First time posting here but I do so as a seller in complete exasperation!
I've been a member of eBay since 2004, and have sold more than 2000 items on the platform. I sell a lot of items, and have a fantastic feedback score, as well as buyer feedback.
The changes that eBay have recently introduced for sellers are confusing, baffling and completely disingenuous and suggest the platform is either in serious trouble, or completely overcome with greed, or both.
All the changes appear to be an attempt to ratchet up revenue but have been dressed up as improvements for sellers. None of the changes improve the experience for sellers whatsoever. If eBay wants to increase revenue, I would rather they increase eBay sales or subscription fees rather than go through this sorry charade, all with minimal consultation with sellers.
I'll go through the changes in turn:
1. Removal of seller fees.
Oh, great news, we thought! Nothing comes for free. In imposing unclear and variable 'buyer protection' fees, sellers now have to second guess the eBay imposed fee, and adjust sales prices down. The eBay buyer is particularly price-sensitive - otherwise they would go direct to an online brand or retailer so a buyer fee immediately reduces the sale price that sellers can list at - for eBay to claim that sellers no longer pay a sales fee is completely disingenuous. Worse still, the perception of a buyer fee has reduced buyer demand, with many sellers experiencing a drop off in sales volumes.
2. Payment to sellers on delivery
This change was introduced to 'improve the sales process' claim eBay. Again, not true. This is about eBay earning interest on seller revenues and delayed payment, and also sitting on seller cashflow. Untrustworthy sellers with poor feedback or performance could either be removed from the platform or downweighted in the algorithm to safeguard the buyer experience. Again, more smoke and mirrors from eBay...
3. Simple delivery
This offer to sellers is a complete nonsense. Sellers select the best postage options to suit their inventory, protect items in transit or suit their needs, such as royal mail collection from home. Experienced sellers know the best service to use for each item, and to service their needs. This change yields no benefit for a seller whatsoever, and is purely about eBay negotiating hard volume discounts and commissions from courier services, and again growing revenues. It means that sellers will have to input unnecessary size and weight details for every listing to suit eBay rather than seller needs, considerably increasing the time taken to list items. Hypothetically, if I sold 10 items in a week, eBay could select 5-7 different courier services, turning the seller into a defacto courier service to perform drop offs. It also discriminates against disabled sellers, who may rely on using one collection service which suits their needs and is relaible. As a seller, I avoid certain couriers who are either unreliable (Evri never collects as promised, Yodel always damages fragile goods...). And yet sellers are still performance rated on the seller experience goes? Absolutely ridiculous!
All in all, these changes are a complete shambles, and have been introduced with no consultation with sellers, and at short notice. It is utterly disrespectful to long-term sellers, responsible for helping build the eBay platform.
The changes feel like they have been designed by consultants or eBay staff with little experience of selling on the platform.
I hope eBay senior management read these posts and act. If you want to raise revenue, increase the fees and reverse the changes. Please!
If eBay competitors are reading these comments, please build a competing platform which serves sellers better than this, and many eBay sellers will jump ship. We've had enough!
