Ebay gone to far with new policy change from 4th Feb 2025!

bittyboy101

Pollycat said:

bittyboy101 said:

"Waiting 14 days for my funds is still better than taking items straight to the charity shop - at least it is to me."

Still a huge comedown considering we had PayPal instant payment 10 years ago on eBay... giving sellers their money within seconds after their auction or buy it now item had sold and been paid for and giving sellers the luxury of being able to have access to their money straightaway which to me was just as good as having the cash in your hand.

Whilst waiting 14 days to get paid might be acceptable to some folk... for others it can be rather worrying and inconvenient... especially if a buyer then decides to get ideas of causing problems or returning the item after they have been using it all week !  

Nothing stays the same.
No point in bemoaning the fact that a pint of beer 50 years ago was 20p.

It is as it is  - you either accept the changes or find another platform to sell on.

Maybe we are different types of sellers.
I've been clear that I'm a private seller, just clearing my own unwanted stuff out.
I don't need immediate access to my money.
To me, it's just pin money that I use to buy something else that takes my fancy.
Maybe that's why I am more pragmatic about the changes - to me the money is a benefit rather than a necessity.

TBH, in 20 years of selling on eBay I've had very few buyers causing problems.
I have a 'no return' policy as I am vey clear in describing my items and will upload maybe 15 photos of a pair of lightly worn sandals still in the box that I'm selling for £15.00.
I have had requests for return for 'too big/small' etc but I've rejected those as I always include measurements as well as photos of the label.
A buyer can't 'cause problems' by saying a silver bracelet is too big if there's a photo of it against a tape measure.

Whilst you're right that nothing stays the same, as time and technology advances most things are supposed to change for the  better, but sadly the owners of eBay don't seem to adopt this logical policy of improving things and upgrading stuff for the better... they simply try to fix something that wasn't broken and they DOWNGRADE a perfectly good and fast payment system like PayPal to some slow and shoddy payment system they made up where they can take full advantage of "keeping hold" of all their buyer's and seller's money for many days for investment purposes to gain interest and make additional money for themselves. 

For me Simple Delivery (Dictated delivery) was really the last change that I was willing to accept or put up with.

I do not like EVRi's slow and somewhat unreliable service or feel comfortable using them to deliver my eBay sold items and Royal Mail tracked 48 is not  always 100% reliable in providing proof of delivery if the postman forgets or neglects to scan on delivery... so the lack of being able to choose a suitable delivery service which I know is good and reliable giving me full insurance for the item and full piece of mind should the worst happen !... is a big red flag for me and the reason why after 18 great years of selling on eBay and no problems I have now called it a day and decided not to sell on eBay again until something changes for the better (if or when these foolish eBay people ever see sense !) or eBay gets sold to another private company which then has more sensible ideas of how to improve and run their site with a nice user friendly approach having some regards for all their users unlike now.

Regarding you having a strict no returns policy in place as a private seller on eBay...

This now no longer works anymore, as eBay now force all private sellers to have to accept returns within 30 calendar days of the original purchase date and a buyer can simply say "Item not as described" or "item arrived broken or damaged" and still return the item to get their money back regardless of your no return's policy which is now worthless on eBay.        

noitsnotme

Oh shock, horror!  A business that needs to appease their shareholders finds ways of increasing their profit!!  Who would have expected such things to happen!!

🤦‍♂️

Pollycat

bittyboy101 said:

Pollycat said:

bittyboy101 said:

"Waiting 14 days for my funds is still better than taking items straight to the charity shop - at least it is to me."

Still a huge comedown considering we had PayPal instant payment 10 years ago on eBay... giving sellers their money within seconds after their auction or buy it now item had sold and been paid for and giving sellers the luxury of being able to have access to their money straightaway which to me was just as good as having the cash in your hand.

Whilst waiting 14 days to get paid might be acceptable to some folk... for others it can be rather worrying and inconvenient... especially if a buyer then decides to get ideas of causing problems or returning the item after they have been using it all week !  

Nothing stays the same.
No point in bemoaning the fact that a pint of beer 50 years ago was 20p.

It is as it is  - you either accept the changes or find another platform to sell on.

Maybe we are different types of sellers.
I've been clear that I'm a private seller, just clearing my own unwanted stuff out.
I don't need immediate access to my money.
To me, it's just pin money that I use to buy something else that takes my fancy.
Maybe that's why I am more pragmatic about the changes - to me the money is a benefit rather than a necessity.

