What's the bottom line on Ebay "managed sales"? 1 1

[mattn792]

On 8/11/2020 at 5:23 PM, Tempus Fugit said:

I have steadily ignored their emails, and the click through warning when I post sales. I got a call from an actual human being at ebay the other day. He was nice enough, and told me that ebay could shut me down. I informed him that I have a day job, and if ebay wanted to throw away our 22 year relationship, and the few hundred dollars a month they get from me, then so be it.

He seemed genuinely  surprised at this brazen act of brinkmanship, and he was quite persistent, but I did not cave.

I expect I will eventually be shut down, but I am holding out as long as possible.

Good on you, I’ve been doing the same.  Hopefully I get a phone call too.  

[JollyComics]

On 8/11/2020 at 5:23 PM, Tempus Fugit said:

I have steadily ignored their emails, and the click through warning when I post sales. I got a call from an actual human being at ebay the other day. He was nice enough, and told me that ebay could shut me down. I informed him that I have a day job, and if ebay wanted to throw away our 22 year relationship, and the few hundred dollars a month they get from me, then so be it.

He seemed genuinely  surprised at this brazen act of brinkmanship, and he was quite persistent, but I did not cave.

I expect I will eventually be shut down, but I am holding out as long as possible.

Does he have a heavy accent?

[jcjames]

Strange, I don't sell a lot (2-3/week)  but feebay still puts my sales including my most recent sale (8/15) into paypal. 

I guess they haven't hit me with the change yet. 

 

[Number 6]

2 hours ago, jcjames said:

Strange, I don't sell a lot (2-3/week)  but feebay still puts my sales including my most recent sale (8/15) into paypal. 

I guess they haven't hit me with the change yet. 

 

Likewise, my sales from last week went straight to PayPal. I haven’t received any insistent messages or phone calls about switching over...yet. 
 

If and when I am forced to switch over, it sounds like too much won’t change for me. I will dislike having my money held and not having the money go straight to PayPal account. But I admit, for me those will be just a couple more minor inconveniences that I will probably get used to. 
 

The issue for me with Managed Payments isn’t so much with what it is now but what I think it will become, with what I think the ultimate “bottom line” is for this feature is. 
 

I’ve said it before, but I suspect that in about a year or so after they get everyone switched over and used to the notion of eBay holding their money for a couple of days, eBay will send out one of those “In order to enhance the buying experience” e-mails stating that they will now just hold the the money until the buyer receives the item and gives the all-clear before eBay releases the money to the seller. 
 

If it does go that way, at that point, other than the really cheap stuff that I can’t move anywhere else, I’ll be pretty much done with selling on eBay. 
 

I mean, I could probably find a way to get used to that reality too, but at some point enough is enough and it just stops being worth the hassle any more. 

[Tempus Fugit]

16 hours ago, JollyComics said:

Does he have a heavy accent?

Yes, English

[JollyComics]

55 minutes ago, Tempus Fugit said:

Yes, English

They called me (they are customer service or support). I had a hard time to understand them with heavy accent (mostly Indian accents).

[comicstock]

I got a notice from eBay this morning-my managed payments started last night 8/17.

[Beige]

Ebay Australia were all over us like a rash 2 months ago.

Now nothing about this at all.

Could be international sales in currencies or postage delays causing issues that made the roll out stop.

I dunno, but they haven't mentioned it at all since the initial email.

Still paypal here.

As for top-rated seller - who cares about a badge.

The shipping/handling restrictions are insane.

If you provide good service, you build up a decent base of regular buyers over the years.

I think I have 180 followers - 3400 pos feedbacks, 1 neutral.

Steady change and variation of stock seems to do the trick. Comics, TPB's, Glamour 'mens' mags, Heavy metals, Skater mags - all sell well - not expensive sales, but regular cheap quick turnover stuff.

That's where an ebay store works - low value, quick turn-over stuff.

I certainly would now be very hesitant to use it for  individual items over $200 - 300

Then again - this is my hobby, certainly your mileage will vary if this is paying your mortgage or rent.

 

Maybe they will re-think it, but it's ebay.

I don't think I've seen a business shoot itself in the foot more often, or with greater accuracy. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Beige
spelling

[kHAoS]

On 8/14/2020 at 8:19 PM, jsilverjanet said:

Here' a perfect example of why this new system sucks.

