.

As for those who aren't seeing it as an option yet - it is a phased rollout so not all sellers may have it yet and also, the CEO's remarks mentioned the "native listing flow" (that's how eBay refers to their mobile app experience) so it's possible it may be in the app listing flow first and not yet in the desktop web experience, at least for some users.

[charliegolf2009]

Thank you all that answered my post. I've been a seller since 2009 and always an occasional one at best. Since 2018 it's been my livelihood, or more correctly a complement to my meager salary, so giving it up completely will be hard for me. I understand that from a certain perspective I should be instead a business seller, however there are months when you can make 500€ and others not even 20€.

These changes won't do for me, so I'm going to ship the final orders placed last week and pull all my listings. Afterwards I'll close my account and open a new one probably on eBay Deutschland. I simply cannot afford to lose this extra income at this moment, not with my health issues.

[lardzeppo]

That is bonkers. Seems like this new scheme despite a load of verbiage from EBay has not been properly thought through. How can a free postage item be reallocated to a postage paid for item ? This is insane
Sent from my iPad

[sml192]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

There's a whole section in the FAQ that lays out size/weight/value criterias as well as a list of postal codes that are currently excluded.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery

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Note, the excluded postcodes only apply to items sold in the clothing categories, where Packlink is involved.  There are no exclusions for eligible items in other categories. 

[valueaddedresource]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@sml192 wrote:

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@dch2112011 wrote:

It is all guesswork but if free delivery was allowed I would imagine it would just allow the buyer to choose free delivery or an enhanced chargeable service -  there would be no charge to either buyer or seller for the free service  

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If there is no charge to either buyer or seller then that would mean that eBay would be paying for the postage label.  I don't think so! 

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You are misunderstanding ' free postage' when offered by a seller - if offered by the seller and under simple delivery it gave the option to a buyer to select this free delivery  - neither the buyer or seller would be charged extra for a label - the cost of the label is absorbed into the sellers sell price - so either the seller would buy the label  either via ebay  or  from the carrier or another possibility if it was allowed  is that ebay would deduct the label price from the seller's received funds for the sale - who knows it's all guesswork until it is made compulsory 

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I'm not misunderstanding anything - with Simple Delivery eBay does not deduct the label price from the seller's price and the seller has no control over what shipping methods are offered to the buyer.

eBay decides which options to show the buyer, the shipping cost the buyer pays goes to eBay and then eBay sends an already paid for label to the seller - all the seller has to do is package the item, apply that label, and get the package into the hands of the carrier.

I suppose technically it might be possible for the seller to keep some amount baked into their item price and decide to purchase their own label instead of using the pre-paid one, but I have no idea why anyone would choose to do that when:

A.) they would not get any of the protections offered by the program that way and

B.) their items would just end up being very over-priced and not competitive since the buyer would be paying shipping to eBay on top of the inflated seller price.

[dch2112011]

to make the free delivery scenario simple for you 

remembering this is guesswork

ebay offer the free shipping option to the buyer  as an option - the buyer selects this option and is charged £0.00  

The seller  who includes the free shipping within his price  either

Has to purchase the label and ship for free to the buyer  or

ebay purchases the label on the seller's behalf and deducts the cost of the service from the sellers funds

SIMPLE !

[valueaddedresource]

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@sml192 wrote:

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

There's a whole section in the FAQ that lays out size/weight/value criterias as well as a list of postal codes that are currently excluded.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery

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Note, the excluded postcodes only apply to items sold in the clothing categories, where Packlink is involved.  There are no exclusions for eligible items in other categories. 

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@sml192  yep - I purposely didn't go into the specifics, hoping it might make people curious enough to click through and read the full FAQ themselves because clearly many have not done so. 😂

[valueaddedresource]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

to make the free delivery scenario simple for you 

remembering this is guesswork

ebay offer the free shipping option to the buyer  as an option - the buyer selects this option and is charged £0.00  

The seller  who includes the free shipping within his price  either

Has to purchase the label and ship for free to the buyer  or

ebay purchases the label on the seller's behalf and deducts the cost of the service from the sellers funds

SIMPLE !

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@dch2112011  simple except for one thing - what you are describing is not how Simple Delivery works!

Please show me exactly where you are getting this idea that eBay deducts the cost of the label from the seller's funds?

 Here's what the actual FAQ for Simple Delivery says:

What will the transactions look like for the delivery costs?

For clothing categories:
When your buyer pays for delivery at checkout, the amount will be credited to and deducted from your account and paid to Packlink, the label provider. You'll receive a postage label and QR code to post the sold item. The label cost, covered by the buyer's payment, is included in your eBay sales earnings.

See Reconciling your eBay sales transactions for further information. 

For all other eligible categories:
Your buyer will pay for delivery at checkout and you’ll receive a postage label and QR code to post the sold item. Delivery costs are paid to eBay. 

Yes, for clothing sales, the amount paid for shipping by the buyer is initially credited to the seller's account but then immediately deducted back out - but note that's a separate amount for shipping, eBay is not taking anything out of the item price for those who "include free shipping" in their price.

And as I described previously, it wouldn't make sense for sellers to continue to include some amount baked into their item price for shipping if the item is using Simple Delivery.

For all other items using Simple Delivery, that money for separately stated shipping literally never even touches the seller's account - it is paid directly to eBay and eBay provides the label to the seller.

