Buyer Protection is coming soon

[nutrafituk]

Just announced - finally some sort of good news for business accounts basically saying ONLY PRIVATE SELLERS will have this fee added (£0.75 fixed + various %). Hopefully that will make a difference for genuine business sellers and make those dodgy ones re-think their position:

We’re excited to announce that from 4 Feb, buyers will benefit from a brand new protection every time they shop on eBay. What’s even better is that this comes at no extra cost to you or your buyers. To give your buyers more confidence and security when shopping, Buyer Protection will be included on every purchase on ebay.co.uk. We’ve kept things simple for you, so there’s nothing you need to do to access this protection. These are all part of our efforts to make eBay the best marketplace for our community. Here’s how the recent changes will benefit you.

Why Buyer Protection is good for your business As a business seller, Buyer Protection is included for free for you and your buyers. They’ll get the protection, without the cost. With Buyer Protection, all buyers and sellers will now get 24/7 customer support where you can connect with a real person by phone whenever you need, or start a chat to get quick answers. We’ve also still got you covered with secure transactions, thanks to payments that are encrypted end-to-end and handled by our trusted payment partners.

We’re always looking for more ways to help drive sales to your business, so from 20 Jan, Coupons, Multi-buy and other discount tools will only be available to business sellers. You can look forward to more exclusive benefits in the future. Learn more about Buyer Protection What’s changing for private sellers

• We recently made changes to our fee structure so it’s free for private sellers to sell on eBay (excl. Vehicles). As part of this, from 4 Feb, a Buyer Protection fee will be added to listings from UK-based private sellers so we can make investments into these protections. This fee will be included in the item price and be paid for by the buyer. As a reminder, this is free of charge for business sellers.

• To give buyers more protection and encourage timely shipment, private sellers will be paid once the item is delivered. There’s no change for business sellers and you’ll still receive your payouts as quickly as you do today.

• We know it’s important to have a fair and equitable marketplace for all business sellers. That’s why we’re monitoring trading activities on eBay to help business sellers using a private account transition over to a business account, or restricting selling activity as necessary.

[moonspender]

Keeping this simple just looking at ebay basic fees, exc costs and P&P -

A business seller selling an item for £16 pays £2.52 in fees making £13.48 profit

A private " business " seller can sell the same item for £14, the buyer pays £15.31.

So the private " business " seller makes £14 profit and undercuts the business seller by 69p

Private " business " seller = lower prices and more profit ??????????????????

************** AND THAT EXCLUDES SHOP FEES - OUTRAGEOUS *******************

This has effectively created an unfair market giving " private business sellers " an advantage. Legitimate business sellers cannot compete if ebay fail to deal with these private " business " sellers.

[game_raid]

Reply to retal media

If a seller is a business they must register as such, what you are saying is they shouldn't be forced to change because this will cause competition for an actual business seller. 

They are denying private sellers who are also buyers their consumer rights along with those who have no intention of selling online and of course undercutting businesses to get a sale.

Sellers will have to adapt or move on to a marketplaces that aligns with what they want, we are cutting down our activity on here for many reasons mostly financial, it's not a protest against eBay we can grow in others areas for less outlay.

[darth_baggins]

To me it's just another indication that eBay don't know what they're doing.

They touted that giving private sellers no fees would help business sellers. I've certainly not seen this.

They said that having a balance would mean they'd spend more on eBay, especially with business sellers. Again, I've not seen this. And it obviously isn't working because gave a discount code to encourage people to use their balance.

I got an email the other day on my private account saying that balances would be automatically transferred to my bank every 3 months.

They just seem to be floundering, trying different things and getting it wrong every time.

[Anonymous]

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@retail_media_station_group wrote:

Appreciate as business sellers we want a fair and level playground , but forcing private sellers into business accounts , extra fees for buyers will mean two things will happen that will now damage us business sellers, 

1. Promotion Fees. We should now expect these to increase by 2x or even more as more business accounts are created it makes the actual business side of the game become a very hard playground to compete in.

2. Buyers will leave the site , these changes will only see less people turn to Ebay and business sellers we will lose the repeat customers as well as see fees double this year. 

Sometimes we ask for something that we never truly understand the consequences of. We asked for a hard line on private sellers but failed to understand how this actually in the real world will affect business seller sales.

These new changes coming 20th Jan and 4th Feb will in my eyes only see loss of sales for business sellers... Promoted fees will rise significantly now as a result of this

---

I'm glad that one business seller has realised that this could result in a loss of sales. 

Some will only realise when they wonder where all the buyers have gone.

[fatbobfan]

There is a lot of interest to be made on 'balances'

Having others money earning in your account for a company of Ebays size is another revenue stream,

Im not totally aufait with this world but am aware its a common practice for businesses very much smaller than Ebay.

