Ebay annoyances

[John M Upton]

Royal Mail's tracking system is hopeless.  Not helped by them not even getting signatures for Signed For items since March last year.

 

Quite why anyone is bothering forking out more for tracked mail is a mystery, they aren't getting any extra service for their money.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

14 hours ago, mezzoman253 said:

Ordered from a seller on the 5TH, got an email to say dispatched with a tracking number, expected delivery today the 9TH.

 

So I checked the tracker as I wanted to know if they would actually arrive today. The site showed still at the depot. Just after checking the postman arrived with the packet. 

 

Why use a tracker if it's not updated by anyone.

 

Rob

 

 

That tracking number is the “free” confirmation of delivery number.

 

The code on the postage label should be scanned on delivery.

No signature, or other tracking.

 

The estimated delivery is an eBay estimate, based on the delivery service indicated by the seller in compiling the listing, and the setting in the “how many working days from payment to dispatch “ section, set by the seller.

 

This frequently has no bearing on reality, as the seller may dispatch earlier, or later, than the eBay computer “thinks”...

 

The eBay “tracking” system is frequently not actually updated...in this case possibly the eBay system doesn’t get notified ...

 

In any case, the only “tracking” available from that number is a confirmation of delivery...

 

This system is only available if a package is posted at a Post Office, and a Proof of Posting receipt is asked for...

 

 

“Signed For” is also only updated after delivery, or in the case of non delivery, and being taken back to the local sorting office for collection, or re delivery, that fact is noted.

 

The eBay seller protection can only be involved if a tracked method of shipping is used...for what it’s worth?

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Ruffnut Thorston
More added.

[John M Upton]

They do now have this randomly inserted gibberish code on all purchaser addresses for Ebay sellers but it doesn't actually do anything if you are sending your item by domestic Royal Mail other than much the address formatting up.

 

I don't even bother printing it.

[hayfield]

19 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Royal Mail's tracking system is hopeless.  Not helped by them not even getting signatures for Signed For items since March last year.

 

Quite why anyone is bothering forking out more for tracked mail is a mystery, they aren't getting any extra service for their money.

 

Insurance/compensation is far higher with recorded delivery, plus my posty knocks the door, leaves the package in the porch and wait for us to answer when delivering to us. 

 

Over the past year I have used both recorded and special delivery sending items. No issues all deliveries recorded after being delivered

 

On the other hand I have received a hand full of Hermes deliveries in the past year. Twice I have received emails and photos of parcels being delivered to me, sadly neither of these two photos were of my property, despite Hermies claiming they were. Thankfully one was another property in my road, the other a totally different road and thankfully the occupier delivered it. This is why I use the Royal Mail

 

I totally disagree with you, as a recipient of packets both the RM and DPD wait for my door to open when delivering, as a sender the RM has done what I paid for, even at the worst times of the pandemic !!

 

Edit

 

I did wonder about how quick Royal Mails 1st class delivery was, on checking given the circumstances virtually all delivered the next day 

Edited April 10, 2021 by hayfield

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The eBay “gibberish” is a code that is meant to be removed from the address, and translated into a scannable code...

 

BUT, this only happens if certain systems are used to generate the labels for printing.

 

It should be removed, or just not incorporated, if printing, or hand writing the address.

 

BUT, this has not been widely publicised, and some senders are still printing, and even hand writing, the gibberish code in the address.

 

This can, and does, confuse the computer based systems used in sorting offices.

 

Just why eBay insists on putting its code in the actual address, between line 1 and line 2, instead of after the name of the recipient, before the actual address, is one of the mysteries of life...

 

Ruffnut Thorston 

ebay34568

1 Loki Road

The Village

ISLE OF BERK 

BK1 R62

 

Is less likely to confuse the systems than

 

Ruffnut Thorston 

1 Loki Road

ebay34568

The Village

ISLE OF BERK 

BK1 R62

 

Which is how eBay are doing it.

 

(I have changed my address a bit for this example! )

 

Please tell anyone that needs to know...the eBay code can be removed or left out completely!

 

[petethemole]

My most recent labels haven't included the code, so I thought it had stopped.

[Canal Digger]

On 04/04/2021 at 13:09, SGP said:

Okay, this month sees eBay ditching Paypal for good and using Adyen to process their own payments. 

So, that's another outfit (Dutch) that wants access to my bank account. 

It won't be cheaper for us punters but it means that eBay now get ALL of the fees instead of letting Paypal have a share. 

No more will we have to pay Paypal their percentage but eBay have upped their fees to claw in all the "savings". 

Further, don't forget that if you only use Paypal for eBay purposes, you Paypal usage will be ticking down .... if you don't use your Paypal account, you will be charged £12 per year stagnation fee. 

Make sure you use Paypal once a year on other sites to avoid the annual fee. 

I think I'll just be buying from eBay in future. No more selling for me.

Here are the crunched numbers posted on the Money Saving Expert website .... 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/11/ebay-axes-paypal-sellers-bank-accounts-upping-fees/

copied from my posting in 'ebay madness'

 

Hi, I know that this thread is mainly about the madness of some ebay sellers but how about the madness of ebay itself?

