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 🤷‍♂️

[vintique*violet]

Why would it "work" that way? 

It is supposedly for the buyers to pay, so why is it different on how offers are made? 

Something's afoot here! 

[meditative-moods]

Typical eBay behaviour, which is to look after buyers and care not about sellers 

[papso22]

I think the justification might be:

Buyer offers the seller what they are prepared to pay (in total), which will include the BPF they will pay to ebay.  So the BPF comes off the payment and the seller gets the balance.

Seller offers a price to the buyer that they are prepared to receive for their item, BPF has to be added on, so that they end up with what they asked for.

Each person has based their offer price on what they are prepared to pay/ receive, hence the different treatment of the BPF depending on whether it's a buyer or seller offer.

[meditative-moods]

Your assessment makes sense, but I think the majority of sellers would have expected more transparency and clarity from eBay about this.

[anpas_4429]

For future reference when i next get an offer say its £10 and i counter offer £10.50p will that counter the buyer fee also? I.e i will recieve £10.50 

[andha-21]

Yes, but then the buyer gets BPF added on top

[anpas_4429]

Its fair to say this system needs tweaking, if a buyer is offering £10 i should get £10.

From what i read its meant to be clear what the buyer will pay and what the seller will receive, hopefully this will be sorted soon 

[angur_3065]

I don't know if it's greed or just naivety on ebay's part but i can see this harming their platform far more than benefiting it.Bigger sellers may be able to absorb the charges but the everyday man in the street won't.It's simply not worth the hassle of selling something,packaging it,driving it to a postoffice and paying for a tracked delivery to then wait weeks for payment.

[vintique*violet]

Thank you @papso22 So basically if the seller wants a certain amount they need to account for the BPF and ensure any buyer offers cover the fee, and counter offer or list higher, so that they receive the full amount they are wanting... that way they won't be caught out like the poster on another comment who wasn't expecting it to be deducted from their payment when accepting an offer. 

I expect when sellers offer a price , buyers being aware of the BPF will counter to incorporate the buyers fee... ? 

So all in all it is really a sellers tax on the sly. 

[papso22]

I think my theory does mean that each party needs to be fully aware of the impact of the BPF when accepting an offer made by the other,  which makes it all rather more complicated than  buying and selling was pre the BPF.

I am not going to agree with the view that it's a seller fee on the sly though.  At least not until ebay admit that was their intention. 

it being a selling fee might be some member's perception, especially those who are going to great lengths to adjust their BIN  prices as a result,  but it's not how it's held out by ebay, or how it works contractually/legally.  

To be honest though, why does it really matter? Even if ebay admits it exists to replace FVF, what difference would that make?  

[vintique*violet]

One word could sum it up - Misrepresentation 

BPF -eBays own words.... 

What does Buyer Protection include?

With Buyer Protection, you benefit from:

• 24/7 customer service: Get support around the clock if you need help.
• Private sellers paid after delivery: When you purchase from a private seller, payment is sent after the order has been successfully delivered.
• Secure transactions: All payments are encrypted end-to-end and handled by our trusted payments partners.

It is the MBG which is the original " protection"... 

Payments have always been secure.

Customer service has always been available for those who wish/need to use it... having a chat around the clock could be considered a plus if you suffer from insomnia 😉

@papso22 

[natto100]

Just had a buyer make an offer for £5.00, only when I clicked to review the offer did I see that actually that is not the amount I would recieve, but instead £4.11 !!!! This is not right and very misleading.

The "offer" you recieve should surely be the amount you will actually be paid as the buyer protection fee is between ebay and the buyer ?

Also if this is how ebay are now going to present offers it would seem that sellers now have to do the maths to include the buyer fee if they try and make a counter offer, anyone would think they are trying to make things difficult for private sellers?

[papso22]

The buyer offers the amount they want to pay in total.

Seller's offers are exclusive of the fee, because that's what they want to receive, 

[wintersdawn1]

IMO not worth private sellers accepting 'Best Offer' now as they will receive the buyers offer less BPF making it a straightforward seller fee in this scenario.

[forestfeline62]

I did read a post from ebay that says the BPF will be included in the offer amount so you receive less but if it is a sale without offers then the BPF is added on top . Ebay change things constantly and either way it costs us more and more 

[forestfeline62]

Yes my partner has just has the same ,he had an offer which he accepted but lost £1.90 on the deal because BPF was taken out too ,so my partner has paid the BPF he is really annoyed 

[forestfeline62]

If a buyer bids on an auction or makes an offer on a listing, the Buyer Protection fee is included in their auction or offer amount, so they know exactly how much they'll pay if they win the auction or if their offer is accepted. The seller sees the auction or offer price without the fee, so they know exactly how much they'll receive. As the Buyer Protection fee is variable, the fee amount that the buyer actually pays is calculated as part of the final auction selling price.

[papso22]

On a sale without offers the BPF is always included in the price the buyer sees and pays.

[lazyfoxinteriors]

Yes. Really annoying. On the app no mention of this (said offer of £50 with no mention of deduction for protection fee) I only knew because of the email which said a lower amount. Does this mean that if someone 'buys it now' they pay the fee and if they offer 1p less and you accept, you pay? If this is the case, where is the incentive to 'buy it now'? When I looked at this new buyer protection fee on ebay's policies, I could not see anywhere that a seller would ever have to pay. I'm fuming. It's a mess. I honestly would rather just go back to the old seller fees. At least you knew where you stood with that. Whoever is running Ebay-stop trying to fix things that aren't broken. I'm sure they just pull ideas out of a hat when they are at a long boozy meeting..

[papso22]

Sellers don't pay the BPF, the BIN and any offer from the buyer will always include it.