TBH, in 20 years of selling on eBay I've had very few buyers causing problems.
I have a 'no return' policy as I am vey clear in describing my items and will upload maybe 15 photos of a pair of lightly worn sandals still in the box that I'm selling for £15.00.
I have had requests for return for 'too big/small' etc but I've rejected those as I always include measurements as well as photos of the label.
A buyer can't 'cause problems' by saying a silver bracelet is too big if there's a photo of it against a tape measure.

Regarding you having a strict no returns policy in place as a private seller on eBay...

This now no longer works anymore, as eBay now force all private sellers to have to accept returns within 30 calendar days of the original purchase date and a buyer can simply say "Item not as described" or "item arrived broken or damaged" and still return the item to get their money back regardless of your no return's policy which is now worthless on eBay.        

Really?

Not according to eBay help:

I don't accept returns, why am I getting a request from the buyer?

Buyers can always submit a return request, even if your returns policy says you don't accept returns. Whether you need to accept the return depends on their reason for opening the return.

If the buyer is asking to return the item because it's damaged, faulty, or didn't match your listing description, then you need to accept the return. If they've opened the return for another reason, for instance if they ordered the wrong item or changed their mind, then you aren't required to accept the return – however, where possible we always suggest providing a great customer experience.

Hasn't that always been the case?

I've successfully rejected several return requests because the buyer said it was SNAD but I proved it was AD from my listing description and photos.

Of course I would never refuse a return if the item arrived damaged.
Because of the nature of the items I sell, 'faulty' rarely comes into the picture.

You're not going to use eBay anymore.
I'm going to continue using it.

I think this is the end of this particular discussion between us,

jeffuk

bittyboy101 said:

This now no longer works anymore, as eBay now force all private sellers to have to accept returns within 30 calendar days of the original purchase date and a buyer can simply say "Item not as described" or "item arrived broken or damaged" and still return the item to get their money back regardless of your no return's policy which is now worthless on eBay.        

This is not new, it has always been the case, nothing has changed.

RFW

jeffuk said:

bittyboy101 said:

This now no longer works anymore, as eBay now force all private sellers to have to accept returns within 30 calendar days of the original purchase date and a buyer can simply say "Item not as described" or "item arrived broken or damaged" and still return the item to get their money back regardless of your no return's policy which is now worthless on eBay.        

This is not new, it has always been the case, nothing has changed.

True that. I think it was made clearer on Ebay about 15 years ago. 

I remember a seller on the (very) old Ebay forums who would boast about sending rubbish to customers and refusing their returns and then leaving them negative feedback when they complained. The kind of seller that, thankfully, is barely around any more.
The idea that a consumer would receive a broken item and  that they couldn't do anything about it is ridiculous. Why would anyone want that?

bittyboy101

Pollycat said:

bittyboy101 said:

Pollycat said:

bittyboy101 said:

"Waiting 14 days for my funds is still better than taking items straight to the charity shop - at least it is to me."

Still a huge comedown considering we had PayPal instant payment 10 years ago on eBay... giving sellers their money within seconds after their auction or buy it now item had sold and been paid for and giving sellers the luxury of being able to have access to their money straightaway which to me was just as good as having the cash in your hand.

Whilst waiting 14 days to get paid might be acceptable to some folk... for others it can be rather worrying and inconvenient... especially if a buyer then decides to get ideas of causing problems or returning the item after they have been using it all week !  

Nothing stays the same.
No point in bemoaning the fact that a pint of beer 50 years ago was 20p.

It is as it is  - you either accept the changes or find another platform to sell on.

Maybe we are different types of sellers.
I've been clear that I'm a private seller, just clearing my own unwanted stuff out.
I don't need immediate access to my money.
To me, it's just pin money that I use to buy something else that takes my fancy.
Maybe that's why I am more pragmatic about the changes - to me the money is a benefit rather than a necessity.

TBH, in 20 years of selling on eBay I've had very few buyers causing problems.
I have a 'no return' policy as I am vey clear in describing my items and will upload maybe 15 photos of a pair of lightly worn sandals still in the box that I'm selling for £15.00.
I have had requests for return for 'too big/small' etc but I've rejected those as I always include measurements as well as photos of the label.
A buyer can't 'cause problems' by saying a silver bracelet is too big if there's a photo of it against a tape measure.

Regarding you having a strict no returns policy in place as a private seller on eBay...

