You can no longer send items RM Special Delivery......

[j.p.greenwood]

I am a private seller of over 20 years on E-Bay.

While a lot of people complained extensively about the recent changes with payment systems frankly it never bothered me as I only sell bits and pieces and occasionally will have a burst of selling some specific items when I'm in an upgrade cycle (which I am currently).

The items I sell when in this 'upgrade cycle' are Tablets, I'm currently upgrading to the most recent Tab S10 series from earlier models, so as I buy one, I'll list the one it's replacing to sell.

However, some of these Tabs can have quite high values, up to £700, therefore I'm *bleep* about the shipping I use and even detail in my listings that I'll only use RM Special Delivery.

There reasons for this are numerous

Firstly RMSD is tracked all the way through the system, every depot and truck, so I know where it is within RM's network.....that gives me peace of mind.

Secondly it has a one day guaranteed delivery time, the other new Simple Delivery options do not give a guaranteed time (and I wouldn't even contemplate using EVRI to delivery high value electronics items).

Thirdly, on the very rare cases where RMSD has gone wrong, I usually get a refund cheque inside a week, once it was three weeks when we had a too and fro about the packaging, but when I provided the photos of what was used they paid out.

Fourthly, as the delivery time is guaranteed it means I get paid faster by ebay.  I don't want to wait an extra three to four days before I get paid because there's now no premium shipping service.

Lastly, buyers like it, not everyone wants to save every last penny.  By buying RMSD in the Post Office my package is weighed and the weight is on the Postal Receipt, I photo this and send to the buyer so they can see exactly what was paid and that's what the RMSD premium pricing provides......Simple Delivery is just rubbish in comparison.

[ruby*ryan]

As a private seller realistically how many times do you have a tablet to sell though? Once a year?  Once every other year? Just list it elsewhere and use eBay for cheaper stuff.

[j.p.greenwood]

I have a lot of tablets as I use them for lots of different reasons.

The current upgrade cycle I'm in I've already replaced six and I have eight more to do.

If E-Bay won't let me use RMSD why would I bother using them at all.

[lucy_farmer]

'Just list it elsewhere and use eBay for cheaper stuff.'

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I agree with you on that point, but find it to be a bit of an ironic result for ebay's 'going forward' ideas of how they'd like to be seen.

As in ebay's ambition to be somewhere where 'high- value' buyers will buy high-end handbags, trainers and the like....

Ebay seem to be stuck between not wanting the real cheap stuff (i.e. the 75p +4% BPF making an enormous difference to the real cheap prices)

And not wanting sellers of more expensive gear to be able to post insured and with peace-of-mind.

[vinylscot]

Your other option, of course, would be to register as a business seller.

SD would not affect you at all then, and you would have full control of your shipping methods.

I'm not saying you ARE a business seller, but not many private sellers will be selling over a dozen tablets in less than a year (some mint and still boxed), while also carrying stocks of many electronic components and accessories,  some available in multiples. Might be worth a wee think, eh?

[aphystykqa]

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@ruby*ryan wrote:

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@aphystykqa wrote:

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I am also frustrated when I read that those who don't possess a Smart-Phone (such as myself) - can use a Printer Instead, and they say that we can print labels - as though we all have sticky labels sat at home to print on - when of-course, that's not the case. I thought the advice would be only to simply print out the QR Code onto a piece of A4 or A5 sheet of white paper, and then take that along to the Post Office yourself, who would have the correct labels there

If you have a printer (to print out the QR code) why not just print the label and stick it on the parcel with tape?

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When/If I decide to advertise my items on Ebay again in the future by being Forced  into using the Not-Simple Delivery system - then I'll first of all speak to my local Post Office Staff/ or Manager who knows me very well - and see what They  shall accept, before doing what you suggest - which may or may not be allowable to them. 

As I have not made any attempt thus-far - then naturally I am totally in the dark at this point, as to what Ebay shall give me the option to print off, after a sale is made - rather than their alternative option to simply walking into a Post Office and just letting them scan the QR code direct from the Ebay site - which people with Smart-Phones would of-course do.

But Yes of-course, if it really is as simple to print off a QR code onto a piece of A4 paper, which I have reams of already, and then simply cut around it with scissors and stick it onto the parcel with sellotape or Pritt-glue, and that is all that's required, then that is what I shall do. If that can't be done, then I'd assume that I'd just print off the QR code onto paper, and then give it to the post office to scan, and then they'd print a proper sticky label with all the necessary details onto the parcel. But I'll soon find this all out.

Of course, the Post Office may just point-black Refuse  to take parcels sold on Ebay via SD, as The Sun newspaper reported in April - https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/34280293/ebay-seller-fury-post-office-package-chaos/

In that case, I'd have to try a few post offices before I'd find one that hopefully says Yes.

[ruby*ryan]

If you have a printer it's really not difficult - it's how I have been doing my labels for years.
Don't print off the QR code and stick it to the parcel though! Print off the postage label and stick it to the parcel, with tape not glue - unless you have a laser printer, which I think has waterproof print.