All my sales from 8/13 are still processing, I've been now notified that payment for these items will not be sent to my bank until 8/17. That means I won't see these funds till 8/18 in my bank account

so ebay holds my funds, but also pressures me to ship out right away? i use ebay as a hobby, but they sure know how to suck the fun out of it.

[Wall-Crawler]

Canadian and list/sell on ebay.com I subbed information for managed payments but was told that as I want to receive funds in different currencies, that I won't be put on managed payments at this time as they explore options/solutions for sellers who want different currencies or something to that effect.

[Tempus Fugit]

Ebay finally shut me down for resisting.

[jsilverjanet]

I had someone who needed a partial refund. Previously I could go to the payment details on eBay or PayPal and refund the buyer directly. Unfortunately now the buyer has to open a case and as soon as that happens the entire amount of the purchase is held against your pending balance. 
 

i instantly sent the partial but the entire balance was still on hold and the amount I approved 

so I was hit twice. 

[justafan]

On 8/16/2020 at 2:25 PM, Number 6 said:

Likewise, my sales from last week went straight to PayPal. I haven’t received any insistent messages or phone calls about switching over...yet. 
 

If and when I am forced to switch over, it sounds like too much won’t change for me. I will dislike having my money held and not having the money go straight to PayPal account. But I admit, for me those will be just a couple more minor inconveniences that I will probably get used to. 
 

The issue for me with Managed Payments isn’t so much with what it is now but what I think it will become, with what I think the ultimate “bottom line” is for this feature is. 
 

I’ve said it before, but I suspect that in about a year or so after they get everyone switched over and used to the notion of eBay holding their money for a couple of days, eBay will send out one of those “In order to enhance the buying experience” e-mails stating that they will now just hold the the money until the buyer receives the item and gives the all-clear before eBay releases the money to the seller. 
 

If it does go that way, at that point, other than the really cheap stuff that I can’t move anywhere else, I’ll be pretty much done with selling on eBay. 
 

I mean, I could probably find a way to get used to that reality too, but at some point enough is enough and it just stops being worth the hassle any more. 

Same here. I wonder if they are mainly targeting the big sellers on ebay that dont already subscribe to an eBay shop. I saw the email last year informing of this but nothing since.  I used to be a top rated seller until a couple years ago. I leisurely list only about 50-100 items a month and only average about 5 sales a month averaging $250.  Its more of an obligatory hobby at this point. 

As a buyer I did notice when the direct cc payment became an option earlier this year and accidentally paid that way 2x before realizing it was set to the default. I now have to consciously choose paypal as the option. I prefer using paypal as a buyer for the enhanced buyer protections that may have been watered down recently, though.  

As a seller I never minded the 1 business day turnaround as I always strove for same day shipping since thats what i would want from a seller even going so far as to drive the extra 3 miles to drop it off at the main post office to ensure it gets processed quickly and limit the damage risk from the number of hands touching it. I was also fine with 14 day returns as I sometimes wait up to a week after a package arrives to open it (now more than ever due to covid).

The move to 30 day returns and free returns is what did kill it for me despite only having 2 returns in the last 10 years for legit reasons, I was mostly worried about the abuse of this policy by buyers. So I've not been a top rated seller by new ebay standards for 2 years. I noticed the drop off in sales slightly which weren't huge to begin with. I just adjusted my pricing and listing strategies and things have been picking back up.

[Buzzetta]

33 minutes ago, justafan said:

Same here. I wonder if they are mainly targeting the big sellers on ebay that dont already subscribe to an eBay shop. I saw the email last year informing of this but nothing since.  I used to be a top rated seller until a couple years ago. I leisurely list only about 50-100 items a month and only average about 5 sales a month averaging $250.  Its more of an obligatory hobby at this point. 

As a buyer I did notice when the direct cc payment became an option earlier this year and accidentally paid that way 2x before realizing it was set to the default. I now have to consciously choose paypal as the option. I prefer using paypal as a buyer for the enhanced buyer protections that may have been watered down recently, though.  

As a seller I never minded the 1 business day turnaround as I always strove for same day shipping since thats what i would want from a seller even going so far as to drive the extra 3 miles to drop it off at the main post office to ensure it gets processed quickly and limit the damage risk from the number of hands touching it. I was also fine with 14 day returns as I sometimes wait up to a week after a package arrives to open it (now more than ever due to covid).

