"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.'

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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.