Ebay so called Simple Delivery and Buyer Protection. Double Jeopardy?

Cor123

Being a long standing seller on ebay I have seen a lot of changes over the years, some for the better but more recently the majority for the worse.
Despite reassurances that all existing listings the postage prices will stay the same until sold I have noticed that a lot have automatically switched over to so called simple delivery where basically ebay ensure the buyer purchases postage through them ( where they no doubt get a cut from the service provider) but the seller incurs all of the packaging costs at a loss to themselves which would have been factored in when calculating original listing postage costs on the listings , after all is is called postage and Packaging.
This So called simple delivery gives the same amount of insurance to the buyer when tracked throughout ( even though it is more expensive than the tracked 48 delivery service when bought directly online through Royal Mail) again the same service available on the original listings.
Ebay have said they are going this way in order to protect the buyer when buying from a private seller and make sure they are covered if anything goes wrong.
This then begs the question as to why a buyer is now ENFORCED to pay an ebay Buyer protection racket fee with every purchase from a private seller (starting at 80p per item and upwards) in addition to it already being covered in the non optional Simple delivery.
Why is a buyer made to pay the same coverage insurance twice?
Maybe in the future this will be another claim back similar to ppi ( not to mention the fact that for years ebay were taking 13% of postage prices from private sellers prior to the simple delivery being implemented(.

ballisticbrian

It would seem to me that the eBay buyer protection fee covers claims arising from "not as described" and claims arising from the tracked postage costs covering "item not received" - when posted. 

swingaloo

The new 'Simple deliver' has several advantages for the seller. I incorporate the cost of packaging into the starting price of my items. 
Its a much better system for the sellers. I have had one item that was not delivered on time and the buyer got a refund at no cost to me. The item was later delivered so the buyer got the item free and I lost nothing.

soolin

Cor123 said:

Being a long standing seller on ebay I have seen a lot of changes over the years, some for the better but more recently the majority for the worse.
Despite reassurances that all existing listings the postage prices will stay the same until sold I have noticed that a lot have automatically switched over to so called simple delivery where basically ebay ensure the buyer purchases postage through them ( where they no doubt get a cut from the service provider) but the seller incurs all of the packaging costs at a loss to themselves which would have been factored in when calculating original listing postage costs on the listings , after all is is called postage and Packaging.

It was always stated that 'all' eligible listings would be switched across, ebay have just allowed the timings to slip a bit. 

This So called simple delivery gives the same amount of insurance to the buyer when tracked throughout ( even though it is more expensive than the tracked 48 delivery service when bought directly online through Royal Mail) again the same service available on the original listings.

The compensation limits are considerably higher than the standard RM48, it is not a like for like service. 

Ebay have said they are going this way in order to protect the buyer when buying from a private seller and make sure they are covered if anything goes wrong.
This then begs the question as to why a buyer is now ENFORCED to pay an ebay Buyer protection racket fee with every purchase from a private seller (starting at 80p per item and upwards) in addition to it already being covered in the non optional Simple delivery.
Why is a buyer made to pay the same coverage insurance twice?
Maybe in the future this will be another claim back similar to ppi ( not to mention the fact that for years ebay were taking 13% of postage prices from private sellers prior to the simple delivery being implemented(.

I think it naive to think that the ebay fee structure is in any way likened to the PPi issue. Anyone who has been on ebay for long knows it changes a lot, when i first started adding photos to your listing was chargeable, adding MVLs incurred a separate charge, the changes over 26+ years have bene massive. 

RedImp_2

To pick out a couple of points, I think in most cases SD is cheaper than RM tracked 48, not dearer.
Also it’s not postage & packing, it’s literally described just as postage costs.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Both (Simply Delivery and the buyer protection fee) are a revenue steam for eBay, nothing more complicated than that.

In terms of buyers, they should get better delivery services and better cover if items are damaged in transit (INR doesn't matter as you was always well covered with that one).

In terms of sellers, the fees are cheaper than anywhere else I know (perhaps Vinted is a bit cheaper but I don't think by much). 

Only question for the buyer is whether the price is good, all costs are loaded into the total price regardless (with a ceiling from competition) and generally as a buyer you shouldn't be paying much more than you was a year ago.

Exception to this is lower value items, something that would have been 99p on a lucky 1 bid auction with LL postage at say £1.99 is now a starting price of £1.75 + £2.72 postage, higher up the total goes that 75p + 4% is much less than 30p + 12.9% and even the 70% off fees promos was just shy of 4% so really not that much difference in a time when everything else has doubled in price over the last few years.