The move to 30 day returns and free returns is what did kill it for me despite only having 2 returns in the last 10 years for legit reasons, I was mostly worried about the abuse of this policy by buyers. So I've not been a top rated seller by new ebay standards for 2 years. I noticed the drop off in sales slightly which weren't huge to begin with. I just adjusted my pricing and listing strategies and things have been picking back up.

You do not have to do 30 day returns or returns at all.  I have said this before, set your listings to no returns because it does turn away certain types of buyers.  When I sell it piece of jewelry it dissuades the type of buyer that wants to 'borrow' the piece or 'rent' it for a week.   I have had buyer's outright tell me that they would not buy from me because of my return policy because they only wanted to wear it to a wedding or something like that.  Um... Since I am not a lending service I am comfortable with that buyer not shopping with me. 

I have not had any headaches due to this as it keeps problematic buyers away and everything eventually sells anyway be it the day after I post something or a couple of years.  Enough things sell between that time frame to keep it interesting. 

[Lightning55]

7 hours ago, jsilverjanet said:

I had someone who needed a partial refund. Previously I could go to the payment details on eBay or PayPal and refund the buyer directly. Unfortunately now the buyer has to open a case and as soon as that happens the entire amount of the purchase is held against your pending balance. 
 

i instantly sent the partial but the entire balance was still on hold and the amount I approved 

so I was hit twice. 

To make a refund, full or partial, it used to be that the buyer had to open a case.  That is no longer true.  It is super easy to make a partial refund.  I do it about once a week, takes a few seconds.

There is a drop down list on Seller Hub, where the sold item is:

You just select "Send refund" and follow the short process.

 

[CJ Design]

4 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

You do not have to do 30 day returns or returns at all.  I have said this before, set your listings to no returns because it does turn away certain types of buyers.  When I sell it piece of jewelry it dissuades the type of buyer that wants to 'borrow' the piece or 'rent' it for a week.   I have had buyer's outright tell me that they would not buy from me because of my return policy because they only wanted to wear it to a wedding or something like that.  Um... Since I am not a lending service I am comfortable with that buyer not shopping with me. 

I have not had any headaches due to this as it keeps problematic buyers away and everything eventually sells anyway be it the day after I post something or a couple of years.  Enough things sell between that time frame to keep it interesting. 

I agree w/ Buzzetta...I have mostly been selling vintage menus and antique radios...have had some want the menus for the great graphics and copy the covers and want to return and also have had some "harvest" parts off my radios...a few years back I started no more returns after a few of these.

[Lightning55]

4 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

You do not have to do 30 day returns or returns at all.  I have said this before, set your listings to no returns because it does turn away certain types of buyers.  When I sell it piece of jewelry it dissuades the type of buyer that wants to 'borrow' the piece or 'rent' it for a week.   I have had buyer's outright tell me that they would not buy from me because of my return policy because they only wanted to wear it to a wedding or something like that.  Um... Since I am not a lending service I am comfortable with that buyer not shopping with me. 

I have not had any headaches due to this as it keeps problematic buyers away and everything eventually sells anyway be it the day after I post something or a couple of years.  Enough things sell between that time frame to keep it interesting. 

You don't HAVE to do free 30 days returns, but if you are a Top Rated Seller, that status goes away, along with your 10% discount on Final Value Fees. 

For me, that would be a $2000 annual loss.  I'll gladly pay for a few questionable returns during the year and keep the $2k.  If it gets out of hand, I'll have to react accordingly.

[kHAoS]

5 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

You do not have to do 30 day returns or returns at all.  I have said this before, set your listings to no returns because it does turn away certain types of buyers.  When I sell it piece of jewelry it dissuades the type of buyer that wants to 'borrow' the piece or 'rent' it for a week.   I have had buyer's outright tell me that they would not buy from me because of my return policy because they only wanted to wear it to a wedding or something like that.  Um... Since I am not a lending service I am comfortable with that buyer not shopping with me. 

