Ebay holding private sellers funds until proof of delivery from 4th Feb, 2025

jeffuk

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

For untracked deliveries, or tracked deliveries when there is no delivery confirmation, funds will become available 14 calendar days from the order date

If this is to be the case then maybe the thread title could be changed, at the minute it's a bit misleading.

RedImp_2

I presume this is not officially communicated?

soolin

RedImp_2 said:

I presume this is not officially communicated?

There are links earlier in thread. This is now being discussed at length on the eBay community boards as well with some interesting thoughts being aired. 

Debbie9009

I only sell very occasionally just when I have a clear out of personal items.  I don’t always used tracked due to the value of the item, but I am not happy to wait 14 days for my funds so that would be me not selling, whilst eBay won’t be concerned by that, it will mean I buy even less than I do now, eBay is no longer the first place I look I get fed up of trying to filter out cheap Chinese tat.  The only times I really look for much now is when I sell something as I’m reminded that eBay exists, so if I don’t sell, I will buy even less.

GadgetGuru

So even after a tracked item is updated as delivered, there is another 2 day wait until your funds are released???
!!!!!!!

soolin

I know there's another thread running here on MSE about 'managed postage' already running but I can't find it, and as ebay change the name of the scheme across various announcements I don't even know what it is officially called. I know there is already a trial of simple postage which appears to be the same thing- possibly. If anyone can link me to that thread I'll move this post across. However it fits in with this discussion. 

However this scheme which other forums and boards are saying will be implemented early next year may have more of an impact as it is being interpreted in a way that suggests that again ebay are following the Vinted model and the discussion on this thread ties in what that change.

Vinted handle all the postage on their site and sellers can choose which of the options that can use and disable others, however approx 2 weeks ago Vinted added a statement to the postage page (VInted never make announcements, they just make changes and don't tell any one) that says basically these seller options can be over ridden by Vinted. Buyers can then choose the option they prefer, at different costs, they pay Vinted, and Vinted send a label or QR code to seller. In principle this sounds brilliant, Vinted take all the risks with postage, all seller technically has to do is send the item, the tracking is automatically uploaded to the sale and if lost Vinted reimburse seller and refund buyer. 

The big issue for many people is that none of the services used by Vinted can be collected, all , including the RM48 are drop off only. So for anyone unable to go out to post this means no more selling. As ebay seem quite determined to follow Vinted's lead for private sellers this 'might' be the case from some time next year. 

My other concern is , and it's because I can't find an actual full announcement, is whether sellers will be able to disable options, so limit ourselves to say just using RM or just using a courier, rather than have a scattergun approach where you could end up with 4 packages going via 4 different couriers.

For those sellers like me who have both business and private accounts this gives another slight issue in that at the moment 99% of my sales go RM, some are dropped off at mail centre or PO and some are collected depending on what I am doing each day. If, and this is just speculation, ebay use the QR system for RM labels like Vinted it means that whilst my business stuff can be collected, my private sales would always have to go to a PO or mail centre (or locker). I have another slight issue as well in that my mail centre won't issue receipts, they say they have no facility, and I can't add those QR details to my bulk proof of posting unless I stand there at the desk and wait for each label to be printed then write then down as I go along- as until the label is printed I have no note of buyers address. 

Apologies this is a bit long winded, and I think the ebay community boards have posters who have explained this better than I have, but I will be interested to see a proper coherent announcement from ebay about how this will work.

noitsnotme

soolin said:

it means that whilst my business stuff can be collected, my private sales would always have to go to a PO or mail centre (or locker).

Same here.  I have a daily scheduled Royal Mail collection for my business post so any personal
post currently gets collected at the same time.  It will be ridiculous if I have to visit a PO for my personal eBay stuff in the future.  My two local POs aren’t great… one always has long queues and the other is run by a lady who is very hostile to taking post that isn’t bought through her so I don’t like to go there.

jon81uk

Debbie9009 said:

I only sell very occasionally just when I have a clear out of personal items.  I don’t always used tracked due to the value of the item, but I am not happy to wait 14 days for my funds so that would be me not selling, whilst eBay won’t be concerned by that, it will mean I buy even less than I do now, eBay is no longer the first place I look I get fed up of trying to filter out cheap Chinese tat.  The only times I really look for much now is when I sell something as I’m reminded that eBay exists, so if I don’t sell, I will buy even less.

