eBay Pushes Sellers into Managed Payments Despite Pandemic

by: Marie

@jack

I didn't miss that statement and I don't interpret it the way you did either.  

by: Marie

@justchangecarriers

I agree Ebay's reports are no where near as good as PP's.  But I don't depend on either of them as I keep my own sales records.  I use PP's reports a check and balance sort of thing.

Ebay has a report in the Seller Hub under Orders that can be downloaded.  It is fine.  All the information is there you just have to weed through the information you don't need.  The big problem with this report is that it currently only goes back 90 days.  So you need to set reminders for yourself to capture that report every 90 days as you can't recover it.

Or you need to use Ebay's program called File Exchange.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-tools/file-exc
hange?id=4096

by: toolguy

@Tiffee Jasso

I don't have a credit card, I only have a Paypal debit card that uses a Mastercard number.

If eBay doesn't allow deposits into my Paypal account I will no longer be able to buy on eBay!

Unless they accept debit cards from BofA I'll be out of luck as a on line shopper.

by: hawk

ebay is the only place that keeps on destroying sellers instead of helping relieve the pain and destruction of of the times at hand. so sad they only talk of what they're doing for themselves , not the sellers and customers. these creeps need to be in jail.

by: Whatever

"Starting Late July, your account will be activated for managed payments, and we will notify you as your activation date approaches."

humm how they gonna do that when they don't have my checking?  I know - pre-register.

These are sad and sorry times. I have enjoyed reading all the comments. You guys gave me more than one chuckle which is pretty much what eBay has come down too.

I started my own venue 2 years ago. I've already closed one store and downsized the other to basic. That one will have no subscription by July.  I'm selling on another site now and OMG I'm selling things - go figure. Are they managed payments you ask. Why yes they are. What's the difference you ask? Well this other site so far - their smart enough to leave the sellers and buyers alone to do business.  If that changes I'll be down to just my own venue which BTW shows up on every google search - page 1.

What's eBay's biggest problem? There is no trust and safety there for sellers. They've tottally gone from "We love you" to "we actually hate you now" I have to thank them for giving me that push out the door. My sales have been horrible for the last 6 months - COVID has nothing to do with that.  Today - last week - last month - crickets.  eBay has shown me there is life after eBay. Just relieving the stress of having to be a 100% perfect human being is a blessing.

After 20 years - well it's sad to see how far we have come isn't it? And none of us know what is going to happen to our country now - eBay might not even be here by July. Be a Prepper - get it done,

by: Truk

We opened a transfer account at our bank we will keep almost zero cash in it and funds will transfer to our holding account from all Id's almost immediately which will prevent ebay from accessing anything but a credit card

by: toolguy

Relax, we'll all adapt one way or another.

When the dust settles let's see where eBay ends up.

I might not be a seller and if that happens there's 100% chance I won't be a buyer!

by: Plug

It's becoming the norm, and abuse is part of that norm.  Take for instance VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner).  If you rent your place to someone a year in advance, then VRBO holds your funds in their money-grab pockets for that entire year (yet they claim they are not a bank) while your home is now off the market and you have no operating funds to work with... Then they go so far as to say you can qualify for ''early payment'' only to tell you that you failed to meet their standards... when asked for those standards, they say there is nothing specific in writing.        

I'm really surprised that Ebay did not start this Managed Payments program with the phrase ''You spoke, we listened''  (euphemistic for ''get ready to be screwed'')  

by: Denny

Most of my listings have now been removed from E-bay which has seemed to increase sales of them on my websites. Managed payments should manage me out of the equation and all there crap once and for all. YAY! FREE from the lies & Greed.

by: anng

I also got the email. Based on earlier information on the MPs fee structure and my experience with eBay reports, Managed Payments is going to cost my small business a lot in both time and money. And what people have shared here only underscores that expectation.

My business model was structured for multiple small sales at a time from a customer, MP penalizes me for those.

eBay's reporting capability is a joke - 90 days? really? Are they saving data on floppy disks? And I have not seen ANY improvements in reporting capability of any kind that is in support of business needs. Anything they have ever done has ONLY been in support of some other new questionable "search requirement" and then it's manually tedious to use and, IMHO, poorly thought out.  

I  agree with others, doing this during a pandemic with no phone support to clarify intent, is egregious.

Reluctantly, along with a second issue (changing my store to a monthly vs annual to protect myself financially), I reached out via email. Surprisingly, the response WAS fast, though rather curt and somewhat obtuse.   I had to email BACK 3 times to get a coherent reply; the last time half my email was in all caps as no one was reading what either I or the previous CSR had written. Sigh. Anyway.

My question on MP: "Does this mean I am scheduled for activation whether I pre-register or not?"

The response: "...With regards to managed payments, its not automatic you have to pre-register."

Now. I have gotten erroneous information before. So, I plan to ask the same question again; and then a third time, just to be sure. I will also save all the emails. In this case, documentation may be rather useful.