[fatbobfan]

So is that the second new fee in 12 months?

We had the new admin for post Brexit fee (I forget its name) think that was less than 12 months ago, 

Is there more?

[harm-389]

What happens if the buyer says their item has not been delivered, but it actually has been delivered even if the seller pays for tracking, what happens then? Cos as eBay are stating they will not release the sellers money till 2 days after it has been delivered! But as we know buyers get to know couriers and not all couriers take a picture and they deliver to the wrong addresses etc etc?

this is worrying!!

[dion5feb2016]

Agree, am considering leaving. Also sellers will only get paid once their item has been delivered. Do they think that every courier has a full proof way of advising their items are received, I have had feedback for things received which according to the tracking haven’t been delivered! Royal Mail are bad at this at times. What happens then? Do I not get my money because despite items actually having been delivered there is no proof on the listing due to incompetence or laziness?

Also everything I send a lot of my items tracked but after January EVERYTHING I send will be tracked (this will increase postage) because I will be worried about having to prove it actually got to its destination. Most sellers and buyers are honest but I have been on the end of some unscrupulous ones on both sides at times. It’s making me quite anxious and I will be looking at alternatives to selling on EBay.

[fatbobfan]

Just had the email on my Private account, this wont help your concerns

We've added benefits to give buyers more peace of mind when shopping:

• •	24/7 customer support: Buyers can connect with a real person by phone at any time of day, or start a chat to get quick answers.

Well if thats the same 24/7 customer support sellers have, we have got problems. 

Part irony and part very concerned.

[mikhail2019]

Guess they got tired of copying Amazon now they have to copy Vinted. Next it will be copying TikTok.  Ebay’s model (from 20 years ago) USED to be so good, it should have been what others wanted to copy, not the other way around

[pure_seeds]

I understand this is for private sellers and buyers pay the new fee. But I imagine this will impact us all;
June says to Lucy 'you can get those plants from eBay.'

And Lucy says 'but they charge a fee to buy on eBay, and ?so&so? don't' 

Lucy isn't going to be convinced to come here to buy from private OR business sellers, and she's going to be conditioning June to think about her decisions, as well.  
As the news on this spreads; that you pay extra on eBay for things, less and less buyers will come here. 
You don't want people to know that your business charges extra or that by buying with eBay you get taxed. Surely someone thought about that and got shot down in a board room somewhere at eBay. 

This is really going to affect us all. 
in my opinion it's a poor decision and if they are struggling with free listings to sell privately, they should have swallowed their pride and reversed the decision or introduced a new payment provider (PayPal) and charged a fee on the payment.  The irony. 

[game_raid]

Tracking is always used as confirmation, they can still open a case but will never win, since tracking has been an available option we are yet to lose a case.

A picture has never been required by eBay, pictures are something new couriers have opted to use in case of misdelivered items, buyer denial of receipt etc some of the pictures are of nothing most of the time anyway eBay will always go from the couriers tracking page.

If you are using GSP then payment will be made once it gets delivered to them.

[dion5feb2016]

What happens though is there is NO tracking available to say it's been
delivered. I have had feedback for an item sent and received about 2 months
ago, the tracking still says it is on its way!

[game_raid]

No one will be paying extra? It is down to the seller to set prices, as a buyer they will never see the extra fee that is being added, they see the one price, if they are happy with it they pay or continue searching for another seller that is cheaper.

Don't forget the private seller has no fees to they can sell cheaper than a business.

As a business we have margins to work to as you do, as a private seller wanting to get rid of stuff may be happy to let things go cheap just to get rid of whatever they are selling.

[jbrusby]

Some of the many initial thoughts I have about this:

- this will kill off any casual private seller who wants to use Ebay to sell off their personal collection of stamps, coins, postcards and other small low cost items, as the fees incurred will be constrictive - both the BP fees imposed by Ebay (which will be proportionately much larger on low cost items), and now being forced to use whatever expensive means of postage Ebay decides in order to be tracked - sellers won't be able to use stamps for postage for example, despite the item fitting into a flat envelope...they'll be forced to pay ££s more for Tracked 48 or equivalent

- despite Ebay claiming this won't cost business sellers a penny, it will in lost sales due to so many potential private sellers who also stop to buy things here not using Ebay any more. On top of which, some business sellers also buy stock on Ebay to resell from casual private sellers (as you would at a car boot sale) which will now be more expensive to purchase 

- the only 'new' feature of this new Buyer Protection appears to be 24/7 phone support, which isn't really a 'protection' and not really an upgrade on previously, given that they've already had a call-back support service for years available every day

[myriad*seller]

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@game_raid wrote:

They won't see it, all they will see is the item that costs £21.55 + postage and they are getting better protection, as their example base on a £20 sale.

