Be Aware! Offer prices INCLUDE the Buyer Protection Fee

[meditative-moods]

I made a sale on my personal account this morning for a set of headphones that I had listed at £59.95 with it set to auto accept offers over £50.00.

A buyer made an offer 10% below asking price, so £54.00 and as I have it set to auto-accept above £50.00 this was accepted, however, when the email for the order came through, I only receive £51.23 as the Buyer Protection Fee of £2.77 is INCLUDED in the offer price.

In my opinion, if the buyer has offer £54.00, I should receive the £54.00 and the BPF should be added to that.

Just be aware if you have offers, particularly on lower value items, as this change will make most low value offers pointless to sellers.

eBay seem to be on a path to self destruction, not giving a thought as to how their imbecilic changes affect real people 🤷‍♂️

[49bag]

You have hit the nail on the head. For YEARS the business model on eBay is very difficult to understand and I can only think they make a decent amount of money catching people out while buyers and sellers take time to get up to speed. I’ve always felt they operate sneaky, confusing and irritating systems instead of being simple and straightforward. Some features are difficult on the mobile app or impossible to find so you have to access the clunky desktop site instead.

[beehappy20]

I contacted live chat and was told 2 different things, ive now removed offers from my sales in the meantime, I do prefer allowing buyers to offer though.
I’ve since emailed the eBay community helpers who do a live session between 2-3pm on a Wednesday. I’m waiting on a reply. I did try and join the live chat with one of them but couldn’t until the last minute and it was too late to post the query. However an email option appeared. I think the more people who bring it up officially the more they may listen. It just far too complicated now. Should be straightforward. Unfair to buyers and sellers in my opinion. Anyway here’s hoping for some improvements soon. 

[49bag]

I like having ‘make offer’ on my buy it now’s too. But not if it means I take a lower offer AND I pay the buyer protection fee.

[whitewhalebooks]

It's clearer on the app. There it says the full amount offered and underneath it says 'inc Buyer Protection fee' so when you see a lower amount on the website, you can see which is which.

[johnwash1]

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@beehappy20 wrote:

I contacted live chat and was told 2 different things, ive now removed offers from my sales in the meantime, I do prefer allowing buyers to offer though.
I’ve since emailed the eBay community helpers who do a live session between 2-3pm on a Wednesday...

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Thank you for joining our Wednesday chat.  Have you tried clearing cookies and cache?  We can't answer your question, but we'll pass on your comments to our nebulous team that never has the guts to come to the Wednesday session themselves, and we'll get back to you with any news.  We can't promise any timescale on this.

I swear there are times when I think those Wednesday sessions are run by AI bots, then I reconsider, realising that AI would handle it better.

[collectible-coins-medals-tokens]

Ebay had their chance to make things better for genuine private sellers and have now blown it!

Just noticed that V**ted have a category for coins and medals, so it's bye bye Ebay!

Now think about this for a second ok people....

I have been a private seller on Ebay for over 25 years!

And if I'm leaving the Ebay platform goodness knows how many hundreds of thousands of other private sellers like me are also leaving!

It's simple really....you make it difficult to sell we leave for a different platform.

And WHEN Ebay executives finally come to their senses and realise that their latest 'innovations' have driven over 25% of their sellers to rival platforms, then two things will possibly happen........

1. Ebay buys out V**ted

2. Ebay finally realises that's it's USP was their original online auction house model, NOT trying to be Amazon or V**ted, and they will finally revert back to something simple and easy to use with transparent fees.

For now though it's Adios Ebay!

I'm off to V**ted !!

[beehappy20]

I did clear cache and cookies, the icon to join was greyed out and then it changed just before the session ended. I emailed Kat instead because that option popped up. I’m still waiting on a reply.

My thoughts at the time were it was greyed out because too many people were using it. Unsure if that was the case though 

I’m not expecting the situation to be changed/corrected to a straightforward BPF being added to offers instead of being deducted immediately but I’m hoping it’s being discussed to sort it re what the BPF is meant to be for (not sellers to pay) or being sent to IT if it’s a glitch.

Wish they would change it back to the straightforward way it was before as the new system is awful (too iffy and butty), not crystal clear. On that thought does EBay have the Crystal Clear Trademark ?

[johnwash1]

@beehappy20 

I think you've misunderstood me, I wasn't seriously suggesting clearing cache etc would help.  I was giving a pastiche of the utterly useless responses the Wednesday chat generates.  The only reason I have any sympathy for those ebay staffers is the same as my sympathy for the irritating call centre callers about loft insulation, and so on.  Because someone beyond their control has placed them in that unenviable situation and apparently they don't have the option of a job elsewhere.

[ems.treasures83]

I agree, as a seller all of my items are "buy now" with best offer available but since this new buyer protection fee I've noticed I have been getting much lower offers because the buyer wants to incorporate the fee, some of those I've promoted so by the time I take off the promotion fee and buyer protection fee it's hardly worth selling!