Having received a 'Final Warning' email (somewhat threatening) re updating my payment methods I wasted an hour on their chat line yesterday trying to understand. Apparently ebay are 'moving away' from Paypal.so they now need our bank a/c details to make payments to/ from. Given that I don't trust their security, no way am I giving them my main bank a/c details. so looks as if I have 2 options:

Close my ebay a/c. What other auction sites are there out there please?

Set up a separate bank a/c just for ebay

I tried to explain that if Tesco changed their system so that customers had to open a separate bank a/c they would soon go out of business. I think the individual agreed, she was quiet for a few min, however could provide no alternative.

Your thoughts please 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

8 hours ago, petethemole said:

My most recent labels haven't included the code, so I thought it had stopped.

If you are printing labels from one of the systems that actually works with the eBay code, you don’t get the code in the address, it’s printed as a barcode/ QR code thingy. 

[John M Upton]

Everyone has been going on about the new payment system and "final warning" emails about submitting payment details, I have not received any such communication and I sell a lot on Ebay.

 

Is this being phased in gradually over time or have I missed something?

[Jonboy]

It’s a phased changeover:

 

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/selling/managed-payments

[hayfield]

11 hours ago, Canal Digger said:

copied from my posting in 'ebay madness'

 

Hi, I know that this thread is mainly about the madness of some ebay sellers but how about the madness of ebay itself?

Having received a 'Final Warning' email (somewhat threatening) re updating my payment methods I wasted an hour on their chat line yesterday trying to understand. Apparently ebay are 'moving away' from Paypal.so they now need our bank a/c details to make payments to/ from. Given that I don't trust their security, no way am I giving them my main bank a/c details. so looks as if I have 2 options:

Close my ebay a/c. What other auction sites are there out there please?

Set up a separate bank a/c just for ebay

I tried to explain that if Tesco changed their system so that customers had to open a separate bank a/c they would soon go out of business. I think the individual agreed, she was quiet for a few min, however could provide no alternative.

Your thoughts please 

 

eBay(when they owned Paypal) have had both my bank details ( where I transfer funds to from PayPal to cover postage etc) and credit card (if my PayPal account has no funds) for some time. Like all banking and retail companies, plus private utility companies are under very strict banking rules and have your bank details. I cannot see a problem. eBay like many other companies require your banking details, its a free world you have a choice. If you don't like it don't deal with them.

 

I prefer to still use PayPal, simply to keep my railway funds separate from my day to day funds. But I can make other arrangements if needed

[John M Upton]

I too prefer to keep Ebay sales and purchases separate from mainstream banking so will be specifying PayPal payments only, I am not happy about waiting X number of days for funds to appear when before with PayPal it was instant.  It's like Ebay are taking financial transactions back to the 1980's!!!

[hayfield]

45 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

I too prefer to keep Ebay sales and purchases separate from mainstream banking so will be specifying PayPal payments only, I am not happy about waiting X number of days for funds to appear when before with PayPal it was instant.  It's like Ebay are taking financial transactions back to the 1980's!!!

 

I accept a bit annoying but not a game changer, usually I am in credit but if the odd item takes me over I use the credit card, they repay it later once the bill arrives. I keep saying I am going to stop buying from eBay but the odd tempting item still pops up. Perhaps it will curb my ebay spending and increase buys from manufacturers ?

[SGP]

Quote

What other auction sites are there out there please?

In UK, there used to be Bid-Bay but were closed down by eBay as they had copied their logo.

Presently there is Gumtree which seems a bit hit and miss to me and there is eBid.

eBid is free to use and free to list and their final fee is only 5%. However, there isn't much on there for sale and there don't seem to be many bidders on what there is. They use Paypal and if you list (for free), it stays on there until it is sold if Buy-it-Now and apparently times down from the first bid on auctions .... not sure about that as although I have joined, I have yet to use it. 

You can also pay a one off subscription and with that you can shift your feedback score over from eBay. 

Sounds better than eBay but it needs more traffic.

Edited April 11, 2021 by SGP
(addition to text)

[hayfield]

The thing is for model railway items, especially older discontinued items, eBay has the market sown up, it also policies dodgy sellers and buyers  and is easy to use. 

 

I think most companies have little quirks which annoy folk, sometimes its better to accept things as they are. May be annoying but for me not a game changer

[hayfield]

On 11/04/2021 at 10:38, hayfield said:

 

I accept a bit annoying but not a game changer, usually I am in credit but if the odd item takes me over I use the credit card, they repay it later once the bill arrives. I keep saying I am going to stop buying from eBay but the odd tempting item still pops up. Perhaps it will curb my ebay spending and increase buys from manufacturers ?

