I'm not jumping off the cliff. Instead for weeks I've been gradually and carefully working my way down the cliff-face, establishing footholds and handholds.
In other words, I've followed those of my regular eBay private sellers and small businesses who in Feb, March or April this year suspended their listings or moved to another platform or set up their own websites. Where some have a presence on eBay and now their own site, I use the latter. And yes, there was a noticeable number of them. Some wrote on their listings or, mostly, put physical notes in with their orders, paraphrasing "moving to [url/platform] due to the new eBay fees (or system)".
I'm sad and long for a return to no BPF when buying was straightforward AND had complete control over the sale & shipping, plus I'm aware of the unfairness of eBay sitting unnecessarily long on seller payments. Increasingly I need to get away from the hostile ghost-town that eBay's become since Feb. I revisit it occasionally, in hope, but all I do now is look at the shops of a handful of my regular private & business sellers. I gave up bidding in auctions due to BPF complicating it; I'm not good at maths and I couldn't retain when BPF applied and how; seeing too many figures for one item did my head in and who seeks a too-many-price-variables buying experience?
Shopping where BPF exists (eBay, V...ted, and I think that's basically the only two) isn't compulsory, and BPF isn't the normal way of shopping in this country. I thank eBay for driving me to shop a lot elsewhere. I've calculated that I've spent £Ks elsewhere that before I'd've spent on eBay, and had the pleasure of exploring new places.
Every so often I also search news sites online, directly and using several search engines and the consensus was that eBay's sales plummeted (not just declined) in Feb, with possible reasons being it's normally a quiet month, and eBay's shambolic forced phone updates re its app.
From the measures eBay introduced and how it affected posters here, it seemed clear to me that eBay wanted rid of small private sellers but rather than be open about it did it in a passive aggressive way by introducing a raft of fees and oppressive restrictions designed to drive them away i.e. by being so horrible to them that many would leave. eBay's unpleasant behaviour has also been a factor in driving me away and also the patronising claim by eBay that the measures benefit customers when what was visible was that it was probably gaining (not earning) £millions from sitting on seller's money. Maybe eBay believes its own propaganda. But most buyers don't need BPF as there's the MBG and existing statutory consumer laws.
OP, if you read eBay discussion boards regularly you'll soon learn which posters and which mentors (who're constrained by eBay in some ways that ordinary posters aren't) are very pro-eBay/anti-eBay.
