Buyer Protection Fee Woes

[tracywooo]

I see the Buyer Protection Fee  has been added to our items for sale  (not for the toys category yet).

I know that if someone opens a not-received case for an item and then rings Ebay, that Ebay will often refund them out of their own pocket. Thus encouraging people to be dishonest,  knowing they can expect Ebay to fund their buying.

A 17.00 item becomes 18.40,   this makes the item far harder to sell or compete will other websites. So are we meant to take the hit ourselves?

[dch2112011]

Just a couple of thoughts, as a private seller disposing of unwanted personal items who on the other platforms are you competing with on price ? 

 Personal items  are non competetive - the price you get is whatever bonus money you can get - after all you are not buying to resell so it has no costs.

Iit was purchased at some time in the past to serve a useful purpose and now is no longer wanted regardless of what you originally paid you are just turning it back into a bit of cash rather than disposing of it in landfill.

It is very unlikely that you will be competing with businesses with overheads you will undercut them everytime because any price is pure profit !

The other thought is that the original selling fees which were waived by ebay will if passed back to the buyer compensate the buyer fees added - unless you feel the buyer should continue to pay you the seller fees and ebay the buyer fees !

[wintersdawn1]

Its up to each seller to decide if they leave the increased prices or reduce them to still attract buyers.

If they reduce their prices by the 4% + 72p that, in effect, is the fee they are paying as they will be receiving less.

I think some sellers will reduce the price so that the buyer sees the original price the seller set and also to have a normal looking price, not the odd pence that results from the fees being added on.

[missdollydaydream]

So are we meant to take the hit ourselves?

Entirely up to you whether or not you allow yourself to be bullied! 

[wintersdawn1]

When I list an item that I no longer want, I do a search on ebay to see what the going rate is and click 'sell one like this' and put the price about the same or sometimes a bit lower than other prices I have seen in the search.

When all my prices went up today I was a bit dismayed, partly because I didn't think my items would sell now and also because the prices looked so odd.

I reduced my prices by the 4% + 72p so my items went back to the prices they were before the fees were added on.  Thankfully I don't need to live off the money I make on ebay so its not too bad but still not happy.

[manwhofell2earth]

I am seriously considering giving up selling now since joining in 2003 with this introduction of 'protection' fees on top! It's bad enough recently with e-bay becoming a free range for buyers to bid +  not pay -  with no comeback - I can't even complain or leave negative feedback - when  just being **ssed about. Had a guy recently obviously leave a comment out of spite when I refused to let him buy another auction for less, just because he'd already bid on  one! Then moaned about postage etc AFTER he paid and didn't even bother to spell anything correctly -  e-bay would not  remove  it - now we don't even get the paid money for items until 2 days after they are 'received safely' by the buyer!  The courier 'proof' is often just a photo of the box left outside on the doorstep! Have any of the 'colleagues' who make these 'informed decisions' for e-bay ever actually sold anything on it? Beginning of the End?

[twfan11]

This is not always true.  Try to sell a book as a private seller and "compete" with a business seller who has a postage deal with RM and can sell for less than the price of postage for a private seller.  And now the private seller gets the buyer protection fee on top.  

[totallydubbed]

I've just come across this buyer protection fee on my listings as a private seller. Previously I had to price my items based on the fees I would pay; now I'm having to do the same thing but in reverse due to the buyer protection fee. So effectively, when eBay came out to say "no more fees!" in reality they just shifted the goal posts to the buyer, which effectively still affects us sellers! Utterly ridiculous. I've been posting my items elsewhere, but now I'll prioritise the other platforms. Been on eBay for over 15 years, and this was the final nail in the coffin.

[manwhofell2earth]

Totally agree with you + the point many others have made about 'delivery confirmation' rings true too -  Been using EVRI /HERMES instead lately as Royal Mail 'Recorded Delivery' was such a total joke - now e-bay get paid too extra on top for 'safe delivery' ! So much for the free to sell or list option! Which figures why now....

(Why) are e-bay paying themselves a cut for buyer protection when most sellers 'have to post' by a tracked method now  -  or not get paid (for up to 14 days after supposed delivery)  - My brother had a good point saying  - 'Well Tesco don't let you take the goods you want and then offer to pay for them 2 days later!'

[new-model-armies-icons-of-the-realms]

I guess eBay's thinking is that those last of us private sellers will start paying for a shop subscription so that they won't then be able pump up our prices. What is this protection in any case? I have solid reputation built up over 20 years with loyal buyers and I use Royal Mail tracked 48 so the buyers are pretty safe already, I'd say. It's just a massive con. Before the trolls get going I sell new items, yes, but only because I collect miniatures that come in blind packs so I inevitably get spares that are no good to me. They are brand new out of the pack but no use to me so I decided to sell them on eBay along with any other unwanted stuff that crops up. I'm not a closet business seller, my profit margin is negligible because I use the money to buy more blind packs and so on. I find it slightly insulting that eBay feels the need to step in and protect my buyers in any case, as that's what I already do. If they want to be fair then they shouldn't hold buyers to the same standards as business sellers. I don't have stock control so if I list something in error as a private error, why do I get a defect? Why should I have to ship out pronto? I'm a private individual doing it as part of my miniatures hobby. I get the feeling, what with the reduced free listings and all this "protection" nonsense (the irony of the Kray Twins perspective on protection is quite amusing in respect of eBay) they just don't want us private sellers any more. We clearly don't make enough margin for the shareholders. Also they're holding on to our payments now so they can make more interest while it sits in the Swiss bank account next to the Nazi gold. They must think we're stupid.

