Are "Buyer protection fees coming to business sellers?
Summary: blackcatbooksuk noticed their items for sale include a note about buyer protection, questioning if fees for this are being introduced for business sellers. jonatjonatjonat clarifies that business listings have always included buyer protection at no extra charge. cobwebcottage expressed concerns about the possibility of increased fees driving away sellers. the_brick_lodge discussed the difference in fees between business and private sellers, alongside the implications for profit margins, and highlighted frustrations with eBay's fee structure. simplyessential_uk suggested that the inclusion of buyer protection text is to reassure buyers. nebs9999 remarked that eBay seems to be focusing on extracting more revenue from existing users rather than attracting new ones.
Just looked at some of my items for sale and they are now saying this...
"Listing info
Price:
£8.00
incl. Buyer Protection
Duration:
Good 'Til Cancelled
Start time:
Mar 03, 2021 03:41:55 PM GMT"
Is this just a fault or are they preparing Buyer Protection fees for business sellers?
The fees don't seem to be added YET. So what you thinking?
nebs9999
·3 weeks agoThere are two ways for ebay to increase revenue, get new buyers and sellers, or squeeze a bit more out of those that already pay. They seem to be going for option 2.
blackcatbooksuk
OP3 weeks agoI have never noticed it before.
jonatjonatjonat
·3 weeks agoIt’s definitely been there for some time
simplyessential_uk
·3 weeks agoI think they have added it as buyers wouldnt know the difference and see a private seller listing with "buyer protection" and not a business sellers listing, just gives the buyer confidence that they are covered for all
the_brick_lodge
·3 weeks agoWould be nice as the BPF is so much cheaper but I can't see eBay giving up that much revenue, they clearly did it for private sellers to keep up with certain competition and that certain competition doesn't allow businesses to sell loads of new items.
What eBay doesn't seem to realise is it does allow businesses to sell 2nd hand items and for such sellers we are in a situation where I think eBay is losing twice, once to the competition, again to those trading on private accounts.
I don't mind the FVFs, I'm not happy about the fixed fee being 36p or 48p compared to the fixed 10p BPF, they basically put the fixed fee up for over £10 for businesses back in Feb to pay for some the reduction. The lack of fees on the postage charge is another annoying element but it must bring in so much money that eBay aren't going to willingly give it up. I would welcome simply delivery, even if only for parcels, but as it stands eBay make FVF on the £3.99 and make on the £3.65 when I buy a label so why would they give that up plus carry all the risk of refunding buyers for problems in transit?
If I sell for £5 after standard fees and postage I'm left with £2.40, on a private account you'd be left with £3.13 which is a bit of a difference on low value sales. Getting people to by more than 1 thing at a time to lower the fixed fees seems to be a hard job, although getting a decent run of sales seems to be a hard job of itself at the moment.
ekotec
·3 weeks agoIt looks like the certain competition, if you are referring to the ones that are "minted", is going to be on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit for taking money from sellers and refunding buyers without any real investigation into claims. At least eBay look into non-delivery issues, and you're pretty much guaranteed to be covered as a seller if a tracked service has been used.
cobwebcottage
·3 weeks agoThey can't charge us listing fees plus FVF's
and charge the buyer fees.
Business sellers would leave in droves!
jonatjonatjonat
·3 weeks agoWell obviously it would be one or the other. But this is text that has always been there - because Business Seller listings include Buyer Protection at no extra cost.
That's what its saying.
jonatjonatjonat
·3 weeks agoI believe it's always said that. I think the logic is the buyer protection fees are included in the price business sellers list with. The idea would be to give a standardised experience to buyers who would query why some listings don't include a buyer protection fee as it were.
You can see on the Buyer Protection Fee page
"Buyer Protection is included at no cost when purchasing from business sellers."