I have not had any headaches due to this as it keeps problematic buyers away and everything eventually sells anyway be it the day after I post something or a couple of years.  Enough things sell between that time frame to keep it interesting. 

if this is how ebay wants to run their site, it might benefit them to break-up the site or have different categories for sellers. this one size-fits-all standard for sellers is troublesome. i wouldn’t mind seeing something along the lines of a part-time hobby seller status of sorts.

personally, i use the site to buy and sell as a way to fund my hobby interests. i’m not selling new retail product, it’s mostly video-games and collectibles. i’m not looking to run it like a full-blown business and it’s an unreasonable expectation to bear all these extra costs. i get that that it’s ebay’s site, so they get to set the rules. but after 20 years, it sucks to feel that you’re getting squeezed out. in all probability, i’m just probably old and this new age of buyers have different expectations of the ebay buying experience. i’ll get off my soapbox now...

[justafan]

On 8/30/2020 at 11:36 AM, Buzzetta said:

You do not have to do 30 day returns or returns at all.  I have said this before, set your listings to no returns because it does turn away certain types of buyers.  When I sell it piece of jewelry it dissuades the type of buyer that wants to 'borrow' the piece or 'rent' it for a week.   I have had buyer's outright tell me that they would not buy from me because of my return policy because they only wanted to wear it to a wedding or something like that.  Um... Since I am not a lending service I am comfortable with that buyer not shopping with me. 

I have not had any headaches due to this as it keeps problematic buyers away and everything eventually sells anyway be it the day after I post something or a couple of years.  Enough things sell between that time frame to keep it interesting. 

Agreed, but my main point was not doing the 30-day returns was the whole reason I lost and stopped pursuing Top Rated Seller status along with the discounts.  As Lightning55 explains below.

On 8/30/2020 at 4:39 PM, Lightning55 said:

You don't HAVE to do free 30 days returns, but if you are a Top Rated Seller, that status goes away, along with your 10% discount on Final Value Fees. 

For me, that would be a $2000 annual loss.  I'll gladly pay for a few questionable returns during the year and keep the $2k.  If it gets out of hand, I'll have to react accordingly.

Ultimately the way I justified dropping my status was that unlike Lightning55, my annual sales were less than $5000 a year so the FVF discount loss only impacted me by less than roughly around $450 which would have been the equivalent of returns shenanigans on 1 or 2 of my bigger sales but the potential ceiling for such issues was unlimited.   As a hedge against risk I just accepted the loss of Top Rated Seller status (after all the only way I got there before was by my previous methods).  I basically just adjusted my pricing by rolling the FVF into the price of the item and any shipping.  Sales dropped on some items but I adjusted to selling higher margin higher demand items. I've been using other venues for selling the lower margin stuff.

Interestingly another way it did impact me was in my buying.  As a buyer I used to buy more liberally on ebay and request less returns with some items (damage in shipping or hidden defects) since I felt I could always turn around and resell to recoup funds if I found a better copy.  But as ebay has gradually put the squeeze on other sellers, I've found that paying higher prices made it harder for me to recoup anything from those bad purchases and those books just sat.  Hence, I've become far more picky with my purchases and more prone to return items I'm not 100% satisfied with.  So my buying has also dropped considerably. 

[Buzzetta]

8 minutes ago, justafan said:

Agreed, but my main point was not doing the 30-day returns was the whole reason I lost and stopped pursuing Top Rated Seller status along with the discounts.  As Lightning55 explains below.

Ultimately the way I justified dropping my status was that unlike Lightning55, my annual sales were less than $5000 a year so the FVF discount loss only impacted me by less than roughly around $450 which would have been the equivalent of returns shenanigans on 1 or 2 of my bigger sales but the potential ceiling for such issues was unlimited.   As a hedge against risk I just accepted the loss of Top Rated Seller status (after all the only way I got there before was by my previous methods).  I basically just adjusted my pricing by rolling the FVF into the price of the item and any shipping.  Sales dropped on some items but I adjusted to selling higher margin higher demand items. I've been using other venues for selling the lower margin stuff.

Interestingly another way it did impact me was in my buying.  As a buyer I used to buy more liberally on ebay and request less returns with some items (damage in shipping or hidden defects) since I felt I could always turn around and resell to recoup funds if I found a better copy.  But as ebay has gradually put the squeeze on other sellers, I've found that paying higher prices made it harder for me to recoup anything from those bad purchases and those books just sat.  Hence, I've become far more picky with my purchases and more prone to return items I'm not 100% satisfied with.  So my buying has also dropped considerably. 

I found a solution for that.

I raised prices.  Shockingly, and I do not mean that sarcastically, I brought home the same amount each year.  I sold less but made the same amount.