Sellers refusing to ship to Norther Irela

[thebouldpete]

This has to stop, full stop!

A note to Ebay..... apart from this whole Brexit faf.... please admend listings espically from Mainland UK to force sellers accept to ship to Northern Ireland as I see absolutely no reason why they shoud'nt.

All, and I mean All delivery firms and companies including couriers will and do deliver to Northern Ireland without exception. While there may be a small surcharge, this is all.... I constantly use Royal Mail and they have never ever failed me (same delivery charges all around NI/GB). I am fed up by the fact that I sometimes have to have items sent to my siblings in the UK only to have them re-directed to my Northern Ireland address.... not on!

please Ebay.... without going polical set all listing to automatically allow delivery to Northern Ireland.

[bigtrevcars]

But is this down to Ebay ? Surely the individual sellers have made this decision. Due to the very recent change in legislation ( which, I believe TUV leader , Jim Alistair is going to challenge, with cross parry support) I can see many sellers on the mainland deciding it is not worth the hassle of completing all the new paper work to make a few sales in NI. It disgusts me the way the government has treated our country over the application of the Protocol and the Windsor framework. It has now  become very apparent that all the  benefits that NI's unique position would bring have turned out to be non-existant with zero interest of inward investment from companies. You are right, it is discriminatory how the province is being treated compared to the mainland. I sincerely hope that M r Alistair us successful in his mission but, as thing stand, I can see mainland sellers on all the other platforms eg vinted ETSY etc following exactly the same action.

Yours sincerely

An NI exasperated EBAY trader.

[earsmedia]

No it doesn’t work like that. One of my products is supplied from China and has my brand name on it. I cannot list it on ebay without my Northern Ireland customers being blocked because I do not have a northern Irish address to use. If there was one, I’d happily do the paperwork. The product is an antenna. No moving parts made of metal and fibreglass. It’s no longer available to NI residents and that is discrimination.
Sent from my iPhone

[jonatjonatjonat]

You don't need a Northern Irish address though.

This is to do with GPSR and you need a responsible person within the EU or NI. If you don't you fall foul of GPSR. Its not discrimination as you can't discriminate based on geographical location.

[earsmedia]

Confused? The responsible person MUST be within the EU or NI, and I am not. p

[thebouldpete]

It does matter when eBay quotes either United Kingdom or Great Britain,  if you get what I mean. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

To clarify - the responsible person does not have to be you. While you may not be able to justify the expense of employing a third party responsible person, the point I was trying to make was just not having a NI address doesn't stop you.

I'm sorry - I have no idea what you mean by' It does matter when eBay quotes either United Kingdom or Great Britain, if you get what I mean. '

[thebouldpete]

Look up the differences between the two...it may help to understand why it is   more difficult for us here in NI hence 'Geographical discrimination ' as mentioned by 'alcas1265'.

[myriad*seller]

There is no legislation that protects Geographic locations from discrimination

Geographic location is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act so it not legally actionable 

[thebouldpete]

As per —

‘

@alcas1265 wrote:

under the Equality Act of 2010, Ebay are in breach. Recently and in light of my videos on you tube, i have reached out to government departments, and to make this clear. Ebay have breached numerous acts with regard to Geographical discrimination, Geographical Equality, and moreover breaches of the Levelling up Government scheme. This enabling GB sellers to turn off part of the UK is illegal and can be a high court issue coming for them. As one Government Commission, my group of people, my YouTube followers, my customers are behind this issue.

I am going to be seeking a group of people, to whom, due to this, and Ebay constantly enabling this to occur with zero impact assessments or communicating with any larger sellers or stakeholders in Northern Ireland

Ebay haven't realised this, but they have sleep walked into a major country wide legal issue. And the press are being informed, MLAs in Stormont, with press releases being made very soon.

Ive been ignored by ebay regarding this issue since it started and its got a lot worse since GPSR started which has turned off a majority of GB sellers being allowed to simply switch of a country, Which is discriminatory by country. (and is unlawful)

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination, harassment, and victimisation based on nine protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation ’
  

[jonatjonatjonat]

Right…so what part of the equality act 2010 covers geographical discrimination?

[alisong8841]

No sellers are discriminating against Northern Ireland buy choice, why would they turn orders away?

I think a lot of these answers are just missing the simple point that it costs more to ship your products to Northern Ireland,  yes I know the Royal Mail does not charge more but they are more expensive than couriers to start with.  Most good sized sellers/ businesses with be using a more  competitively priced courier. 

