Well, after Evri's announcement come's Ebay's. And tarnation, its awkward!
Ebay will from February only pay out to sellers after delivery is confirmed!
As a seller I'm trying to get my head around this. For me it will mean everything I sell from now on has to be tracked and therefore delivery can be confirmed to Ebay [in theory!]
For more IT-savvy sellers they may use Ebay's own printable stamps but I still go to the Post Office.
What will this mean for you if you sell readers?
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This year I've been selling on eBay a lot again. As in times before, one thing always baffled me. What happens to lost mail?
Where do all the thousands of mislaid parcels go? They must go somewhere? To neighbours or dare I say couriers themselves? Where?
I imagine a vast hill of packages somewhere between continents, the address labels slowly greening over and desperate gulls ripping them open. Occasionally a tin robot or wind-up spaceship will spill out and attempt an ascent, the gulls pecking at their bent antennae and flashing lights as they stagger towards the sun.
My reverie over, a more serious sub-genre of lost property is the relatively new and quite baffling phenomenon of tracked but mislaid.
Tracked but mislaid? Surely this is an oxymoron, like wet fire or bright dark: things that can't exist. Or so we thought. Tracked but mislaid is the latest insult to eBay sellers totally reliant on couriers of one kind or another, whether national or private.
I have refunded five buyers this year already for lost mail. None were tracked, which I aim now to change, but it appears that that also offers no guarantee of delivery.
The biggest implication for the seller of lost eBay goods is the refund, sometimes substantial, leaving them out of pocket and without the goods.
For the buyer, well, they've got absolutely nothing either.
Have you experience of this readers?
As an Ebay seller I rely on the Post Office and Royal Mail [unsure of the difference these days!]. Its my choice I know so I have to accept the consequences.
One recent foible is the new T48 service. Its a two-day tracked post for parcels. The tracking kicks in when the parcel is delivered.
Normally it costs around £3.70' ish I think for a second class parcel.
Alas, I got stung with its other add-on this week, the signature! I didn't know about the signature!
I hadn't realised I'd been charged over £5 for T48 because the sub-postie automatically bolted-on the Signature option!
This meant I lost money on the sale.
I only discovered it when I got home and checked the Proof of Postage.
Just one to to watch out for if you use T48 here in the UK!
Grrrr!
I'm noticing a new negative trend on eBay UK, winning bidders simply not paying and waiting for eBay to cancel their sale after about five days.
Not sure what's going on here. Non payment used to be a total no no on eBay, when I first started up. Seems it's accepted behaviour now!
For a seller it's a a real nuisance and a waste of valuable sales time.
Grrrr. Rant over.
Is this something you've come across readers?
I wrapped up my first sale in the re-opened attic this morning.
A 1980's Barbie Gym no less!
It'll go to the Post Office later today.
I had another blast from the past at my Daughter's house over the weekend. She returned a plastic box I hadn't seen in years.
This green box was one of many I had on shelves in my big old sunlit 'toy cellar' back in the 90's, when I used to trade stuff from there and do mail order as well. It was called Moon Zero Toys and I actually had regulars!
Having a full-time job as well, buying and selling old second hand toys was my hobby back then - it still is! - and these plastic boxes were how I divided up my stock into manageable parts. The one in the picture - TV Action - would have held all manner of oddments from the TV shows listed - James Bond, The Saint, the A Team, Bionic Man and Zorro - ranging from key rings, novels, action figures, jigsaws right up to small boxed toys.
Larger boxed toys and board games were stacked as they came, on a separate shelf and the biggest thrill was to see several of the same boxed item stacked up. I remember having three second hand and excellent boxed Batman Animated Batmobiles on top of each other and it used to make me so chuffed. Like a proper toy shop! ha ha
There were some inspirational toy sellers in the 90's, who took the hobby - for them a business - to a whole new level and it was always a buzz reading their mail order catalogues and sales lists on Model Mart magazine.
Notable among the many was the late great Jim Star Wars Stevenson and the inspirational Andy Foley and his TV Toy Zone, the catalogues of which are still a treasure of mine as they were really the catalyst, along with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie, to start looking for old toys and collect the toys I owned as a kid.
My 'cellar' closed in 2003 when we moved and the new house didn't have one. Also with the advent of Ebay in the UK in 2000 my mail order side had already stopped. It was the end of an era and I was sad to leave that cellar behind. It had been a lot of fun.
I don't have any photographs of the old cellar so when I saw this box again this weekend it brought back happy memories of a time before Ebay changed our lives forever. Thanks for listening to an old man reminiscing!
Did you have an old store room, cellar or attic full of your stuff? Did you buy and sell or swap old toys? Do you still readers?
This job lot caught my eye on the Bay. Lots of cool cars and some plastic. What would you have liked?
Here's a job lot that was on the Bay. Mixed lots like this are always fun to look at. What can you see in this bundle readers?
Back in the mid-noughties I was a full time Ebayer. Time was divided between finding stock at car boot sales and charity shops and auctions and also with the actual listing and selling online. Ebay was only just 6 years old in the UK back then and it was a lot of fun. I even enjoyed all the wrapping!
This was my stock back in October 2006. I must have sold it all as I don't have any of it now.
Have you sold a lot on Ebay?
