"Buyer protection fee"? I don't think so. What a scam!

[soulhunter123777]

Was just about to purchase an item when I noticed a ~£3 "buyer protection fee".

What an absolute scam. As a buyer, I absolutely refuse to pay eBay for the privilege of bare minimum customer service. Foisting hidden fees and extra charges onto buyers is NOT remotely acceptable.

In this website's footer there's a link called "Selling Fees". When will eBay add an equivalent link for "Buying Fees"?

What a ridiculous situation.

[edwardian-dreams]

I guess the buyer protection fee is like on vinted where they say it’s for compensation for lost or damaged parcels (amongst other things like secure payment system)

ebay are guaranteeing compensation up to 750 quid for this

alot of items aren’t compensated by evri so maybe eBay is charging for this cover and it’s them that will pay out 

[lynbrom]

If they stopped force feeding Simple Delivery then the seller could decide upon their own appropriate delivery combined with compensation. Nope, I  agree with the OP - it's a scam and I've closed my wallet on principal.

[edwardian-dreams]

Well say you send an item with RM tracked 48 yourself ( a few pence more expensive too)

they cover you for 150£

ebay if using their SD TRM tracked 48 would cover you /buyer for 750£

[magnus100]

Agreed. I've bought and sold on eBay for 23 years but now looking for an alternative - hopefully there will be a new kid on the block soon, any suggestions?

[edwardian-dreams]

You’re selling CDs and dvds

They are exempt from simple delivery if they’re under a tenner 

you can list them as before without simple delivery

custom postage should automatically come up as an option 

as for those over a tenner im afraid it’s simple delivery 

🙄

[lucy_farmer]

'So the seller pays a fee and now also the buyer.'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nope, the seller does not pay a fee. (unless you *choose* to do some promotion, or added categories or whatever...)

If you list something for a tenner, you get a tenner.

The BPF, postage etc, is added by ebay and charged to the buyer.

So, no; legally, logically and literally it's 'free to sell' for a private seller.

(The fact you may have to reduce your asking price, so the buyer ends up paying the same price they were before the change, is neither here-nor-there.... 😐)

[lynbrom]

Thank you for your response. Reducing the price (to remain competitive perhaps) is in effect a seller fee in disguise. With the non-optional SD there is no way of earning a few pennies here and there to compensate for the reduction.

It would in my view have been far easier just to leave things as they were but it's not my company. What is obvious is there are not an insignificant minority who are dissatisfied and may just throw their hands up in the air and walk away either in full or partially.

[spyabargain]

I think buyers are walking away, because as you say, reducing asking price
of item to adjust for BP fee is a seller fee in disguise. Problem is the
buyer still sees that they pay the BP fee and now walks away too. No matter
how cheap you make it, the buyer always sees the insult of being charged to
purchase, on private sellers items. What do they do, leave eBay and buy
where they don't get charged. It's ludicrous, and I think they just want
rid of private sellers.

[doctorswann]

It reminds me of those scam second hand record shops that would charge an "insurance fee" that wiped out a third of the money they had paid you for your vinyl.
I agree, it's a transparent scam.

[lynbrom]

I remember when some of the smaller local auction rooms thought they could jump on the  Sotherby's / Bonhams / Christies bandwagon and started charging a buyers premium in addition to the sellers commission. Many of then no longer exist. Of course they blame the economy conveniently forgetting that if you bid say £20 you don't want to pay say £20 plus 13% buyers premium then VAT on top of the 13%. 

I still believe that some eBay whizz-kid has had the bright idea of a buyers fee wrapped up as insurance to entice more sellers to become business seller - for a few extra $$'s. High fives all round for that idea. 

Of course to make a success of being a seller you need eh buyers and many are gradually drifting away. Plus the fake business sellers positive rating automatically given by the eBay bot well - the trust is being gradually eroded in my view.  

[magnus100]

It's really disappointing as I used to use eBay all the time and have done
so for 20 years plus. I'm not listing anything currently and hope there
will be a new kid on the block soon to offer a better deal. This comes
after their other cash grab on postage, which they now want to organise for
you and make it hard for you to organise yourself any more.

