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 ! 🤔 🙄 😁   

[lucy_farmer]

'....which nobody's spotted yet..'

Apart from valueadded of course 😅 who I'm heavily relying on to actually read all the ebay-speak guff and make it understandable!

[da-vids]

They have done their sums, though wish someone would actually do something about the dishonest ones with the odd prosecution, seeing as they have authentication thingy now they could route a percentage of expensive parcels through same facility and actually catch thieving gits at it somehow. Entrapment should be legal me thinks 

[Anonymous]

I have been on ebay for 25 years. Once my last items have been delivered in the next couple of weeks I will be closing my account.

Ebay have ended listing fees and foisted them onto the buyer. I'm not paying for the privilege of buying something, that is utter madness and Facebook Marketplace has just about everything I need and it is free to use.

What do we get from buyer protection anyway? Pretty much just 24 hour help, although what use that will be I have no idea.

And forcing sellers to wait up to 14 days for their money? I'm not being part of that, and if you don't know what that is, just imagine the interest Ebay will earn on all that money held for up to 14 days PLUS the fees WE are paying!

The greed and madness from Ebay is off the chart ridiculous! What a farce! I feel so sorry for sellers who only sell things so they can eat or turn the heating on.

Hopefully this will be the end of Ebay once and for all.

[da-vids]

"The greed and madness from Ebay is off the chart ridiculous"

It is relentless greed when you think of how they are making the money... a form of usury!

[papso22]

Far too many people are relying on what they think the email says, very few are looking at the detail and many of those only see what they want to see. 

Thank you for bringing the detail to people's attention.

[da-vids]

"Far too many people are relying on what they think the email says, very few are looking at the detail and many of those only see what they want to see."

I'm guilty of this, then I read everything after and it ain't so bad 🤪

[podlingsmum2007]

I am looking at getting my listings ready for the change. I'm separating the item and the postage as going forward it won't be free postage when they bring in simple delivery. I haven't seen this delivery available to me, even on clothing, yet. I'm upgrading all the postage to RM48 for everything. Will this 4% charge to buyers be on my current postage or is it just on the item?

[356antiques]

I rely totally on eBay as my income, I sell lots of antique furniture, that doesn’t go via post but private courier. I have no idea how that would work, and generally as its nationwide delivery takes up to 2 weeks for delivery to be carried out. So now when I sell something for £500 I will have to wait 2 weeks to get my money? For me, and lots of other dealers this is the end for me with eBay. Especially with the amount of buyers saying they aren’t going to pay extra to buy something (nor would I) now looking to book fairs to sell at and end my relationship with eBay. A shame but they are killing the seller and buyer in one swoop. 

[geosacha007]

I really hope ebay send sellers the actual label to print and not a QR code.  In my limited experience of getting a QR code for an amazon return only one of the five Evri parcel shops in my area had a working label printing machine. And they never get fixed.

[geosacha007]

So ebay gets the label wrong and we take it to the PO? They refuse to take it. What do we do then? Paying yourself would not be an option as would you ever get it back?

[dch2112011]

Any 'label' chosen by the buyer will be based on the weight and dimensions of the package declared by you the seller when listing the item for sale -  so it will be up to the seller to accurately state the size and weight of the package to ensure the postage is correct.

This will probably cause more problems than any previously mentioned for new private sellers who sell one off personal items or start to sell.

The problem of packing items when a seller has to find a box or bubble wrap or anything to post it in when they have not the resource of businesses with multiple boxes and materials to hand is often the last thing they think of and causes problems now when sellers buy their own labels.

It will mean private sellers having to pack items and weigh them prior to listing which will be interesting and possibly too much trouble for some - and some will guess - a lot of non regular sellers often have no accurate scales, tape measures or decent protective packing.

This is a reality when individuals with no experiance decide to sell something online - the problem of posting is an afterthought for many.

[beacon_77]

Instead of waiting and seeing, why not read what Ebay have made absolutely clear, here?:

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/buyerprotection/?mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=e99011.m2.l1&mkcid=8&bu=44798483220&...

The buyer is NOT given the option to choose the delivery method. Nor is the algorithm!

Simple Delivery will NOT be mandatory. You can still use postage stamps, or labels direct from the post office, DHL, DPD etc. Those huge corporations are NOT going to allow Ebay to monopolise and control the sale of THEIR services!!

Tracked delivery will NOT be mandatory either. Items without tracking, or tracked but not reported as delivered, will be assumed delivered within 14 days, allowing ample time for the buyer to report non-delivery. These should only be low value items anyway, so no one should be bothered if the occasional couple of quid's worth goes astray, but even then, if you are bothered, then simply get proof of posting for free when sending the item and Royal Mail will cover the value up to £20.

It has always been common sense that if you are sending something expensive, you need Special Delivery, Tracked/Signed For delivery, or other courier insurance up to or above the value of the item.