This now no longer works anymore, as eBay now force all private sellers to have to accept returns within 30 calendar days of the original purchase date and a buyer can simply say "Item not as described" or "item arrived broken or damaged" and still return the item to get their money back regardless of your no return's policy which is now worthless on eBay.        

Really?

Not according to eBay help:

I don't accept returns, why am I getting a request from the buyer?

Buyers can always submit a return request, even if your returns policy says you don't accept returns. Whether you need to accept the return depends on their reason for opening the return.

If the buyer is asking to return the item because it's damaged, faulty, or didn't match your listing description, then you need to accept the return. If they've opened the return for another reason, for instance if they ordered the wrong item or changed their mind, then you aren't required to accept the return – however, where possible we always suggest providing a great customer experience.

Hasn't that always been the case?

I've successfully rejected several return requests because the buyer said it was SNAD but I proved it was AD from my listing description and photos.

Of course I would never refuse a return if the item arrived damaged.
Because of the nature of the items I sell, 'faulty' rarely comes into the picture.

You're not going to use eBay anymore.
I'm going to continue using it.

I think this is the end of this particular discussion between us,

If you wish to carry one using eBay, well that's your prerogative. I ain't going to stop you !  

soolin

RFW said:

bittyboy101 said:

noitsnotme said:

Oh shock, horror!  A business that needs to appease their shareholders finds ways of increasing their profit!!  Who would have expected such things to happen!!

🤦‍♂️

You mean a SINKING business like eBay ? and a dumb and desperate CEO who hasn't a clue.

Mark my words eBay will soon be finished with all this new nonsense.

RIP eBay.

The figures suggest otherwise. It's surprising how many people have been saying that on here over the last 20 years.

We’ve both been around on these boards for a while, and as you say I can’t recall how many times we have had threads saying eBay is not going to survive ‘this’ change, yet strangely here it still is.

Remember when managed payments came in a few years back that was the nail in the coffin according to several people , yet eBay turnover went up. Before that we had FVFs being charged on p and P, we even had a semi regular on here who said they had absolute proof that it was illegal and if it went ahead ebay would basically be dead, that wasn’t the case. Even things like removing the sellers ability to leave negatives was prophesied as being the end for them….the list goes on.

I suspect that at some point in the future online sales generally might die, but I can’t see ebay as an entity dying any time soon. 

strawb_shortcake

Between my Husband and I we've been on and off ebay for years, fees on p&p was a bit jarring but didn't really stop us then. 

We've been selling again since January, just clearing out the attic and spare room, we're averaging £400 a month in sales, not sure that'll continue but I'm not sure any other site would meet our needs with what we're selling. It's also far better than car boot sales and no 5am Sunday starts

RFW

soolin said:

I suspect that at some point in the future online sales generally might die, but I can’t see ebay as an entity dying any time soon. 

It's quite an evolving market. For Ebay, they've been quite canny. I think they were wrong footed by the HMRC reporting issues and didn't handle it particularly well but the fee free selling (albeit not really) has been an impressive campaign. They've also done well on seizing the initiative of a growing recycling market. Their revenue has been holding fairly well for a few years.
I've not got any great issues with Ebay, although I've been winding down quite a lot after trying to get a lift on sales there. I've been trying a few different marketplaces and Ebay isn't quite getting the sales of some of the others. 

bittyboy101

soolin said:

RFW said:

bittyboy101 said:

noitsnotme said:

Oh shock, horror!  A business that needs to appease their shareholders finds ways of increasing their profit!!  Who would have expected such things to happen!!

🤦‍♂️

You mean a SINKING business like eBay ? and a dumb and desperate CEO who hasn't a clue.

Mark my words eBay will soon be finished with all this new nonsense.

RIP eBay.

The figures suggest otherwise. It's surprising how many people have been saying that on here over the last 20 years.

We’ve both been around on these boards for a while, and as you say I can’t recall how many times we have had threads saying eBay is not going to survive ‘this’ change, yet strangely here it still is.

Remember when managed payments came in a few years back that was the nail in the coffin according to several people , yet eBay turnover went up. Before that we had FVFs being charged on p and P, we even had a semi regular on here who said they had absolute proof that it was illegal and if it went ahead ebay would basically be dead, that wasn’t the case. Even things like removing the sellers ability to leave negatives was prophesied as being the end for them….the list goes on.

I suspect that at some point in the future online sales generally might die, but I can’t see ebay as an entity dying any time soon. 

That's not what people think now !

The reviews for eBay UK lately are horrendous ! 

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/ebay.co.uk