Even if you don't get "tracked" all Royal Mail parcels have confirmation of delivery. When I buy second class small parcel I enter the code on eBay and it usually gets marked as delivered.

Debbie9009

jon81uk said:

Debbie9009 said:

I only sell very occasionally just when I have a clear out of personal items.  I don’t always used tracked due to the value of the item, but I am not happy to wait 14 days for my funds so that would be me not selling, whilst eBay won’t be concerned by that, it will mean I buy even less than I do now, eBay is no longer the first place I look I get fed up of trying to filter out cheap Chinese tat.  The only times I really look for much now is when I sell something as I’m reminded that eBay exists, so if I don’t sell, I will buy even less.

Even if you don't get "tracked" all Royal Mail parcels have confirmation of delivery. When I buy second class small parcel I enter the code on eBay and it usually gets marked as delivered.

That’s good to know, although not keen on eBay holding money until 2 days after the tracking shows delivered, but certainly better than 14.  However if they do go with postage in a way that means I can’t use RM collection I definitely won’t be able to sell, I work from home, so collection works really well for me, particularly as due to disabilities I can’t always go out.  I wonder how many other people like me would be affected by not being able to have items collected, probably not enough for eBay to be bothered,  but if it leads to a lack of personal sellers that could be an issue, I usually buy from personal sellers especially for clothing, if I want cheap Chinese tat, I’ll go directly to temu or shein.

soolin

Debbie9009 said:

jon81uk said:

Debbie9009 said:

I only sell very occasionally just when I have a clear out of personal items.  I don’t always used tracked due to the value of the item, but I am not happy to wait 14 days for my funds so that would be me not selling, whilst eBay won’t be concerned by that, it will mean I buy even less than I do now, eBay is no longer the first place I look I get fed up of trying to filter out cheap Chinese tat.  The only times I really look for much now is when I sell something as I’m reminded that eBay exists, so if I don’t sell, I will buy even less.

Even if you don't get "tracked" all Royal Mail parcels have confirmation of delivery. When I buy second class small parcel I enter the code on eBay and it usually gets marked as delivered.

That’s good to know, although not keen on eBay holding money until 2 days after the tracking shows delivered, but certainly better than 14.  However if they do go with postage in a way that means I can’t use RM collection I definitely won’t be able to sell, I work from home, so collection works really well for me, particularly as due to disabilities I can’t always go out.  I wonder how many other people like me would be affected by not being able to have items collected, probably not enough for eBay to be bothered,  but if it leads to a lack of personal sellers that could be an issue, I usually buy from personal sellers especially for clothing, if I want cheap Chinese tat, I’ll go directly to temu or shein.

The Vinted groups on Facebook have quite a few disgruntled sellers, many have a disability or are otherwise housebound for one reason or another and can no longer sell on Vinted. Many of them have switched to ebay, so if ebay do follow the Vinted formula I think there will be a lot of very upset sellers.

We can all only wait and see what ebay's managed postage actually looks like when it comes in. 

IMHO there is a strong move on ebay to make it a 2 tier platform and differentiate between professional and private sellers and I can see arguments both for and against doing this. I don't think ebay could have continued though giving unlimited freebies to private sellers and charging business sellers more and more as well as imposing rules and regs on them without some sort of backlash from business sellers. Especially considering the amount of businesses selling as private sellers. Realistically ebay are always going to make more money from businesses than from private sellers and if they make changes that mean a few private sellers leave the platform taking their 20 sales a year with them, I can't see it bothering ebay at all. The issue is though whether private sellers who also buy on ebay will continue to do so - although I'm not sure people will drastically change their buying habits in the long term.