eBay Removal of Shipping Options Called Appalling

by: thievesBay

All eBay does is take away options, tools, anything of use, from sellers and buyers. They want control of every aspect of the process, all in the name of scheming for their profit. Nothing ever of any benefit to the user. That's eBay in a nutshell.

by: unsuckEBAY

Some time ago eBay hid seller handling times from buyers and built it into their overall transit estimate shown to buyers.

We can speculate what eBay's 'thinking' was in that decision ("the buyer doesn't need these details, they just want to know when it'll arrive"), but this was an overall bad call (in our opinion/experience).

Of course, it's also another not-so-subtle carrot-and-stick designed to encourage FREE SHIPPING.

Further limiting buyer choices by making seller-offered shipping options opaque to the buyer makes this bad decision worse (and makes non FREE SHIPPING choices just a bit more painful for sellers, of course).

by: pace306

In nutshell, eBay makes up crazy policies and then forces sellers into them under the guise of A) knowing better then the sellers & buyers B) knowing more then the industry (ie copying Amazon etc) C) by combining A&B into "how can we make the most money

In religion its called "the original sin".

On eBay the "original sin" was that eBay "was allowed" to make FVF on shipping - something they had/have nothing to do with.

Ignore the eBay cheerleaders - they know as much about ecommerce as my dog knows about nuclear physics.

Once eBay was "allowed" to get their hooks into the shipping part of the sale - it became "theirs to control".

Its akin to eBay having "a sale". If you dont own anything how can you have a sale?

Can I tell people "Im having a sale at Shopright today!" But I dont own the goods at Shopright - so how can I have a "SALE" on them?

eBay always lies, always cheats, always finds ways (hence the many shyster lawyers they employ) to take money for something the DIDNT do.

In this case - the various shipping methods are designed to increase eBays revenue and reputation at the sellers expense.

All hail eBay the great disruptor of normal ecommerce - lead to you by Devin Wenig - who brain capacity is that of a garden slug.

by: Marie

It's another one of those efforts to give more support and accuracy to how the listings display to those using mobile devices.  Shopping via mobile devices is a growing market as most of us knows.  But the information they see on an Ebay listing is not like viewing it on a computer.

So I see this as yet another thing they are doing to better support this type of shopper.  I'm not sure I'm right, but I bet it has a lot to do with it.

by: ZZ

It went on for years that eBay allowed sellers to charge 1 cent for an item and $20 to ship it. That it took so long for them to figure out a solution shows how poor the management is at the top.

To blindly try to copy the free shipping of Amazon (at the seller's expense) is equally dumb. Amazon reportedly 'spends' over $400 to get a customer to become a Prime member, hoping to make it back on multiple orders.
I hear Amazon customers will by shirts in 3 sizes, try them on, and return the 2 that don't fit. How long would it take to bankrupt an eBay shirt seller allowing buyers to try on their wares at seller's expense?
Free shipping is probably the worst thing possible for shirt sellers who have to cope with manufacturers who have no standards for sizing them, and buyers who won't take the time to measure a shirt that fits (and don't know they need to click on an arrow on their mobile phone to read the seller's description).

by: sellerchick

it is so harmful to sales. I have buyers contacting me ALL THE TIME looking for faster shipping methods that are supressed. They KNOW that 1st class mail does not arrive in 2-3 days and are WILLING to pay a premium for expedited shipping but ebay won't let them!

by: spooky

Like others on this thread I remember well when many sellers would offer items like CD's or books for 1 penny but then charge an outrageous shipping fee. I can not blame eBay for taking action but instead of going after the few bad apples we all have to pay more. The eBay greed is sickening

by: Marie

You know this change has NOTHING to do with excessive S&H by sellers.  Right?!?!?

by: thievesBay

@Marie eBay's mobile app is mostly a disaster and the site is barely funcional using a phone's browser. But eBay always touting about their app innovations lol. The hiding of shipping options is going to lead to one thing in the long run: more fees collected by eBay.

by: Marie

@thievesbay

My comment had nothing to do with that.  I simply responded to some of the comments concerning over priced shipping.  And this change hasn't got anything to do with that and everything to do with how it displays for the Mobile App.

I don't use the Mobile App, but I respect that it is a very important part of doing business on the internet.  I heard, read and seen lots of complaints about the App.  And I agree that Ebay has a long ways to go to make it a good experience.

by: toolguy

I only offer 1 shipping option

Would eBay like to remove it?

That would be interesting to see. . . .

by: Lightning

Isn't "1 shipping option" an oxymoron?  If you have only 1 shipping method, by definition no "option" exists.