Buyer protection fees

[lovewoodbridge]

I am a collector of small value items, post cards, cigarette cards, tea cards and over 15 years I have spent thousands of pounds on ebay on my hobby. Most purchases are well under £5.00.

I will not pay an extra 75p plus 4% to purchase these low value items. On some items it will virtually double the cost. I do not need this buyer protection. I have never had a problem with private sellers who are fellow collectors in all these years

I also sell items surplus to my collection for low value. I am not a business. There is no point in me doing so anymore, especially with having to wait 14 days to be paid.

Clearly ebay are no longer interested in collectors and after all these years of changes every couple of months, this is the last straw for me and I'm finished with ebay

[asleepingdragon]

Well buying on eBay isn't obligatory you know.  Yeah it's a stupid decision by eBay and even more stupid to expect people to think it's a great idea for their benefit when it's just a cash grab by eBay but believe me eBay's always made stupid decisions to make them more money and claimed it's wonderful for the users and even if old users drift away there are always new ones to replace them.  

You just have to shrug your shoulders and accept it or go elsewhere.  Personally I use eBay to buy just about everything except food because I hate shopping in person and I don't expect to stop using the site because of this, although admittedly if all the current little sellers disappear it might save me some money in the long run.

[dogrobinsnest]

Totally agree. My husband and I are hobbyist on eBay, collecting, buying and selling on eBay. To protect ourselves now we will have to add at least £1.75 for signed for mail otherwise there will be an increase in not received items resulting in non payment. This will increase the cost of a £1.50 postcard I am selling now to £3.20 plus .75 p plus 4% ………

EBay have totally shafted the private seller, they forget that the private seller also buys from small businesses. 
One foot in the grave eBay, big mistake.

[crafty_cat_lover]

I'm obviously missing something but what is the difference between sending by untracked mail now and after the changes apart from having to wait 14 days for payment? Either way there is nothing to stop a buyer claiming non-receipt and the seller having to refund as they can't prove delivery.

[dogrobinsnest]

The Problem now is the buyer has to confirm delivery to ebay, you are not paid until that happens. Many feel this will result in an increase in buyers saying I haven’t received the item . Ebay say to protect yourself best sed your item tracked posting & that is what I will be doing Now on items in the future. I know I will not sell anything but it will make the point to Ebay. It’s been good while it lasted .

[bill23h]

Yes, me too - stamps, postcards, CDs, books - I buy as much as I sell. We will be the hardest hit with a massive %age rise in fees. Collectors often buy 4 or 5 £1 items together, to save postage. Now, every £1 item will cost them £1.79 - and much of it goes to Ebay! They just won't buy, I know I wouldn't.

Also, stamp collectors expect nice stamps to be used on the envelope - not a nasty printed label.  It's part of the pleasure. I have stacks of Royal Mail commemoratives for this purpose, so no way am I going to faff about printing QR codes, lugging them to the PO, etc., and paying whatever ridiculous price ebay invents for them.

Face it,they don't want us. This is Ebays way of getting rid of people like us, and the email trumpeting this as an "improvement" is an insult

[dogrobinsnest]

Totally agree with you & the person who said we should get a business account to pay tax just doesn’t understand that even private sellers are subject to tax. Ebay just hasn’t understood that the business account people they want need shoppers to buy from them if they wipe us private sellers who also buy from other sellers they wipe our a lot of the buyers who buy from business lets see how it goes I really don't care if I do not sell anything after all its just a hobby. Ebay was started for small sellers I think its the beginning of the end for ebay lets wait and see. Its the young new managers go Ebay don’t have a clue.

[just_1_more_thing]

I also like to buy low value items from privater sellers.

One change ebay made last year that you have to pre pay via CC or paypal just to make seller an offer. I don't like it so i haven't made a single offer since. So thats that.

This year I want to see myself not to buy a single item.  I have a hobby and I like to buy certain things but I won't pay a penny more than what seller wants for his item.