For example if you are selling a small parcel product for £20  in that price you have allowed for all the deductions 

VAT = - £3.34

Ebay fees - £2.70

Cost of Product you are selling  - £10.00

Courier Delivery  - £2.40

Packaging - 15p

This leaves £1.41 Profit for the seller / company 

If that order comes from Northern Ireland the courier will add a surcharge of £2.75

So you can see that the seller has now lost £1.34 on this order

Even if the seller has the ability to change the delivery service to Royal Mail this would cost a minimum of £3.40 meaning the profit would be reduced to  only 34p 

This is the real reason a lot of sellers will not ship to Northern Ireland 

[alisong8841]

No sellers are discriminating against Northern Ireland buy choice, why would they turn orders away?

I think a lot of these answers are just missing the simple point that it costs more to ship your products to Northern Ireland,  yes I know the Royal Mail does not charge more but they are more expensive than couriers to start with.  Most good sized sellers/ businesses with be using a more  competitively priced courier. 

For example if you are selling a small parcel product for £20  in that price you have allowed for all the deductions 

VAT = - £3.34

Ebay fees - £2.70

Cost of Product you are selling  - £10.00

Courier Delivery  - £2.40

Packaging - 15p

This leaves £1.41 Profit for the seller / company 

If that order comes from Northern Ireland the courier will add a surcharge of £2.75

So you can see that the seller has now lost £1.34 on this order

Even if the seller has the ability to change the delivery service to Royal Mail this would cost a minimum of £3.40 meaning the profit would be reduced to  only 34p 

This is the real reason a lot of sellers will not ship to Northern Ireland 

[earsmedia]

Not so - my postage cost to ALL of the UK is £4.25 Tracked 24. This includes the Scottish islands, Isle of Man and Isle of White. Extra for the channel islands.

[jonatjonatjonat]

They did point out there isn't a difference if using Royal Mail. But they were referring to other couriers who do generally levy a surcharge

[bumblebeeinternational]

I can understand you wanting items to be shipped to northern ireland but often the costs of doing so with larger items is expensive but the bigger issue ispotential returns which are horrendously so. So you are saying that the seller should take more risk and potentially lose money for the same low low profit margin. This is not political its financial common sense. I sell large items if i send something that is large and expensive i want to have a good chance that it is going to make money if something adds risks then i am going to rethink listing it. 

[earsmedia]

Well - I am still shipping ebay items to Northern Ireland. All seems to be working at the moment,

[thebouldpete]

I have complete sympathy for UK sellers and do realise that it is impractical for them to ship large item across the seas to NI, and to add, the different structures that eBay apply to business and private sellers.

Indirectly related to your reply,  is the new eBay “Buyer Protection” and “Payments” which is now add to all sales regardless of cost or size, this with holding your sale funds till 2 days after delivery…
This Buyer Protection is just another made up eBay fee just to recoup lost revenue in replacement to sellers fees… to the point of directly copying Vinted with their fee layout. It is an absolute scandal that eBay feel entitled to mess around with our final sales costs, to add borderline misleading quoting “it’s free to sell” (UK to UK yes but not internationally).

This “Payments” system is to guarantee them, and to make sure the goods get to the buyers door, but they missed the point when sale items of no value will be sent untracked, so how the heck can eBay confirm these have been delivered, and like you said leave no or little profit margin?

seriously, eBay need to rethink their selling practices and make eBay to what it used to be before all this mess.

Is this a way for eBay to slowly discontinue the sales of no value items to get sellers sell high value and big items, for them to make more money in the long run? (sellers prepared to use tracked delivery, and higher Buyer Protection fees?)

[thebouldpete]

Here we go again, another email this morning from eBay towards private sellers regarding delivery methods.

“continuing our mission to provide you with a great selling experience on eBay, which is why we made it free to sell. Now, we’re improving delivery so it’s faster, easier, and more secure for you to send your items. 

 Starting from 15 April, Simple Delivery will be the only delivery method available for private sellers when listing most items. There’ll be a few exceptions, such as low-priced, bulky items, and local pick-up, which aren’t eligible for Simple Delivery.

Simple Delivery is our all-in-one delivery solution, designed to cut out all of the effort and save you money. It’s also the fastest way to get paid on eBay. Plus, buyers will benefit from savings and enjoy the peace of mind that tracking offers”

This is becoming a joke, as although it is technically free to sell, not so cheap for the buyer with ‘buyers protection’ also not so free if the item is sold internationally? (International fees apply)

And for us folks in Northern Ireland, we have limited delivery firms to ship with compared to the UK mainland. Hopefully eBay do not force use to only use their preferred delivery service which tend to be more expensive than booking a service yourself online… i have seen this with eBay using Royal Mail adding about 50p more than Royal Mail online (and this without pickup).

To give them credit, positive feedback is now applied when delivery is made, not sure how this would apply to non tracked items?