In instances where eBay decides to offer a buyer free shipping, there will just be nothing paid by the buyer and they will still provide a pre-paid label to the seller.

No guesswork is necessary, all you have to do is read the actual FAQ and terms.

[dch2112011]

The question was can anybody suggest how free shipping may work with simple shipping if and when simple shipping becomes compulsory

So as this is not mentioned anywhere except as a fairly ambiguous statement with no detail or explanation by ebay - it is as stated guesswork

Some members suggest that free shipping will not be allowed  - one option

Some members suggest that free shipping will disallow simple shipping - two option

I suggested it might be integrated into simple shipping - three option

SIMPLE Suggestions for simple delivery - What's your suggestion other than these three as you seem to feel informed ?

[forapersona1]

Well today I have done my weekly end listings and put them back up as sell similar. I have also added to my listings that they will only be available until the end of January.  I will be ending all my listings then and waiting a month to see how this bolleux pans out. I will then decide if I will be continuing with ebay, but I can say for certain that if I am not allowed to choose which delivery method I want MY STUFF delivered by, I will be off.

On the bright side, after relisting with the warning that they may not be available after January, I sold an item I have had up for years, within an hour from relisting. Nothing like a little incentive to get the buyers going.

[dch2112011]

Good news with the sale but don't cut your nose off to spite your face - simple delivery is optional and although ebay have announced that it will become compulsory there is no timescale at the moment it is merely an 'aim'  it could be next month - next year - or even shelved !

ebay are notoriously good at keeping members guessing until very much the last minute  

[valueaddedresource]

@dch2112011 true, eBay has not given details about what will happen when Simple Delivery becomes compulsory. 

I have no inside info but I think it's reasonable to suggest that the terms and policies at that point will likely be the same or very similar to what they are now - or at the very least that it's unlikely eBay will scrap those terms for something completely different - so reading the existing terms is a decent place to start.

Under the current terms of Simple Delivery, it's not that free shipping will not ever be allowed, it's that it will only be allowed when/if eBay decides to offer it - the seller will have zero input or control over that.

The current terms also make it clear that the seller will have no input or control regarding which shipping options (whether free or paid) are shown to the buyer in Simple Delivery.

Currently the only way your option two works (free shipping disallowing simple delivery) is if the seller explicitly opts out of Simple Delivery if it is offered to them in the listing flow - that's the only way a seller would still be able to choose to offer free shipping. Sure that works now, but once opting out is no longer an option, then selecting free shipping will also no longer be an option so this point will be moot.

Your suggested option three is vague but based on your previous posts you seem to think that integrating free shipping into Simple Delivery will still somehow involve sellers baking shipping costs into their item prices and eBay taking the shipping cost from the seller's funds.

If that is what you mean by "integrating into Simple Delivery" then I have to disagree - I see absolutely nothing in the current terms or FAQ to suggest that and see no reasonable explanation for why eBay would decide to change the terms completely and do things that way once it becomes mandatory.

[dch2112011]

Sellers are currently allowed to offer free shipping when listing 

So if the option remains when listing with simple shipping surely either the listing will be exempt from simple shipping or ebay will integrate it and offer the free shipping as an option for the buyer to choose with a £0.00  cost -  The seller then ships for free ! (this conforms with most of what you keep repeating except there is no label from ebay ) 

This system is extremely common as a buyer choice on a lot of major sites where at checkout the buyer can choose free shipping DPD standard 1 - 3 day delivery £0.00 - DPD next day 1 - 2 day delivery at  £4.15 - Royal Mail guaranteed next day £8.00  (examples only)

The free shipping option may be one of  ebays choices for buyers from sellers offering free shipping ?

[valueaddedresource]

@dch2112011  to answer you specific question - " can anybody suggest how free shipping may work with simple shipping if and when simple shipping becomes compulsory?"

Yes, I can suggest that free shipping with Simple Delivery will work as eBay has stated in the FAQ - it may be offered to buyers on a promotional basis at any time eBay decides, sellers will have no input or control in the matter, and the shipping cost in that case will be borne by eBay with a pre-paid label still supplied to seller just like any other Simple Delivery shipment.

And yes, you can glean all of that from reading the actual FAQ and terms and conditions that are currently available.

[valueaddedresource]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

Sellers are currently allowed to offer free shipping when listing 

So if the option remains when listing with simple shipping surely either the listing will be exempt from simple shipping or ebay will integrate it and offer the free shipping as an option for the buyer to choose with a £0.00  cost -  The seller then ships for free ! (this conforms with most of what you keep repeating except there is no label from ebay ) 

This system is extremely common as a buyer choice on a lot of major sites where at checkout the buyer can choose free shipping DPD standard 1 - 3 day delivery £0.00 - DPD next day 1 - 2 day delivery at  £4.15 - Royal Mail guaranteed next day £8.00  (examples only)

The free shipping option may be one of  ebays choices for buyers from sellers offering free shipping ?

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@dch2112011 I don't know any other way to explain this to you except that what you are describing is the way the non-Simple Delivery listing, selling and shipping process works.

The processes for items using Simple Delivery are completely different and governed by the terms and conditions for that program, so there is no use in trying to apply the non-Simple Delivery process to a discussion about how Simple Delivery works.

I'm just going to leave it there because clearly we're just going around in circles not talking about the same thing.