eBay

johnnyrideon2015 · ‎10-05-2025

hi

just an heads up to sellers.

my regular seller had my postage cost refunded to me from his account because he was unable to use ebay's new postage options, so he bought a stamp and posted at his local post office.

this option seems not to be allowed any more ??

anyway i will get his money back to him one way or another, its not much, but if other sellers have the same problem. its another nail in the coffin of sellers.

dch2112011 · ‎10-05-2025

Simple Delivery is compulsory for private sellers - the buyer chooses the class of delivery which suits them.

If a seller decides to use their own class of postage - the buyer gets refunded for the postage and the seller pays for the postage from their own funds.

Beware that sellers choosing to use a different method of shipping do so with this knowledge and may quite have possibly inflated the sale price by the cost of the 'stamps' to recover their cost, with this in mind I would not be so eager to pay the seller any extra - after all they have taken the conscious decision to not use Royal Mail Tracked or Evri parcel post.

If the seller can buy stamps from the post office they can just as easily use the tracked label especially as post offices are taking both Evri and Royal Mail packages (not all) - the seller can choose to use Royal Mail only when listing.

As a buyer the seller is losing protection from ebay for damaged or lost in transit goods - you cannot track and follow delivery with a non tracked package -

Suggest you keep an eye on the estimated date for delivery and if it flies by with no parcel open an Item not received case as their is no way of telling if the package will arrive or even if it has been posted !

lucy_farmer · ‎11-05-2025

'Beware that sellers choosing to use a different method of shipping do so with this knowledge and may quite have possibly inflated the sale price by the cost of the 'stamps' to recover their cost,...'

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Well, yes but that's just like 'free postage.'

Never used to worry about buying from sellers who did 'free' postage- ebay encouraged it's use as much as possible.

And at this point, at the start of the horrble S.D. system, I'd be more inclined to believe the seller either doesn't have a clue what they're supposed to be doing, or doesn't have a printer or a smart-phone. Or is just happier going to their local postie as usual..

Your comment's a bit harsh on the 'sellers evil, buyers good' scale ... 🙁

dch2112011 · ‎11-05-2025

You do not need a smart phone or a printer - you need to be able to take a picture of the QR code - the post office will scan it and print the label - all part of their service.

'Take your parcel to any Post Office branch. If you have a QR code, bring that too. We’ll scan it, and print you a label if needed' Source - Post Office Website

This begs the question as to why a seller would not use the buyer paid for label and instead go to the same post office to buy stamps !

ebay must have the largest proportion of sellers with no mobile phones with cameras, digital cameras or printers or could it be that it's just a good excuse to inconvenience their customers who have not only paid for the sellers item but also chosen and paid for the postage label.

Considering the number of sellers posting on the forum that they believe they have been conned by buyers claiming an item not received or falsely damaged in transit when posting an item without tracking - (often blaming ebay for forcing a refund) , it makes you wonder why a seller would choose to deny a buyer their choice of tracked delivery which the seller has not had to purchase before being paid.

After denying the buyer's choice the seller then goes to the same post office to buy insecure stamps which leaves the seller open to bogus INR claims and damaged in transit claims and the buyer open to a surcharge if the seller estimates the wrong postage ?

Both of which as you know are protected by ebay with Simple Delivery .

vinylscot · ‎11-05-2025

Let's be honest, eBay's communication around this has not been good.

I would imagine this incident has just arisen out of confusion.

Hopefully the seller will have realised the error now, and he will be better prepared for future sales.

I can imagine it happening quite often.

honeymonster007 · ‎11-05-2025

Well, yes but that's just like 'free postage.'

.......

Free post is a mess to keep track off. Would advise anyone using SD selling low value items with regular sales not to do free post as youll never catch up while waiting 6/7 days for your cleared money.

kath3735_wxmjn · ‎11-05-2025

maybe because some of us just prefer to be in control of our own postings! If someone wants to buy my item then i have stated RM delivery then RM delivery it will be. They do not have to purchase from me, that is their choice. Mine is not to buy from anyone using EVRI.

dch2112011 · ‎11-05-2025

ebay work on a trial and error basis - nothing new in that and they are definately not alone in that principal. it usually ends well but the confusion and lack of transparency leads to misinformation and assumption !

ruby*ryan · ‎12-05-2025

@dch2112011 wrote:

This begs the question as to why a seller would not use the buyer paid for label and instead go to the same post office to buy stamps !

