What's with the weird start prices?

[doomed-doomed]

Just noticed today that most items, instead of starting at typical amounts, eg. £7.99, £19.99 etc, I'm seeing £17.23 or £22.61 etc.

Have eBay done something weird again?

[zoomingmouse]

Yes, they are adding a buyers fee to private sellers items only.

So, if a private seller prices something at £1, Ebay will up the price to £1.79 <75P plus 4%>

[alexis*27]

Yes. Every sale from a private seller now has a "buyer protection fee" added on of 75p + 4% of the total cost.

Yes, it now COSTS you to make a purchase from a non-business.

Yes, it's a massive ripoff and sales have plummeted. It's the most ridiculous policy eBay has ever implemented in its entire history.

[doomed-doomed]

Seriously? Wow... money grabbing b%%$£! I wondered why my previously regular CD sales had dried up on this account! 

I have started selling my turntable builds via forums now, and generally sell 10 : 1 compared to my eBay account Machines 4 Music, and without the charges (£17 on a £150 tonearm!!) so I will probably wind that account up.

[sml192]

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@alexis*27 wrote:

Yes. Every sale from a private seller now has a "buyer protection fee" added on of 75p + 4% of the total cost.

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The 4% is added first and whilst it is supposed to be 75p, according to their announcement and help page, they are actually currently charging 72p instead (just to make things more confusing). 

[auctionmike1]

It is not yet EVERY sale - the buyer's fee is being rolled out across the categories.

[zoomingmouse]

If it's a BIN & you add it to your basket & then click to Checkout, you can see the fee before you click on Confirm & pay <as below: £2.12 included in the total item price>.

[doomed-doomed]

So what it boils down to is eBay are passing on the cost of them having to refund when things go pear shaped, to the buyer. 

[sml192]

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@doomed-doomed wrote:

So what it boils down to is eBay are passing on the cost of them having to refund when things go pear shaped, to the buyer. 

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Yes, pretty much.  Of course buyers have always paid for it indirectly by way of the seller fees which most sellers would account for in the selling price. 

[rainbow*40]

That's exactly what it is!

[department28]

Personally, I don't like seeing these 'weird' prices, caused by the BPF.  I know it only affects private sellers, but it's a bit unfair for them to have all their item prices looking like they've been converted from another currency.

Even if sellers fiddle around with their prices so they look 'normal' again, that will take time & trouble, and no doubt the fee will keep changing... up a bit, down a bit, depending on if it is going to be 72p or 75p, or whatever, so the item price-fiddling will have to be repeated... 

This BFP is going to be very unpopular with buyers & sellers. eBay should've stuck with listing & final value fees. 

[uchiki321]

And what's happening with the price increasing when you click through to an item from a search results page?  Not just BIN but auction starting prices, and it's not the same increase each time.  Weird.

[bryonyf2004]

It's too difficult to do the maths as a part-time/occasional seller to make prices for prospective buyers a sensible round number. 

[doomed-doomed]

Well, I was selling a part of my large CD collection. CDs are pretty low value items these days so the weird fee on top of my price makes them less attractive - thus giving Music Magpie and the like a massive advantage. AND because I was offering free postage, 2nd class which is still nearly £2 these days, frequently having to wait ages for money from eBay as it's not tracked (too expensive for the low value items) it's basically not worth the hassle anymore.

The result being I have pulled all my listings and will now sell them to the local record shop. I get less but get zero hassle.

I do wonder sometimes if eBay actually want private sellers at all.

[department28]

'I do wonder sometimes if eBay actually want private sellers at all.'

If they do, they've got a funny way of showing it...

When eBay introduced the BPF, they knew it would more or less double the price of 99p/1.99 items, making those items much harder for private sellers to sell.

And hanging onto funds until delivery, with all the issues that is creating, is just rubbing salt into the wound...

[19vivat]

I have reduced one of my items continuously to try and get a round figure ..no success. Buyers are really put off by prices like £72.64 etc. 

[bryonyf2004]

That's interesting, I'm glad it's not just me. I would certainly be put
off. When looking to make a purchase, one just wants to quickly calculate
what the cost is going to be, and round numbers make this easy. This new
pricing is madness.

[fredamonty]

This system is so confusing especially when you receive an offer!  You have no idea what the original offer was because it's had a figure added or subtracted by eBay.   How do you return a counter offer that doesn't look like a silly amount of money!  Can't be dealing with 61p, 43p, 87p and the likes!

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

Buyers are now paying extra for what they already had as rights in distance selling laws !

Ebay just has to fiddle.

Its to justify having website programmers sat around doing nothing.

[playingwithfireauctions]

They don't sit around doing nothing, they actively look for ways to screw up what's working whilst ignoring things that don't. 17 years an account holder, for which I'm regularly thanked by Customer Services when they can't solve my problem, and there are thngs happening now that were happening then.