If your PO refuses top take the parcel, report them to RM. 

[vinylscot]

You are very unlikely to have any problems of that nature now. SD is reasonably well bedded in now, and I would really take with a pinch of salt any new reports of the issues which arose in the early days. It's only a couple of the well-known trouble-makers who are trying to claim otherwise.

[aphystykqa]

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@ruby*ryan wrote:

If you have a printer it's really not difficult - it's how I have been doing my labels for years.
Don't print off the QR code and stick it to the parcel though! Print off the postage label and stick it to the parcel, with tape not glue - unless you have a laser printer, which I think has waterproof print.

If your PO refuses top take the parcel, report them to RM. 

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Thankyou ruby*ryan  🙂

(Personally) for the last 22 years of Ebay's  30 year life in business, I have NEVER had to print any label, nor needed the requirements of a Smart Phone/QR-Code malarkey. Instead, just a Very Simplified workable and successful process of walking into a Post Office and let the Paid Professional Staff/Managers do the job in which they are paid to do, and have 100% of the time - managed to do this with No problem.

So, for myself to transition to something totally Alien  (as like so many others have now been Forced  to do) - does present a multitude of problems which I (and many others) can only see as problems which would have never materialized if Ebay had gone down an alternative route than they have done with Mandatory Simple Delivery, which is in no-way Simple..

[aphystykqa]

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@vinylscot wrote:

You are very unlikely to have any problems of that nature now. SD is reasonably well bedded in now, and I would really take with a pinch of salt any new reports of the issues which arose in the early days. It's only a couple of the well-known trouble-makers who are trying to claim otherwise.

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Yeah lol, The Sun newspaper is notorious of sensationalizing a small problem into something far greater than it is. But I'll still pop into my Post Office just to make sure Prior  to relisting any of my unsold items, or/and placing any new items for sale.

[j.p.greenwood]

Not a business seller, so why would I need to lie to be able to use RMSD?

[vinylscot]

It's not me you'll need to convince. Your sales are at a level that will mean eBay will be reporting them to HMRC. That's who you'll need to convince. Good luck with that.

[j.p.greenwood]

I have no issue or concern talking to HMRC, do you really think any business would survive for over a couple of months on two sales a month?  my point is that I shouldn't need to lie to E-Bay to be able to use RMSD, after all, I've used it for literally decades without any problem until today.

[vinylscot]

A business can survive on one sale a year, or maybe none at all. It won't necessarily make you a millionaire, but it may be able to survive.

As I say, it's not me you need to convince.

[j.p.greenwood]

Stop being deliberately silly (said in my best Monty Python accent), a business needs proper revenue and profit to survive, anything else is a subsidised hobby.

As I've already said, I have absolutely no concerns talking to HMRC as they'd take one look at my records and see I'm not a business.

Also, stop deflecting, why have E-Bay removed the ability to use RMSD, a delivery service that most people in the UK would consider the 'gold standard' of delivery services in the UK, it is expensive, but you pay for what you get.

[crn303]

Good posting J P …. People who fear HMRC are probably already in fear of them.

Backed by the necessary paperwork, records etc and a good understanding of what they are normally seeking will ensure we sleep well at night.

HMRC is not the bogeyman some may want you to believe.

In closing …. Being a private seller of 20+ years plus (similar to myself), I wish you well moving forward.

[j.p.greenwood]

I get it as there have historically been hundreds of sellers on E-Bay who most people would classify as a business seller, the new rules are designed to trap them and if it means they then have to pay proper tax for what they are doing that's all good as far as I'm concerned.

However, it does annoy me when people try to claim that a seller like myself, has something to fear from the revenue, when I sell may 2-3 items a month with an average price of probably less than £500 (that's price, not profit) and anyone who did  more than 5 minutes research could see I'm usually selling below the price of other sellers of the same items, so how could I be making any profit? 

Simplistically I'm not, I'm selling stuff to offset the price of the replacement units I've already bought, that invariably have cost more than the price of the item they've replaced that I'm now selling, therefore it's a net cost to me, any fool (and certainly the revenue) would be able to tell you that's not how a business operates.

[susan03lucy]

I opted out of Simpleton delivery on my private account and am still able to print out all the same services as before,

Today done nine RM48 and one Special Delivery.

[j.p.greenwood]

They may not have caught up with your account yet (I suspect they're doing it on a staggered implementation), the change literally happened since Monday for me and I've also checked a couple of draft listings I've done that originally had RMSD and that option is no longer available for those draft listing.

So, make the most of it while you still can as they're going to remove your ability to do it.

[crn303]

Hello J P …. I can clearly see you a private seller.
Like yourself there are quite a few of us who sell for recycling, charity etc. more than profit.

Please, I ask you to let negative criticism go over your head.

Best wishes in moving forward.

[j.p.greenwood]

Make sure you all realise that your draft listings will all have changed to use Simple Delivery, this might mean if you haven't disabled EVRI or Royal Mail in your options, depending on if you prefer one or the other, that your sale may end up being committed to a delivery service you wouldn't want to use.

So make sure to check your draft listings before making them active listings.