Buyer Protection fee

[alx1329]

when you now sell something it says "What your buyer paid"  and  "What you earned". Both these totals include the buyer protection fee.    I assume then that Ebay collect & keep this fee, but actually regard it as the Sellers income and Not Ebays income?

[andha-21]

@alx1329 

So they are offsetting their earnings on to the sellers?

[*vyolla*]

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@alx1329 wrote:

when you now sell something it says "What your buyer paid"  and  "What you earned". Both these totals include the buyer protection fee.    I assume then that Ebay collect & keep this fee, but actually regard it as the Sellers income and Not Ebays income?

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The buyer pays the Buyer Protection Fee and this is collected by eBay and kept by eBay.

It's not regarded as seller income.

[andha-21]

@*vyolla* 

So why are they including the information on seller records?

[*vyolla*]

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@andha-21 wrote:

@*vyolla* 

So why are they including the information on seller records?

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Just for info, I guess. I can't think of another reason. Whatever the reason, neither eBay or HMRC regard the BPF element as seller income.

[papso22]

Or maybe it's just something else they haven't got round to changing, or even realise needs changing!

[andha-21]

Thank you papso22. Most helpful.

[vintique*violet]

How odd?  Doesn't make any sense to be included on the sellers " what you earned"... as it is a direct payment to eBay. Is it actually in the total or shown as a lone separate figure? 

[alx1329]

Hi this is what i receive from ebay when i sell something

What your buyer paid

Subtotal

£5.00

Buyer Protection fee

£0.92

Postage

£2.70

Order total

£8.62

What you earned

Order total

£8.62

eBay collected from buyer

Buyer Protection fee

-£0.92

Selling costs

Transaction fees

£0.00

Postage label

-£2.70

Order earnings

£5.00

[andha-21]

@alx1329 

That looks bad, really bad. Not only are they offsetting but it looks like they are charging both buyer and seller the same fee.

[papso22]

That makes perfect sense to me.

[andha-21]

Oops, I had a brain fart there. I see it now.

[sml192]

Why does it look bad and what are they offsetting?

Looks perfectly logical to me and quite clear that only the buyer is being charged the fee.  

[andha-21]

I misread it. Already worked that out as posted above.

[valueaddedresource]

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@andha-21 wrote:

@alx1329 

So they are offsetting their earnings on to the sellers?

---

Thanks to @andha-21  for tagging me about this issue in another thread.

I'd have to see a screenshot to be sure of what @alx1329 is talking about, but if what you are seeing looks like the screenshot from post 188 in this thread:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Ebay-s-new-buyer-protection-scam/m-p/7768195#M700643

Then I'm sticking with the same thoughts I had in post 193 of that thread, which is that's basically just eBay's way of showing how the math works out but that doesn't mean the money is actually being paid to the seller then deducted back out from the seller or that it will be counted in the seller's income for tax purposes.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Ebay-s-new-buyer-protection-scam/m-p/7768260#M700670

We have a similar situation here in the US with the way our various states handle sales tax - long story short is that most states here have passed Marketplace Facilitator laws which mean that for online sales through marketplaces like eBay, Amazon etc. the marketplace is responsible for calculating, collecting from the buyer and remitting any sales tax owed to the state rather than that obligation falling on the seller.

However, since eBay collects their FVF fee on the total amount including the tax, they have to show US sellers the full amount with the tax to be able to properly show how the math on the fee break down works out, then they show the tax amount as a deduction in a similar fashion as you might be seeing for the BPF.

But in that case in the US, the sales tax amount is never actually paid to the seller and doesn't actually get deducted back from the seller - and we can know that because when eBay issues our yearly tax records, those sales tax amounts are not included as income paid to the seller.

I'm not associated with eBay in any way so of course can't give any official answers, but it appears to me the way they are displaying the BPF on the seller side is the same thing - just a way to show how the math is worked out, but not a reflection of what will actually be counted/reported as seller income for tax purposes.

edit to add: I just saw the post where @alx1329  copied and pasted what it shows and....still stand by everything I typed above. 😂

[vintique*violet]

Okay thank you - it is shown separate so it would be for " accounting" purposes. Good it shows a breakdown. 😉