Buyer Protection

[newsandels]

Just noticed all my items listed this week Ebay have increased  my starting price by 75p+ 4% this will impact on my sales as some items are listed low to sell. If Ebay want to get Buyer Protection from the Buyer they should add it at checkout so not to make it look like the Seller is on the make.

Is this legal to alter the sellers listing price? I think this could be the end of Ebay for Private sellers. I have been a seller for 20 years this is the worst I have seen it   

[suep50]

On low priced items I am now getting hardly any bids or offers. Is ebay trying to get rid of private sellers?

[foredeckunion]

Since eBay's only motivation now appears to be to make money through any extra and unnecessary fee they can think of, rather than worry about customer service or reputation, one imagines they are happy to get rid of anyone - buyer or seller - who isn't sufficiently profitable for them.

Interestingly, despite this being their own community website, they don't appear to read or respond to criticisms here either.

[gjalp]

As far as I can tell, some of the ones Ive seen have been registered in the country that coincides with the address of that country ie I post to that non UK address, have been charged a BPF. All buyers have been in Europe. 

[4minutemile]

Does anybody know what the Buyer Protection fee actually pays for? Will ebay be compensating for lost items or will they just be charging the sellers for lost items and pocketing the Buyer Protection fee?

[papso22]

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@4minutemile wrote:

Does anybody know what the Buyer Protection fee actually pays for? Will ebay be compensating for lost items or will they just be charging the sellers for lost items and pocketing the Buyer Protection fee?

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Ebay's guidance says what the Buyer Protection Fee is for.  

Simple Delivery offers some seller protection, also set out in guidance.

[4minutemile]

Agree. Having to put in lots more effort to generate any sales. The buyer protection fee has more than halved sales. But I think that the main reason for this is the very strange prices of items. Pricing items is an art in itself and the fee just blows away the accumulated experience of how to price items to attract sales and messing about, with adjusting the price after the Buyers Protection Fee is applied, is just time-wasting.

[foredeckunion]

Psychology of pricing is critical - as a buyer I no longer ‘understand’ the price with rip-off fee included, so it automatically becomes less attractive. £10.07 is never going to sound as good as £9.95 and trying to work backwards to get to that price including the fee is a nightmare.


Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[gjalp]

Today I have had an ebay survey sent to my private ID asking how satisfied I was with selling on ebay in the last 30 days. I didn't tell them it was all hunky dory. I said I was totally dissatisfied and absolutely would not recommend them to friends/family. When asked what they could do to improve, I mentioned the BPF, the holding of funds, the latest change to promoted items, the fact I felt they were trying to get rid of the low value sellers and were so far away from their grass roots its just not fun anymore. I also included the forced delivery and how ebay chooses the courier and that I would prefer to get rid of BPF and pay seller fees instead. 

[doobiedoobieday]

Well done you, pretty much what I told the customer service team ! We all need to follow up and make more & more complaints about all these unsatisfactory selling issues. We could all do with this survey too ? 

[foredeckunion]

Hoping I get the same email from eBay - and will give the same reply !

[doobiedoobieday]

I thought I’d replied to this already but strangely can’t see my message ! Well done you for standing up to the eBay regime. I told their customer service team (by phone) pretty much the same things. We should all contact them any way possible to make more & more complaints about the recent selling issues, and hoping I might also get the survey! Thanks 

[foredeckunion]

👍

[4minutemile]

I've been dropping hints to them at every opportunity. They've done exactly what Rachel Reeves did to us with National Insurance contributions. But only after they did a Keir Starmer on us by telling us that we could list for free, but didn't tell us that we would be limited to 300 lots per month and that they would slap on a Buyer Protection Fee to blind-side, mess-up our lot pricing and discourage bids.

It was definitely way better the way it was before all of these shenanigans.

[4minutemile]

They charge the BPF and when the buyer is outside the UK you also get charged for selling outside of the UK. So much for being able to list without commissions.

[4minutemile]

What is it for? Everything I send is insured whether it be with a free Certificate of Posting or by Signed For or Tracked delivery. So the buyer is fully protected. I have a 100% perfect record and the buyer cannot lose. What exactly is the Buyer Protection Fee for. My buyers don't need any protection because I give them a bullet-proof vest when they push the buy button.

[4minutemile]

What is it for? Everything I send is insured whether it be with a free Certificate of Posting or by Signed For or Tracked delivery. So the buyer is fully protected. I have a 100% perfect record and the buyer cannot lose. What exactly is the Buyer Protection Fee for. My buyers don't need any protection because I give them a bullet-proof vest when they push the buy button.

Moreover, Simple Delivery costs me more than just posting through Royal Mail and it really messes up the international pricing very badly. I use real postage stamps because I'm mostly selling to philatelists. I can't send my buyers printed labels. They don't collect printed labels (unless they're really weird).

[papso22]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buyer-protection-fee?id=5594&st=3&pos=2&query=Buyer%...

[4minutemile]

What does Buyer Protection include?

With Buyer Protection, you benefit from:

• 24/7 customer service: Get support around the clock if you need help.  THEY ALREADY GET THAT FROM ME! AND THEY ABSOLUTELY DO NOT PROVIDE 24/7 SUPPORT IN ANY CASE. MOST OF THE TIME ebay SHOWS YOU THE HAND AND YOU HAVE TO NAVIGATE A USELESS APP THAT IS NO HELP AT ALL!
• Private sellers paid after delivery: When you purchase from a private seller, payment is sent after the order has been successfully delivered. THIS IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!
• Secure transactions: All payments are encrypted end-to-end and handled by our trusted payments partners. THAT ISN'T NEW. THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN THE CASE!

SO THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFIT WHEN THEY PAY A BUYER PROTECTION FEE! IT'S ALL GASLIGHTING AND LIP-SERVICE! THEY JUST HARVEST BUYER PROTECTION FEES SO THEY MAKE MORE MONEY OFF OF NON-BUSINESS SELLERS THAN THEY DO FROM BUSINESS SELLERS.

[papso22]

I think it is the third bullet that is key here.  The old seller fees included an element for processing payments (as did the PayPal fee in the olden days), that is a cost to ebay and the BPF goes towards that cost. 

I do agree that the wording is disingenuous. 

[4minutemile]

SIMPLE DELIVERY is no good to me at all. I'm selling lots to philatelists and postal historians. I use real stamps. SIMPLE DELIVERY is a crutch I do not need.

In fact, I wish there was a way to  make sure that I never see the SIMPLE DELIVERY option ever again.

Moreover, it hamstrings us because all of the postal charges offered up by SIMPLE DELIVERY to international buyers are several times higher than those offered by the ROYAL MAIL. It costs more to post using SIMPLE DELIVERY.