It is down to the seller to set the price considering this extra fee or just let it be added to the listing, it is still free for them to sell which still poses an advantage if a business wants to exploit the private account status.

In our category we are being undercut by 10-15% on brand new items even with 4% added they are still cheaper than us.

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Except buyers will want to buy it for £20, and some sellers will offer it for £20 to get the sale, so the private seller will have to pay the fee themselves (or lose it from the sale price). 

It's not really a buyer fee, competition will make it a seller fee as sellers undercut each other and end up paying the fees themselves to remain the cheapest items on sale 

Bearing in mind they don't pay the 10% + Xp business seller fees they will still be better off trading illegally on a private account 

[myriad*seller]

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@fatbobfan wrote:

There is a lot of interest to be made on 'balances'

Having others money earning in your account for a company of Ebays size is another revenue stream,

Im not totally aufait with this world but am aware its a common practice for businesses very much smaller than Ebay.

---

No interest is paid on digital money

The "ebay are doing this to earn interest" theory is just a myth 

[bravergrace]

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@pure_seeds wrote:

As the news on this spreads; that you pay extra on eBay for things, less and less buyers will come here. 
You don't want people to know that your business charges extra or that by buying with eBay you get taxed. ...
...

This is really going to affect us all. 
in my opinion it's a poor decision and if they are struggling with free listings to sell privately, they should have swallowed their pride and reversed the decision or introduced a new payment provider (PayPal) and charged a fee on the payment.  The irony. 

---

That's a very interesting point of view.

And I think you're exactly right about June and Lucy.

Since eBay started their big advertising campaign with "it's free to sell on eBay", I've come across LOTS of Junes and Lucys.

Friends have congratulated me on not having to pay fees any more.

My family has told me how happy I must me because my income has just gone up by 25%.

Customers have asked for a discount because I don't have to pay any fees.

And when June and Lucy, all excited, do some sums, buy some stock and start selling on eBay, they find a stark choice:

- Register as a business seller, pay fees and accept returns.  This means no profit.

- Register as a private seller, pay no fees, take no returns, and make a profit.

For all the iffy sellers saying that these new fees  on private sales are going to be bad for business sellers, I don't see it that way.

At a recent specialist auction I went to, there was a big batch of stock of a certain type.  I bought several lots.  The rest was sold to 3 other small businesses and 1 medium-sized business.

All of us have listed it on eBay.  I'm the only one paying fees.  And the only one offering returns.

That means 80% of this stock is being sold illegally  on eBay.  

Or to put it another way, eBay is charging me (on my 20% of the stock) enough fees to cover 100% of the sales.

My business is being ruined by having to pay fees for 5 sellers.

As for the answer, I think it is to charge fees across the board - LOW fees - and to stop the simplistic advertising saying "It's free to sell on eBay".

The latest round of tinkering is likely to make buyers feel cheated.  And that's a really bad idea.  As you say, Lucy and Jane won't read the terms and conditions, or understand why they're paying extra "buyer protection fees" and STILL not getting their legal right to return goods bought from online businesses.  Lucy and Jane will be telling their friends, family and colleagues "Don't buy on eBay.  It's a rip-off".

[myriad*seller]

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@harm-389 wrote:

What happens if the buyer says their item has not been delivered, but it actually has been delivered even if the seller pays for tracking, what happens then? Cos as eBay are stating they will not release the sellers money till 2 days after it has been delivered! But as we know buyers get to know couriers and not all couriers take a picture and they deliver to the wrong addresses etc etc?

this is worrying!!

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If the eBay tracking shows the item is delivered then the buyer cannot open a case 

I had this recently as an item I bought was delivered 200 miles away and I was unable to open a case as eBay integrated tracking showed it was delivered

I had to call CS and get them to open a case (which I won as item was not delivered TO ME)

Buyer protection won't change, if you have proof of delivery, you won't have to refund, and buyers will be prevented from opening cases if integrated tracking shows delivered. 

[myriad*seller]

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@game_raid wrote:

Tracking is always used as confirmation, they can still open a case but will never win, since tracking has been an available option we are yet to lose a case.

A picture has never been required by eBay, pictures are something new couriers have opted to use in case of misdelivered items, buyer denial of receipt etc some of the pictures are of nothing most of the time anyway eBay will always go from the couriers tracking page.

If you are using GSP then payment will be made once it gets delivered to them.

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eBay don't allow buyers to open a case via the purchase history if the tracking shows delivered

I recently had to get CS to call me to open a case as tracking showing delivery removed the "I didn't receive it" option from the More Actions dropdown box. The item was delivered to someone 200 miles away so I got my refund but the usual open a case option was already removed the moment tracking showed delivered.