Buyer protection...is it worth it?

[pe11and]

I have bought and sometimes sold on ebay for twenty years give or take.  Most transactions have gone very smoothly and I have made friends along the way, but this month everything has gone a bit sour.

On 1st september 2025 a seller listed  an item with a buy it now price.  On 2nd September at 22.39 hrs I came across the item and hit the bin price.  At 22.41 hours I paid for the item.  On 3rd September at 15.30hrs I receive a message from the seller stating that they had returned to the USA and cant access their ebay.co.uk account.  At 15.44hrs I receive notification that the item has been posted and tracking number supplied.  A couple of days later the seller posted positive feedback for me stating "Sale canceled."

I have struggled to contact the seller but did eventually receive a reply with some story about the item being part of a bereavement sale and that the item had been given away before they left for the USA.   They were still unable to access the ebay.co.uk site to officially cancel the transaction.  So via ebay I initiated a  cancellation request....the seller refused to authorise the cancellation and so my request was declined.

I have since initiated a non receipt and refund request but if the seller contests this I am going to be out of pocket and hence my question  "Is the buyer protection worth what it claims to be?"

Royal Mail have confirmed that no item under the tracking reference supplied has entered their postal system.

Personally I think the seller was out to scam buyers from the start.  They still have live listings with BIN prices but what honest seller lists items on ebay UK 1 or 2 days before they depart to a location 5000 miles away.  I think it's all a c0ck and bull story and the seller is sitting in his house in Essex with my money....and I'm not sure I will be refunded.

The buyer protection premium added to the sale price which has been discussed to death on this forum is not right for anybody unless you need to claim a refund but still not a guarantee if the seller can contest a buyer's non receipt claims.  Also a buyer is paying for something you already receive for free if you pay via PayPal?

Sorry for the long story but any comments?

[thepillenwerfer]

If there's no tracking showing delivery you've nothing to worry about as you'll automatically win a Not Received case.

[jonatjonatjonat]

The buyer protection fee is nothing more than a marketing name. It is just ebays fees associated with listing the product. They also clarify what the buyer protection fee includes

With Buyer Protection, you benefit from:

• 24/7 customer service: Get support around the clock if you need help.
• Risk monitoring and fraud detection: We actively monitor marketplace activity to identify risk and potential fraud and take action to keep you protected.
• Secure transactions: All payments are encrypted end-to-end and handled by our trusted payments partners.

Note it doesn't mention specifically dealing with claims of non delivery. Which it wouldn't. Because that is what the ebay Money Back Guarantee is for.

[pegr-834437]

Also you'd hope that the bottom 2 were always in place and the first one who needs customer services at 3am to be told what you can read on the help pages?  Like you say its marketing ploy which had to be thought out by somebody who is new in the job. They could have called it 100 different names which would have been much better and more clear. Instead they tried to sell it as a benefit when it adds nothing meaningful extra. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

I've always said.

Of course their payments were always secure. However. Keeping your payment system secure is not a one and done payment. Look at M&S if you want to see what happens if you don't keep on top of your system security.

There is a team that keeps the ebay infrastructure secure. They are paid for doing that. The fees are what pays them.

I agree - the name could be better. But they will copy Vinted.

[pegr-834437]

Agree but does that mean when no private accounts were paying fee's it wasnt secure? Paying those fee's doesnt make it more secure as the payment system should always be secure as businesses are using the site. It was bad wording from eBay and if you ask them they cant tell you any extra protection it gives you.

[jonatjonatjonat]

You know as well as I do that they removed the fees for a period to 1) encourage new users to the site to sell and 2) probably because the buyer protection fee wasn't ready yet

Paying those fee's doesnt make it more secure as the payment system should always be secure as businesses are using the site

I can't state it more clearly than this. System security is an ongoing business cost for ebay. I would imagine they probably spend at least 6 figures on it. There will be a department that manages it. it doesn't get more secure because more money is coming in. But the fees are needed to, you know, cover ebays costs. One of which is security.

[pe11and]

Thanks for all your replies....I think I have dropped a wotsit and confused Buyer protection with the money back guarantee.  It is the latter that concerns me in relation to my recent transaction.  It would appear that the seller has the final word as ebay defers to them before making a judgement as happened with the cancellation request on the same transaction.  I am not naive there are many buyers out there that claim non-receipt when they have infact received the item....this is fraud/theft pure and simple but there are sellers on the make also.... my fear is the seller is dishonest and if ebay accept his/her version of events I am out of pocket.  It does not seem to matter that my 20 year history and 100% feedback against this 6 week old newbie with zero feedback....over and above this the whole backstory presented by the seller doesnt make sense.

If nothing else I will NOT be dealing with a buyer or seller with single digit or zero feedback again.  We all have to start somewhere but.......

[papso22]

Ebay will only find for the seller if there is tracking proving delivery of something. 

There is no cognisanse taken of age of account, what the seller might say, etc. 

[pe11and]

Thank you....that is what I am hoping for but ebay "sided " with the seller when I submitted a cancellation request.  The seller refused to authorise the cancellation despite the fact that he/she had already said, via an ebay message, they had " given the item away" and AFTER they had posted feedback for me stating "Sale cancelled."  These facts were included in my cancellation request blurb.

I dont have a lot of money and the item was a present for my sons birthday but no present and I have to wait seemly an age to get a refund so I can buy him something else.  It's all very frustrating!!

Sorry....I just need to rant!!😉

[jonatjonatjonat]

Sounds like you have a rum seller. But should point out that eBay don’t side with anyone with a cancellation request. The request goes to the seller. They can approve it or reject it. EBay don’t get involved.

[sml192]

As already advised a cancellation request is just that - a request. A seller can accept, decline, or just ignore it and leave it to time out.  With an 'Item not received' claim, however, the seller is given 3 full business days within which to either provide proof of delivery or a refund.  If they don't do either then once the 3 business days have elapsed you will be given the option to 'Ask eBay to step in and help' and eBay will then force the refund. 

[pegr-834437]

I know all that, all I was saying is calling it a buyers protection fee when it offers no additional protection was just stupid, I'm pretty sure we both agree on that. The move to make everything free was a joke, they were trying to look like a site which is worse and somehow have failed, its a crazy business strategy but clearly somebody somewhere in eBay thinks its good as they are continuing down the route.  

[pe11and]

Thank you.....hopefully it will resolve itself soon.  Cheers👍

[pe11and]

Thank you....the sellers timeline, backstory and excuses just dont make sense to me.  Anyway thanks once again for you help and comments and hopefully it will all be resolved soon.

Cheers👍