TimeLord1

swingaloo said:

The new 'Simple deliver' has several advantages for the seller. I incorporate the cost of packaging into the starting price of my items. 
Its a much better system for the sellers. I have had one item that was not delivered on time and the buyer got a refund at no cost to me. The item was later delivered so the buyer got the item free and I lost nothing.

What if they decided to leave negative feedback are eBay going to be responsible for removing it?

Reading up I believe you would have to request eBay to remove it.  Sounds fair but you shouldn't have to request it's removal if the system stopped it.

soolin

TimeLord1 said:

swingaloo said:

The new 'Simple deliver' has several advantages for the seller. I incorporate the cost of packaging into the starting price of my items. 
Its a much better system for the sellers. I have had one item that was not delivered on time and the buyer got a refund at no cost to me. The item was later delivered so the buyer got the item free and I lost nothing.

What if they decided to leave negative feedback are eBay going to be responsible for removing it?

Reading up I believe you would have to request eBay to remove it.  Sounds fair but you shouldn't have to request it's removal if the system stopped it.

It wouldn't be logical though to remove feedback automatically- just think about it for a moment. A seller could do a switch, or send something wrong or unpleasant and a buyer couldn't leave anything other than a positive, as a buyer would you be happy with that?

Reading threads and other forums it seems that on a very rare occasion that a buyer leaves a neg for late delivery then it is removed easily- exactly as it should be.  Realistically though it is incredibly rare for a buyer to leave a negative for late delivery anyway, so it is hardly likely to affect many sellers. Most of the time an unhappy buyer hits the stars, and they can't do that with SD;

• Your seller performance standards and service metrics won't be affected by late deliveries

TimeLord1

Feedback, I find, is rarely left nowadays. I think I must've seen more eBay auto feedback lately—pointless process. 

 Speaking of feedback, I scrolled back from when I started, and the number of dead accounts is staggering. Literally big blocks of no longer active on eBay.

But if eBay is responsible for the shipping and delivery service and will eventually leave automatic feedback if the buyer doesn't, then if buyers receive a refund for late delivery and keep the item, surely the feedback should be vetted by eBay without the seller reporting they've been left neutral or negative for late delivery. Incidentally, you can't remove a neutral. 

soolin

TimeLord1 said:

Feedback, I find, is rarely left nowadays. I think I must've seen more eBay auto feedback lately—pointless process. 

 Speaking of feedback, I scrolled back from when I started, and the number of dead accounts is staggering. Literally big blocks of no longer active on eBay.

But if eBay is responsible for the shipping and delivery service and will eventually leave automatic feedback if the buyer doesn't, then if buyers receive a refund for late delivery and keep the item, surely the feedback should be vetted by eBay without the seller reporting they've been left neutral or negative for late delivery. Incidentally, you can't remove a neutral. 

Yes you can remove a neutral ,I had one removed around Christmas last year. 

4ferfer

As an eBay buyer, I'm currently having a very frustrating experience with eBay's expensive but very poor Simple Delivery Service, and the seller is just as frustrated as I am.
I purchased an item 8 days ago and the expected delivery date shown was between 30/10 & 5/11 (today).
The seller wasn't happy as they normally post items within 24 hours but had no option but to wait for eBay to send the necessary labels which took 3 days to arrive. To make matters worse, the seller was then unable to contact the courier to arrange for collection (their telephone line was constantly engaged and they failed to respond to a message sent to them on their website with the promised 24 hour period). 
Meanwhile, I received an email from the courier on 2/11 with a tracking number and advising that delivery would be made on 6/11 (a day late). However, the tracking details are showing that they were unable to collect the item on 3/11 because the premises were closed, and that collection was refused on 4/11.
I messaged the seller on eBay and they advised that they waited in all day on 3/11 but nobody turned up to collect the item and that they were not at the premises on 4/11 because they had to go out to work. 
The seller also stated that they finally contacted the courier on 4/11 to re-arrange delivery and were told that the item would be collected today (5th), but again no collection was made, so the seller rang them again this afternoon and they apologised and said that they will collect it tomorrow.
As the buyer, this is simply unacceptable as all that I can do is report the item undelivered. I then have to wait another three days before I can request eBay to investigate the matter on my behalf.
The 30 day buyer protection allows me to cancel the order and get my money back, but neither myself or the seller want this to happen.
I live 300 miles away from the seller, otherwise I'd bloody well collect it myself, but why should I when I've paid eBay to arrange delivery direct to my door?
The seller has kindly offered to take the item to the couriers premises if they fail to collect it tomorrow, so hopefully I will receive it sometime early next week, but I'm very unhappy with eBay's so-called Simple Delivery Service and as a result of this fiasco, I will never buy or sell another item on eBay which forced me to rely on this poor service.