[lunab203]

This buyer protection fee is disadvantaging private sellers and can result in ridiculous price incresaes. For example,I was selling an item for £1 plus 85 pence postage.Now it is listed at £1.97 plus 85 pence postage. I'd be unlikely to buy it myself at that price.   Basically it's an Ebay rip-off scheme

[super-saiyan-cards]

Last item I sold was almost a month ago....this BPF is a gimmick! Most of my items are priced under £1:50 including postage and now technically doubled after this fee was introduced. If anything sells now ebay would make more then what I make after postage cost.......Everything was fine and any issues that occured were dealt comfortably between me and my buyers. This protection fee is not needed at all. 

[dch2112011]

It's no gimmick but the BPF is going to affect businesses selling on private accounts for sure. 

Your choice is to upgrade to a business account where you will still be able to sell as before but by paying seller fees or give up selling cheap items online in the format you do at the moment.

As a business model you really need to up the sales to make any reasonable money to at least 100,000 items a  year - you can do this on ebay via a business account, realise you may be doing it for a little pin money but I doubt you will make much selling on a personal account with the fees, delays in payment, unless you have grossly under estimated the items values. - Wait until simple delivery and forced tracked postage hits you !

Before you claim collector - own personal items read what you wrote as a profile !  see below !

'We specialise in Dragon Ball Cards only. All products are from genuine suppliers, cards are all new and only get pulled then sleeved very carefully. All the stock is then kept in excellent conditions. As we build are portfolio please feel free to have a browse or purchase the selection of cards that are for sale. : ) '

[sml192]

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@manwhofell2earth wrote:

My brother had a good point saying  - 'Well Tesco don't let you take the goods you want and then offer to pay for them 2 days later!'

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If you pay Tesco with a debit or credit card then that is precisely what is happening - you receive the goods straight away but Tesco receives the funds 2 days later. 

[germanpostalhistorys]

EXACTLY RIGHT, I been selling same as yourself 19 years on Ebay and its got harder and harder, no come back on the negative feed back I know for a fact that I sell stamps cheaper than most, and recently I had a run of negative feedback all in a week or so, checking I notice they had very low bids just started on ebay recently, they ended up complaining about their purchase and I refunded and never got any banknotes back even though I still ended up getting negative feedback Ebay would not take them off, In the description of the banknote it clearly stated... low start £2.99 please be aware these banknotes may be very good reproductions.. which is why the low start in the description still ended up with the Negative feedback... So the buyer kept the banknotes got all the money back and gave me negative feedback, being a seller on Ebay oh what joy, now this extra cost on buyer protection what a joke... its the Seller that needs protection from fraud via buyers...

[dch2112011]

The problem is that you understand they are fake - but your customers don't understand they are fake 

Personally I would avoid declaring them as the genuine item in the title and then saying they might or might not be reproductions in a one line description - You are asking for trouble - which is a shame as you have built up a good reputation 

I think it is not ebay at fault or your buyers -  if you believe them to be copies - which you do or you would not mention it - your title should reflect this !  

[stratojedi]

Glad I'm not the only one! Been buying and privately selling on ebay since 2003 - and now they've basically copied the Vinted model (lets face it, that IS what they've done) with the SPF nonsense - added with the paying out to sellers AFTER an item has been proved to be delivered days later.

They've essentially made a big thing of "it's now free to sell" "No selling fees!" etc - but have just shot themselves in the foot for one by essentially moving the 'selling fee' to a 'buying fee' (which works out to be a BPF of 6-6.5% judfing from the last two items that I've sold this week, and something I've bought) - whilst STILL having the hard-faced cheek to leave the eBay 'money back guarantee' in place. You can't have both! Besides - buyers already have consumer protection by law in this country anyway, so again - it's a total and complete nonsensical move.

It hits you as a buyer - and it hits you as a seller. Oh, and shall we mention the 3% you get charged selling if you're buyer is from overseas? Nope - don't mention that one do they! I've had that on a couple of occassions just recently since these new changes. So much for 'no selling fees!"

All in all, this is going to push people away from eBay and onto other platforms for buying and selling - eBay's so-called management have clearly not thought all of this through. Mind you they're yanks - hardly suprising I'm sorry to say. (I've spent a lot of time over there, so know that actually thinking isn't exactly their strongest hand. Have met people in top executive positions over there who really are as dumb as house bricks.)

The ways thing look with these recent changes, I think my 22 yrs on eBay are going to stop (buying AND selling) - if they want to carry on with this model they can stick it. The recent changes are just an absolute nonsense and a farce and are not going to bode well (with buyer OR sellers). 

P.S. I'll await the 'advisers' or 'converstionalists' who clearly work for eBay to come and double-down on eBay's new model. (I truly feel sorry for you if some of you actually do work for these utter cretins - which you'll always deny of course - but we all know you actually do.)

[lunab203]

I will stop selling anything under two pounds . Ebay will lose outr 

[kath3735_wxmjn]

your PS - does that mean that anyone who has a different opinion to you works for e bay??   I have yet to find anyone on here who has ever said that they like the changes, approve of the changes or even defends the changes.  What some are doing is actually being rational about it because they know e bay will go ahead and do what they want anyway until they find their profits going down.  If that does not happen the changes will stay and people will just get used to them.  It is okay coming on here and whining about it but at the end of the day we all have a choice, go with it or leave.  Now personally i have been prepared to go with all the changes that have occurred since i started, did not want Managed payments but found it was no problem.   Cannot say that so far i have had any problems with BPF both as a seller and buyer, of course i would rather not pay it but the items were what i wanted so i did.  I have no problem with waiting for my money, obviously would prefer it instantly but whatever...   Now when SD comes in i will be gone!   I will not be on here fretting about it.

[greyshark1927]

Great post , couldn't of written better myself , it's obvious she like a few others on here are unbearable types full of their own self importance and opinions ....