I intend to change my business banks. But besides that minor point, eBay does NOT have my banking information. They only have a PP credit card on file to pay my fees. I am not going out to change banks now. So guess they will have to shutter me after 23 years onsite if they force this in July. I see no reason I have to be overcharged until I have had every opportunity to unload inventory to MY BEST advantage, not theirs.  

by: Marie

@anng

"My question on MP: "Does this mean I am scheduled for activation whether I pre-register or not?"

It is not a requirement to pre-register but it is a good idea if you want to continue selling without interruption.  The information they require is needed to participate in MP.  So withholding that information will do nothing but delay your entry to MP and one of the things Ebay is likely to do is to interrupt your ability to sell on the site until you comply.

by: RKTOYS

To paraphrase what was said about Microsoft years ago:  eBay isn't an e-commerce company but an abuse company that delivers said abuse via e-commerce.

by: NoMoreEbay

Surprised ebay stock is still in the 20s. Thought for sure it would be in the single digits by now. Sure should be.

If sales aren't plummeting today they will be soon as more buyers lose jobs and more on lockdown stop buying things they can't use or don't need.

by: Tiffee Jasso

@toolguy  I have more than one debit card and several credit cards, but I am not about to give those numbers to Ebay. I don't know if you recall the bogus billing of people's accounts by Ebay, and some of those bills ran into the thousands. No one got refunds, they got credit for future Ebay bills. So Ebay is not going to get a hold of my other bank cards, accounts, or my credit cards. I don't want to wake up and find they had a glitch and there is no one to help as they card company is at fault and Ebay has no control or responsibility for their errors. When I get forced into managed payments, I will have a separate account for Ebay with no backup funding, so the only thing they can take is the few dollars they put in it. Also just for your info, Ayden is not the only card processor they are going to be using. Read the part where they state they will be using various card processors to handle their managed payments.  

by: toolguy

@NoMoreEbay

eBay is the 20's?

I don't see that happening with a current P/E of 14

eBay's still making way too much money for it to drop $20, but that could change in the future for sure. . .

by: NoMoreEbay

@ToolGuy

4/2/20 ebay $29.19

by: justchangecarriers

@Marie

The problem with Ebay reports. You dont know what you truly need until you encounter it later. Their 90 day reports is incredibly asinine for business. Will they include sales tax figures in their processing fees? Will I have to go through every transaction and figure out what the sales tax was? Paypals reporting amount does not have sales tax included. Can I filter Ebay reports to tell me how much shipping costs? I cant keep up with every transaction shipping as it happens. I ship 10 -15 things a day and having to research where each payment came from and calculate shipping daily while packing would be a nightmare as well. Ebay sucks at business. They flat out suck at it. Their numbers are constantly wrong, and they have no clue what businesses need. I have zero faith they will provide what I need. Not having a 1099 on ebay would be a true nightmare since I cant compare my own figures with what is supposed to be reported. If I made a large error then I would have no idea.

by: toolguy

@nomoreebay

eBay stock would have to drop 65% to be in single digits

30% to be at $20 of which neither is going to happen unless the Earth has a major meltdown!

@justchangecarriers

Sounds like you take something simple and complicate it.

Guesstimation works well for eBay sellers! Been doing it for 20 years. . . .

by: Marie

@anng

Ebay is likely to do away with that pesky 25 cent transaction fee in MP for each listing purchased and move to a flat 25 cent fee for the entire transaction.  At least that is what is being said in a couple different Town Hall [or some name] type meetings of recent.  

by: Marie

@justchangecarriers

"You dont know what you truly need until you encounter it later."  Well that isn't entirely accurate.  Unless you are a brand new seller [which I know you are not] you should know what kind of data you need to be collecting for your business records in regards to sales and expenses.  All sellers should be keeping their own business records without exception.  Any reports by Ebay are or should be for cross checking your numbers.

Recently someone in MP shared with me a report they get from MP.  And the information is there.  

"Paypals reporting amount does not have sales tax included."  That isn't accurate either.  PP includes the total amount received from your buyers on your 1099 as part of your Gross Receipts.  Irregardless if the money is from shipping, product or sales tax.  It also does not take into consideration any refunds that may have been extended.  The detailed reports will give you the information to break the sales tax, shipping and refunds out of that number.

Yes you can "filter" Ebay reports any way you need to.  You download them into a worksheet program and do whatever you need with the numbers and/or format.

"I ship 10 -15 things a day and having to research where each payment came from and calculate shipping daily while packing would be a nightmare as well."  It doesn't have to be.  Why would you need to "research" each payment?

I currently work from my payment notification email.  As is my habit, I then verify that the payment is in PP, I know many don't do that, but I do.  At that time I note what my PP fees are on the transaction.  I then pull the inventory package items, weight them, make a note of that and then ship the items.  When I ship I note how much the shipping cost me.  I set aside that information and then later in the day I enter the sales and the costs that I have noted into my bookkeeping system.  It works for me.

But for others they use other types of software that actually pulls the information from Ebay and creates your records for you.  Then you can go into it and enter other expenses that they wouldn't know to pull in as needed.  I don't use any of those software item, but I know they are out there.  Godaddy and Quickbooks comes to mind.