[dogrobinsnest]

Unfortunately you will not have that opportunity as EBay will automatically add this to the seller asking price when listed or on the 4th Feb add the cost to existing items for sale by private buyers
Sent from my iPad

[manyjamjar]

@dogrobinsnest 

For me, its time to wind down my hobby buying.

I'tll be fun to watch this policy of ebay uravel.

[jma2815]

When Simple delivery becomes mandatory (sometime this financial quarter) you won’t have to add extra to cover tracked postage as you won’t be providing postage - the buyer will buy the label from ebay using the options presented to them at check out and you will just be sent the label to print. 

Its a change that will end my time both buying and selling here. 

[dogrobinsnest]

I think there will be a clever entrepreneur who sees the gap in the market created by EBay deserting the small single item sellers to start a new company. I have been a member of eBay for well over 20 years they were a great company but this is the final straw sadly for me.
Sent from my iPad

[gladrn2005]

Exactly the point 

[mogmanuk]

Whatever excuse eBay give for the introduction of “Buyer Protection Fees”, what they have actually done is to remove the fees from private sellers and replace them with a buyer’s fee.

I have never objected to the principle of paying eBay for their assistance in selling my unwanted items but cannot think of any justification, moral or practical, for charging me extra if I buy from a private seller rather than a trader. 

Unless the motive for this is that eBay wish to discourage private sales, which used to be their core business, I can only think that it is a misguided change that can only harm their turnover.

This is particularly true as the 75p flat rate charge for any item puts a huge percentage increase on the cost of low-value listings and, if nobody bids on an item at the starting price, it will never be bid up to a higher value and therefore more profit for eBay.

[lucy_farmer]

'The Problem now is the buyer has to confirm delivery to ebay, you are not paid until that happens.'

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Sorry, no.

There is *no* button that the buyer can push to confirm delivery.

The only confirmation of delivery that ebay accept, is the postal service scanning/confirming/notifying online.

If the postman doesn't scan the item as delivered, the seller will have to wait a minimum of 14 days to get paid. But the seller will eventually get paid, as long as the buyer hasn't put in a 'non-delivery'or 'damaged in post' claim.

(there is a new system coming into place after the 28th of Feb, where pos. feedback left *will* release the sellers funds after 2 days, if there's no tracking to confirm delivery. But this will only be available to sales of under a tenner. Over £10 and the seller will have to wait the full 14 days...)

[stinkyhog]

I agree - I totally don't understand - surely the buyer is already "protected" this is just a way for ebay to get more money out of customers - the same customers that have built up ebay in the first place!

[foresterdon]

It's not a Buyer Protection Fee.

If it were, a buyer could opt out of "protection" when buying from their regular and trusted sellers.

They Can't!

It's a straightforward Mandatory Buyer Fee.

The buyers won't accept it.

[silveroboe]

In my opinion, most, if not all, of the ebay "improvements" I have seen in my years of using ebay (shortly to end after this latest one), have been an insult to users' intelligence. I thought the so called "improved" messages was the lowest ebay could get, but this "buyer protection" for those of us sharing a hobby or interest which is about low cost items - postcards, etc., really is the end.

Sadly, ebay is no longer fit for purpose.

RIP ebay

[mogmanuk]

I now realise that this change is because eBay have decided to copy Vinted as I have just found out that they charge buyers a so-called "Protection Fee".  

Why eBay think they need to do this, I have no idea and am completely confused as to why they are applying it only to purchases from private sellers and not businesses.  

This means that private sellers in the UK now suffer the problem that their starting prices will always look unattractive as they are artificially inflated by a fee added by eBay, which isn't applied to listings made by business sellers.

This is obviously inequitable and the desire to copy Vinted inexplicable.

Ebay have obviously realised that distancing themselves from PayPal was a mistake as the introduction of personal balances effectively replaces that system.  Perhaps the inadvisability of this latest policy will also be realised and reversed if eBay suffer a consequential loss of income from private sales.

We can but hope.......

[buffster1963]

Buyers have consumer rights from businesses but not from private sellers. That is why the protection fees are only for private sellers.