I have stopped ALL new listings of any small items on eBay because of the buyer protection fee.

[shutch007]

I am not a trader but a private seller trying to clear items that were left to me in an inheritance. The items are all brand new and I have listed them at a price which is slightly lower than similar items available from UK sellers on eBay with the majority of these items ranging in price between 99p and £3.99 (including free postage) in order for me to just clear them. I am not interested in making any profit from the items but I do have to consider the effort required to list them and post them out. For example my 99p items cost me 89p to send using a 2nd class stamp leaving me with a profit (if you can call it that) of only 10p and that’s not counting my effort needed to photograph and list each item, plus the cost of the envelope and my time addressing and posting it. All out of that 10p. EBay have now re-priced all my 99p items at £1.75 per item to include a buyer protection fee of .76p (on a 99p item!) making the price of those items now higher than equivalent bpf exempt ‘business’ traders listings. Needless to say my clearance sales have plummeted. Who wants to pay a 76p protection fee on an item which is only 99p in the first place? This buyer protection fee adds a whopping 77% onto the original 99p listing price and effectively stops low price items being sold by private sellers and there is no way I can reduce the listing price to absorb this BP fee. So it’s now pointless listing any more small items even though I’m only effectively trying to give the stuff away to people that might want them. I may as well now just put all these small items in the bin and just save myself all the time and effort. Even my £3.99 items which cost me £2.50 to send out with a 2nd class large stamp are being bumped up by eBay to £4.87 due to their addition of 88p (+22%) buyer protection fee. This buyer protection fee is an insult to long standing private sellers who have a 100% feedback rating. Do they not trust us to send out the items that people buy of us anymore? A suggestion perhaps that private sellers who maintain a good feedback rating should be made exempt from this extortionate buyer protection fee being added to their listings?

[john1297576]

Sorry but while I agree, with your points, ebay does not read on here and does not welcome suggestions.

The whole thing is a money making scheme, just as IT IS FREE TO SELL. Not much point being free if nothing sells.

I suggest you give to charity, some shops such as the Salvation Army will collect for free.