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

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:
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.

@soolin

I thought you could arrange a collection for any Royal Mail parcel regardless of where purchased?

https://send.royalmail.com/collect/youritems

I've not used Vinted but if they are giving a label the system only seems to ask for the tracking/ref number, collection address and date.

soolin said:

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. 

They tried this years ago, anyone remember eBay Express, it disappeared very quickly! 

Reading the eBay forums there's a post where eBay is talking about the postage change as a revenue steam and I think that is what they really care about.

I agree that the constant offers painted eBay into a corner as if they stopped them then sellers wouldn't list, loading a fee on the buyer is effectively a seller fee if you have a business seller offering the same thing, i.e want to sell your copy of Dark Side of the Moon on CD for a fiver matching WOB but eBay is imposing a buyer fee of 50p you'd have to knock the 50p off the price. 

I can see eBay pushing this delivery concept on business sellers down the line, I remember years ago being told by CS (back in the days of having an account manager) the big companies purchased subtitles in bulk and "paid a lot of money for them", now you and I know know a subtitle is typically a waste of money but the bigger companies appear more susceptible to eBay's waffle and with them no doubt getting discounts on fees it could be easier to get them to switch and that just leaves the smaller business sellers who will have to like it or lump it, eBay has made that clear over the years with pretty much every major change they have put in place. 

Having every seller on site using eBay postage opens up the idea of a subscription aka Prime, it all makes perfect sense except for 2 things, 1) eBay are a decade too late 2) they'll do it in the most difficult way possible and then stick their fingers in their ears singing la la la when sellers complain it should be tweaked. 

You'd hope eBay would want to be one step ahead of Vinted and ensure their postage service is better by, for example, making it real easy with the option of collections, but I don't see that eBay think this way at all, happy to be proved wrong of course.

As a side note a RM drop off would involve a 15 mile round trip taking about 40 mins in the car, Evri 10 mile drop off in a local Coop in the opposite direction but due to the roads that would take around an hour and whilst the Evri driver to our house is great, I don't see collections being done every day. At one point the Evri driver quit and we didn't get any Evri parcels for nearly month (they just disappeared never to been delivered) as no one wanted the job! 

soolin said:

 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. 

If the parcel is scanned as accepted and the postage is Vinted's (or eBay's) problem would you need a POP? 

soolin

@the_lunatic__is_in_my_head

“I thought you could arrange a collection for any Royal Mail parcel regardless of where purchased?”

Not with the Vinted labels unfortunately as they aren’t scannable on a phone and there’s no way of booking a collection without some info, the buyers address or a tracking number at least. all you get is a QR code, not even the buyers name or any other info at all. Vinted sellers have tried everything to scan the label, have asked the PO and RM but it seems Vinted have negotiated a cheap rate that excludes collection. Obviously ebay might not go that way and might just provide a label or a usual QR code, but we’ll have to see. 

“  If the parcel is scanned as accepted and the postage is Vinted's (or eBay's) problem would you need a POP? ”

yes they scan it and provide a label but on Vinted nothing updates for RM for up to 3 days, so you have no tracking number and nothing to reassure the buyer it has been sent. Also, when items go missing, if they haven’t updated on the site Vinted need proof that item was sent. Again this relates only to Vinted, you only get a set time to send an item, so if you send it towards the end of that time period and it doesn’t update then Vinted will cancel the sale and refund the buyer. To prevent that it is advisable to upload POP to prove it was sent. Again though, RM may choose an entirely different model for postage.

RedImp_2

soolin said:

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. 

Those links aren’t to EBay comms though ?  I’ve looked through the comms about payments terms of use from Feb 5th and I can’t see the things referenced in the link.
I'm not saying it’s not happening as the removal of sellers fees was trailed correctly on here.

soolin

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/We-re-updating-our-UK-Payments-Terms-of-Use/ba-p/7719574

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/payment/2.0/terms.html

It’s well hidden away but follow the links above and you get to this.

Proceeds from the sales of private or non-professional sellers become available for disbursement after the item is deemed delivered to its shipping destination as detailed on thishelp page. If you are a business seller, as defined in our business seller policy, proceeds from your sales on eBay typically become available for disbursement within 1 business day of confirming the buyer’s payment.

However, this being eBay the link to the help page still talks about payouts on demand and ignores the requirement for item to be deemed delivered. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:

yes they scan it and provide a label but on Vinted nothing updates for RM for up to 3 days, so you have no tracking number and nothing to reassure the buyer it has been sent. Also, when items go missing, if they haven’t updated on the site Vinted need proof that item was sent. Again this relates only to Vinted, you only get a set time to send an item, so if you send it towards the end of that time period and it doesn’t update then Vinted will cancel the sale and refund the buyer. To prevent that it is advisable to upload POP to prove it was sent. Again though, RM may choose an entirely different model for postage.

Sounds like amateur hour! 

I assume the couriers and marketplaces use an API to communication the tracking updates, I don't know how these work but I think it's fair to expect an update at least once every 24 hours. 

soolin said:

@the_lunatic__is_in_my_head

“I thought you could arrange a collection for any Royal Mail parcel regardless of where purchased?”

Not with the Vinted labels unfortunately as they aren’t scannable on a phone and there’s no way of booking a collection without some info, the buyers address or a tracking number at least. all you get is a QR code, not even the buyers name or any other info at all. Vinted sellers have tried everything to scan the label, have asked the PO and RM but it seems Vinted have negotiated a cheap rate that excludes collection. Obviously ebay might not go that way and might just provide a label or a usual QR code, but we’ll have to see. 