[sml192]

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@356antiques wrote:

I rely totally on eBay as my income, I sell lots of antique furniture, that doesn’t go via post but private courier. I have no idea how that would work, and generally as its nationwide delivery takes up to 2 weeks for delivery to be carried out. So now when I sell something for £500 I will have to wait 2 weeks to get my money? For me, and lots of other dealers this is the end for me with eBay. Especially with the amount of buyers saying they aren’t going to pay extra to buy something (nor would I) now looking to book fairs to sell at and end my relationship with eBay. A shame but they are killing the seller and buyer in one swoop. 

---

The changes only apply to private sellers though, not dealers? 

[beacon_77]

The only thing I'm disillusioned and fed up with, is people like you, who don't bother to read what Ebay have said, but moan about what you, or some other gossip, think they might have said:

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/buyerprotection/?mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=e99011.m2.l1&mkcid=8&bu=44798483220&...

Feel free to leave if you want.... Ebay could do with a decluttering of sellers who don't know what they're talking about, because they haven't bothered to read up on the subject!

[valueaddedresource]

@beacon_77 as has been stated multiple times in this thread and others - eBay CEO Jamie Iannone has explicitly stated Simple Delivery will be mandatory for private sales of eligible items sometime in Q1 2025.

It is not gossip or assumptions or conjecture - it is the exact words of the CEO of a publicly traded company in prepared remarks to investors which carry the weight of official corporate communications.

Here is what he said on the last earnings call:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4731184-ebay-inc-ebay-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript

With managed shipping, we are completely overhauling our shipping experience for C2C sellers in the UK in two phases. The first phase completed in early October, extended the simplified shipping experience we first rolled out in pre-owned apparel to all categories. Within the new native listing flow, UK C2C sellers now see a consolidated list of shipping options based on the estimated package size and weight. And since implementing this change, we have observed a significant reduction in time spent on shipping in a listing flow.

The second phase of managed shipping; radically simplifies the experience and creates a new revenue stream for eBay. Similar to managed payments and eBay international shipping, Managed shipping leverages our scale and expertise to create a better experience for customers while generating incremental revenue and operating income dollars. When listing eligible products sellers simply confirm the pre-selected package size and eBay handles the rest.

Buyers received competitive shipping rates and sellers are fully protected against loss or damage. Managed shipping is currently live for C2C pre-owned apparel listing in the UK. In Q4, we plan to expand managed shipping horizontally on an opt-out basis, before mandating the program for eligible items listed by C2C sellers during Q1 of 2025.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Perhaps if you read the CEO statement to shareholders which has been quoted frequently on these threads you might know what you are talking about instead of being rude to others.  

[beacon_77]

Well, we're already in Q1 of 2025 and it hasn't happened. On the contrary, the relevant information pages on Ebay include this:

You can opt out of Simple Delivery when you're creating your listing by selecting Custom Postage from the delivery options. If you'd prefer not to use Simple Delivery at all in the future, you'll need to opt out each time this programme is recommended when you're creating listings.

It seems you can opt in or out depending on what you're listing, its value, its size/bulk and where your buyer is located. There is no reference anywhere to Simple Delivery being compulsory, now, or in the future, despite what the CEO said a year ago. If they want to make it compulsory in March i.e. before the end of Q1, then why only limit 'the future' to the month of February 2025!? In fact, if they intend to make it compulsory at all, why not straight away?

Perhaps they've since realised that it's unworkable for low value items, and items which appeal equally or more to overseas buyers, and bulky items sold for local collection only? This all started because they want to wipe out Vinted... and for people selling clothes inland, this supposedly simple sending system could help that process. But Vinted has a younger demographic than Ebay in its entirety. Ebay is dominated by the collectables/hobby market, for which they have no credible rivals. If they force older people who have spent decades using postage stamps and supporting local post offices, to be dictated to regarding which couriers they can and can't use, and under what process, when shifting their old hobby/leisure stuff in order to buy different hobby/leisure stuff, then indeed this will kill off the only sector they really need to protect. It will also kill off their competition to Facebook marketplace if compulsory 'Simple Delivery' excludes local pick up for general private seller household stuff.

If they haven't realised this, or it's part of the plan to deter low value/overseas private sales, thus limiting private sellers from raising the money to buy all the new and old stuff they need from business sellers; or only allow opt out for one month, despite investing in an opt out option on the revised listings templates, and referring to the 'future' as something which extends beyond a couple of months.... then I'll admit I was wrong to think they aren't that stupid!

[papso22]

We at the start of Q1 and ebay gave exactly one month's notice for buyer protection;  I expect the same for the extended and mandatory simple delivery, sometime in February. 

Of course current guidance sets out the current position.

[redconnboy]

Anyone have any ideas on how managed shipping will work for private sellers like myself who have always offered free delivery with their items? no one seems to have mentioned this yet in their replies?

[papso22]

Free delivery is not expected to availability under the extended managed shipping, but the details have yet to be announced. 

It is not available under current simple delivery.