Maybe. like me, the seller still has a lot of stamps to use up that he bought directly from RM? I haven't set foot in a PO for years.
I can send my LL items with a £1.55 stamp. They are cheap and do not need a 2.70 tracked label.

I have also never had an INR for a stamped item and can 'estimate' (I uses scales and a tape measure!) the size/weight of my items pretty accurately, so they don't get surcharges.

dch2112011 · ‎12-05-2025

@ruby*ryan wrote:
@dch2112011 wrote:

This begs the question as to why a seller would not use the buyer paid for label and instead go to the same post office to buy stamps !

Maybe. like me, the seller still has a lot of stamps to use up that he bought directly from R.
I can send my LL items with a £1.55 stamp. They are cheap and do not need a 2.70 tracked label.

'so he bought a stamp and posted at his local post office.'

Apparently the seller purchased a stamp after the label was issued - according to the OP !

You seem to misunderstand SD - the buyer pays the postage so it is free for the seller - it doesn't even cost the seller £1.55 - makes no sense to pay an extra £1.55 to use up a stamp ! Use them for personal cards or sell them on ebay and recover your money !

A large letter with a buyer paid for label can still be popped in a post box the same way that you do when you attach a stamp - What is the seller advantage to confuse a buyer who is happy to pay for the tracked label ?

ruby*ryan · ‎12-05-2025

@dch2112011 wrote:
You seem to misunderstand SD - the buyer pays the postage so it is free for the seller - it doesn't even cost the seller £1.55 - makes no sense to pay an extra £1.55 to use up a stamp ! Use them for personal cards or sell them on ebay and recover your money !

A large letter with a buyer paid for label can still be popped in a post box the same way that you do when you attach a stamp - What is the seller advantage to confuse a buyer who is happy to pay for the tracked label ?

I understand SD perfectly well, having spend the last couple of months reading the help pages/reading the changed help pages, reading the announcements/reading the changed announcements and reading the contrary info given on the weekly chat.
I think you don't understand the fact that a £3 item with free postage (using a £1.55 stamp) is just about do-able - when you are a private seller and looking to get rid of stuff, not make a profit.
The same £3 item with £2.70 postage is unlikely to sell, and if the seller uses SD/seller pays, a £3 item with 'free' postage, which costs the seller £2.70, it isn't do-able.

I still have 150 stamps to use up, and probably just over 150 of these cheap items, but IF Large Letters are not going to be exempt from SD, then the items will go in the bin, and the stamps to a charity, as the items will not be worth listing on here, as they really do not warrant £2.70 postage, regardless of who is paying for it.

I don't send LL cards, so any cards I send will be using up my stash of Letter stamps. I would not sell stamps on here for fear of the buyer claiming they were fake.

Now, is there any other aspect of my life you would like to organise for me?

3942rick2005 · ‎12-05-2025

Sorry but you are misunderstanding it also, it is not solely " buyer pays" the postage - when you list you have to choose buyer or seller pays.

dch2112011 · ‎12-05-2025

If you are selling with free delivery then fine but you did not follow the thread nor did you state you were following your own agenda - you posted ambiguously on a tangent to the thread which is fine if you make it clear

- the point was that the seller advertised with buyer pays delivery - the buyer paid and the seller decided to not use the tracked label but to specifically go to the post office buy a stamp and use that instead -

The buyer feels obliged to refund the seller because the seller blamed ebay and led the buyer to believe that the seller had personally refunded the ebay label from his own account!

As the buyer was willing to pay for the tracked label - the seller should at no inconvenience use the label rather than be the cause of inconvenience to the buyer

The seller would have saved himself the cost of the stamp and the buyer need not have been drawn into finding a way to pay the seller for the stamp or to be drawn into the seller's blame game against ebay when it was clearly the seller making trouble.

Remember the seller advertised with buyer pays postage which is the polar opposite to what you do !