Interesting you can't turn the QR code into a label at home, indeed can only hope eBay retain collections and allow sellers to opt out of certain couriers. 

soolin

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

soolin said:

yes they scan it and provide a label but on Vinted nothing updates for RM for up to 3 days, so you have no tracking number and nothing to reassure the buyer it has been sent. Also, when items go missing, if they haven’t updated on the site Vinted need proof that item was sent. Again this relates only to Vinted, you only get a set time to send an item, so if you send it towards the end of that time period and it doesn’t update then Vinted will cancel the sale and refund the buyer. To prevent that it is advisable to upload POP to prove it was sent. Again though, RM may choose an entirely different model for postage.

Sounds like amateur hour! 

I assume the couriers and marketplaces use an API to communication the tracking updates, I don't know how these work but I think it's fair to expect an update at least once every 24 hours. 

soolin said:

@the_lunatic__is_in_my_head

“I thought you could arrange a collection for any Royal Mail parcel regardless of where purchased?”

Not with the Vinted labels unfortunately as they aren’t scannable on a phone and there’s no way of booking a collection without some info, the buyers address or a tracking number at least. all you get is a QR code, not even the buyers name or any other info at all. Vinted sellers have tried everything to scan the label, have asked the PO and RM but it seems Vinted have negotiated a cheap rate that excludes collection. Obviously ebay might not go that way and might just provide a label or a usual QR code, but we’ll have to see. 

Interesting you can't turn the QR code into a label at home, indeed can only hope eBay retain collections and allow sellers to opt out of certain couriers. 

My thoughts are of course just speculations and the ebay model, if it goes ahead, may look completely different. However I find it interesting that ebay seem to be following Vinted in some of their ideas and policies so I think there is a basis for my speculation.

A lot of information coming out about future changes for private sellers appear to have been communicated to business sellers via the various ebay live events and online groups- ebay seem reluctant to announce things early , perhaps as yet they are undecided exactly how to proceed. It is worth noting though how late the announcement regarding the cut to 300 free listings a month and the free to sell was made, it was considerably less than a months notice. 

I think for any definitive announcements with proper details we may be looking for an announcement as late as mid January if not later, with perhaps the managed postage coming later in the year once they have given the current trials a fair go. Personally I've found very few people on the trial for simple delivery (It doesn't help that ebay keep calling it by different names). 

soolin

Incidentally for those who are unsure what @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head and I are talking about re simple delivery, it is currently on clothing categories and ebay manage the postage labels- as per the explanation here:

Simple Delivery | eBay

landsberger64

Mark_d said:

I've sold items via ebay and use ebay's postal service.  The whole experience was very smooth, though I have heard of sellers who have had bad experiences with buyers on ebay.

It involves you printing out a label for a parcel whose courier the buyer specifies. You then have to arrange collection or find an agent locally that deals with Evri/Yodel/DPD etc etc - and then either sit around all day waiting for collection, or take them to the agent, who may or may not be local, and may or may not take the parcel.

Whereas previously I would visit a post office, of which there are thousands, and just send it, and 99% of the time, it gets there in 2 days.

soolin

landsberger64 said:

Mark_d said:

I've sold items via ebay and use ebay's postal service.  The whole experience was very smooth, though I have heard of sellers who have had bad experiences with buyers on ebay.

It involves you printing out a label for a parcel whose courier the buyer specifies. You then have to arrange collection or find an agent locally that deals with Evri/Yodel/DPD etc etc - and then either sit around all day waiting for collection, or take them to the agent, who may or may not be local, and may or may not take the parcel.

Whereas previously I would visit a post office, of which there are thousands, and just send it, and 99% of the time, it gets there in 2 days.

At the moment there’s no information easily available about how easy it is for sellers to opt out of certain couriers, hopefully someone has been on the trial of simple delivery and can confirm whether opt out is similar to that on Vinted or not. The current simple delivery also only has collection possible with Royal Mail . 

soolin

I know there's already a thread about this but I can't find it.

The messages have started to go out to private sellers now about the money holds which take effect from 4th Feb. There is also an updated statement in the FAQs. The worry that some people had about untracked items has also been addressed in this line 
'

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

full details here: 

Getting paid for items you've sold | eBay

Changes to when you get paid beginning in February 2025

From February 2025, eBay will typically make the sales proceeds of private sellers available in eBay balance after the order has been successfully delivered, unless subject to a hold. These are the criteria we'll use to determine when an item has been successfully delivered:

• For tracked deliveries, funds will be available 2 calendar days after we receive confirmation from the tracked service that the delivery was successful
• For local collection, funds will be available after you exchange the QR or 6 digit code with your buyer. For same-day local collection, funds will be available 24 hours after the order is collected
• If the item includes Authenticity Guarantee, funds will be available after the item is successfully authenticated
• For items sent via Global Shipping Programme, funds will be available after the item is delivered to the UK Shipping Centre
• For untracked deliveries, or tracked deliveries when there is no delivery confirmation, funds will become available 14 calendar days from the order date

Your funds will appear as Pending in the Payments tab in My eBay or Seller hub until the order is successfully delivered, and any applicable holds have been resolved. If we place a hold on your funds, it will usually be resolved within 30 days, but in some circumstances it may take longer.

For more information, please refer to the Payments Terms of Use.