[grandmoff3qg6]

I cannot quite tell whether this is a simple straightforward enquiry requiring an answer, which of course is fine, or a rhetorical question where you are saying the potential buyer had no problem with the price, so what difference does it make if part of it is made up of the buyer protection fee. I am tempted to think the latter.  We all want to pay less if we can. If we see an item we want, and that is the price the seller wants, we can decide ok lets go for it. However, when you find out part of that price is the buyer protection fee, it does make a difference, because you know it has nothing to do with the seller, who wants a bit less, but eBay have imposed an extra charge which you have no choice but to pay if you go ahead with the purchase. eBay have had the buyer guarantee system in place for many years, it already covers the same ground as buyer protection, which was cynically introduced to try and increase revenue, having given private sellers full value when they sell, without a fee. The buyer now has to take up at least some of the slack. This is even more infuriating for business sellers, who still have to pay 18% fees, even on the postage, then when purchasing, are effectively forced into helping subsidise private sellers free selling. Of course eBay had to do something to keep sellers, they were losing ground to the competition, however this was not the way, introducing something already in existence and branding it differently, so now two almost identical protections run side by side.Instead of making selling free, they could have reduced it by two thirds, such a low rate would have still made existing sellers very happy, and it would not have put off new ones, because eBay is by far the biggest market. As I say, it is very unfair on business sellers wishing to purchase, and it is not good for sellers as their asking price is inflated, and it infuriatingly creates a new price which is very odd and looks ridiculous,for example a nice round £20 figure becomes £21.48. it may not be a scam in the literal sense, but it certainly comes across as one. 

[theanonymousgrouch]

Honestly, if there was actually a halfway decent alternative, you wouldn't see me for dust... SO sick of this site & all their 'shady' business practices..!

[ihatcher]

No, it didn't work like that, it got added at check out.  Outrageous!

[jonatjonatjonat]

If its the Buyer Protection Fee - the fee is included on the product page itself. Its only presented separately by the time you get to the checkout. It isn't added on though - its always there.

[ihatcher]

That’s the intention I’m sure.  Today it was added 

[lynbrom]

As a seller this is working against me - a private seller. So I reduce the price by the amount I would have paid to eBay in fees but there is a  psychological turn off with the buyer protection fee. Irrespective if I list as no returns then if the item is faulty then I'm obliged to refund which is fair enough. I've had though more than a couple of messages asking me to remove the buyers fee which of course I have no control over.

So apart from probably/possibly putting off prospective buyers, it's an injustice for business sellers having to pay a sellers commission to eBay when on paper private sellers do not. I would prefer to pay a sellers commission rather than have a buyer protection fee. Fortunately I only sell occasionally but feel that there will be a gradual desertion of both sellers and buyers. It may boost the bottom line in the short term for eBay but that won't last in my opinion.

[jckl1957]

'So the seller pays a fee and now also the buyer'

Have a moan if it makes you feel better, but try to be factually correct.

Private sellers no longer pay listing fees or Final Value Fees.

Business sellers still pay to list and pay a FVF, but the Buyer's Protection Fee is not added to the cost of their items.

The BPF is a relatively low fee - adding about £3 to a £60 item, previously, seller's fees would have been about £7.80.

[grandmoff3qg6]

Try reading more carefully. I said the business seller has to pay
protection fees when buying, thus subsidising the free selling of private
sellers. I did not say the business seller has protection fees added to
their items. That would be truly outrageous. So I was being factual.
Yes £3 is better than £7.80, spot on. What eBay did however was to promise
something and deliver it, and then only later decide they were going to
claw about 40% of that back by virtue of a scheme they have already run for
years. Not good!
You also say have a moan if I want to.
In the scheme of things this is a pretty minor injustice I admit,
nevertheless it is wrong, and I feel it is not good on many levels and
affects too many adversely, so it is a valid critique, not an idle moan.
Over all it benefits private sellers, although is still annoying to them
with their prices inflated, it penalises all buyers, especially business
sellers who want to buy.
Over all therefore, a poor decision by eBay.

[jckl1957]

I read the first line of your post -

'Try reading more carefully' -

So, can I suggest you take your own advice and ... try reading more carefully.  At the top of my post it says 'in response to lynbrom'.

I wasn't replying to your post.