 

How quickly plans or rather circumstances change. My main aim is still the same, buy the classes of locos missing in my collection, which I said was becoming more expensive in eBay

 

Soon after my ramblings on Sunday I won a mostly built GWR County tank, whilst being described as a whitemetal kit, it looks more like an etched one, described as 00 gauge but looks like an EM gauge loco (flanges too large for P4) with motor and gears, towards my top end of bidding but still in two figures. And certainly a loco I have been after for ages, some years ago I bought a part finished scratch built body, it was OK but for me slightly too coarsely built for me to finish, 

 

Then last night a built (but needing a service) a Southeastern Finecast USA tank, given these kits are £90 plus the cost of wheels motor and gears. Again something missing from my collection, I did have a kit of one of these from a different manufacturer but it was a poor quality kit, again I sold it on. stunned that only one other person bid on it and I got it at £2 over the starting price which was lowish anyway. It was from the same seller as the previous night, but this time quotes as EM gauge. Has Romford wheels, Mashima motor and a Branchlines multibox gearbox, these alone would cost me far more than I paid. 

[hayfield]

Here is one things that annoy me 

 

When a seller states no returns, then below it eBay states you have their money back guarantee 

 

I can understand is something is being sold as spares especially if stated not working. However if I have spent a reasonable sum I simply require the item to be in the condition its described as. Then I have no grumbles, as I have made a decision on the information to hand. Me changing my mind is not a good reason, though if the person is a business seller, this is one of my rights under law

 

However if I find a material fact is clearly untrue, or something is missing or broken, then I reserve the right to return the item.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

I doesn’t matter what the seller states about returns.

 

If the buyer wants to return the item, they can start the eBay returns process.

 

All the seller’s statement covers is the practice of returning an item with no reason...

 

But the eBay returns system has the fault that the buyer can state that there is a fault, not as described, etc., and no way of the seller questioning this really.

 

A locomotive? State that it doesn’t work...

 

The returns process would allow a return...

 

The seller doesn’t have much room to manoeuvre...eBay will probably refund the buyer anyway...

 

So the seller buys a return postage “label”, and hopefully gets the loco back.

 

Yes, it works...but probably eBay is now finished with that transaction, and no one is interested.

 

The seller is down the Postage and Packing.

 

The buyer has successfully changed their mind. 

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

I doesn’t matter what the seller states about returns.

 

If the buyer wants to return the item, they can start the eBay returns process.

 

All the seller’s statement covers is the practice of returning an item with no reason...

 

But the eBay returns system has the fault that the buyer can state that there is a fault, not as described, etc., and no way of the seller questioning this really.

 

A locomotive? State that it doesn’t work...

 

The returns process would allow a return...

 

The seller doesn’t have much room to manoeuvre...eBay will probably refund the buyer anyway...

 

So the seller buys a return postage “label”, and hopefully gets the loco back.

 

Yes, it works...but probably eBay is now finished with that transaction, and no one is interested.

 

The seller is down the Postage and Packing.

 

The buyer has successfully changed their mind. 

 

Thanks

 

Its not so much changing one's mind, just if there is something materially wrong with the item. if someone states its a non runner then I am taking the chance, or if its stated as complete and a major part is missing again a material differance

[MartinWales]

11 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Thanks

 

Its not so much changing one's mind, just if there is something materially wrong with the item. if someone states its a non runner then I am taking the chance, or if its stated as complete and a major part is missing again a material differance

Amen! 'Nuff said!

[hayfield]

I think certainly with those buying and selling kits, kit built locos and parts for kitbuilding with a very few exceptions are a really good bunch. every now and then something is perhaps is not quite as hoped, but these are far outnumbered by those items which end up being much better

 

The biggest issues I have had, were almost all due to the item being damaged in transit. To a certain extent some times its down to the odd step etc coming adrift, things like this are not a issue. But every now and then something arrives with major damage, again with only the odd exception an agreement is easily come by.

 

As I said I just would not even think of returning an item if I subsequently decided I don't like it. I do accept that some railway modelers/collectors are all angels, but the horror stories I do hear about tend to be with high end new locos or electronic items.

 

Having said this one of my latest buys has just arrived in a decent box, but seems to be moving in the box a bit 

[SGP]

Thinking ..... eBay is insisting on sellers only accepting money with their own bank via Adyen BUT buyers can still use Paypal to pay. So who pays the Paypal fees then? Does the seller end up with extra fees or does the buyer now have to pay?

[Foden]

6 minutes ago, SGP said:

Thinking ..... eBay is insisting on sellers only accepting money with their own bank via Adyen BUT buyers can still use Paypal to pay. So who pays the Paypal fees then? Does the seller end up with extra fees or does the buyer now have to pay?

Seller soaks up the PayPal fees as they do currently.

 

You can of course pay for many number of things using PayPal as the middle man for the transaction, I paid for a pizza the other night this way, this would be no different. That’s my understanding.

[SGP]

Hmm. So while eBay say it will cost the seller no more (eBay taking Paypals old share), it will cost more due to having to pay Paypal fees on top anyway. 

[Bluemonkey presents....]

4 minutes ago, SGP said:

Hmm. So while eBay say it will cost the seller no more (eBay taking Paypals old share), it will cost more due to having to pay Paypal fees on top anyway. 

Ebay pay the money to your bank direct. PayPal is completely avoided by the seller now.