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   

[lucy_farmer]

'Buyer Protection' is simply the new, silly name for the replacement of private seller's fees....

(private sellers fees used to cover all the things on the BPF list, but they wanted to dump private sellers fees to compete with Vint*d ..)

IMHO, ebay's Marketing and Advertising dept really made a c**k-up with the choice of name.

If they'd have been a bit more honest about it, there'd have been way less insulted anger among users.......

[4minutemile]

Moreover, payment is not always sent 3 days after the order has been successfully delivered because TRACKING does not always work and private sellers are forced to wait till ebay releases the funds despite the item having been delivered.

THIS IS REALLY IRRITATING!

[4minutemile]

..........

[4minutemile]

I too moved over to offering free postage for UK buyers to try to simplify things for the buyer. Too many fees are confusing!

[4minutemile]

It's like we're providing a service to other collectors. It's not like we can rip off fellow collectors. They mostly know what we know and the prices have to be fair.

[4minutemile]

Delcampe is very popular. I've bought stuff from there.

[4minutemile]

And when the tracking isn't done correctly by the postman on delivery you end up waiting the maximum time.

[4minutemile]

I thought this too. But who in their right mind wants to setup a business? It's insanity in the current tax regime. It's a total waste of time.

[foredeckunion]

As far as I can see the only difference between automatic money back guarantee (free) and buyer protection (rip-off) is that the latter claims to provide a 24/7 helpline.
In 20+ years I’ve never needed that and 99% of people are keen to protect their reputation, so the demand for such a service (if it really exists) must be tiny.
All this fee amounts to is a compulsory ‘we’ll have more of your money because we want it and there’s nothing you can do about it, so tough’.

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[4minutemile]

ebay doesn't have a 24/7 helpline. I must have spent half an hour trying to contact a real person over the weekend and all I could get was an app that can't handle real questions. They're not even using AI to answer the questions. They're just using an old algorithm.

[foredeckunion]

No helpline? eBay telling porkies? Surely not! (Am I surprised....)

[jonatjonatjonat]

EBay state what it includes and it’s nothing to do with the eBay money back guarantee.

But frankly, it is nothing more than the fees to cover eBay’s associate costs with managing the site. Servers, staff, payment processing, secrity etc.

previously, used to be covered by seller fees. Now it’s buyer fees. Poorly named by eBay as it seems to have caused no end of confusion as to what it actually is.

[clockend2307]

That’s because eBay have introduced a buyer protection fee which the buyer pays but comes of the money paid to the seller. This literally equates to a selling fee. Why are eBay advertising no selling fees, it just is not true. They have just inflated our selling costs to include an income for eBay.

[foredeckunion]

EBay warn against scammers then turn out to be scammers themselves.
Sent from mobile

[babs_booty]

Is there any benefit to opening a business account regarding this topic, or do business accounts pay these fees also on top of everything else🤔Im trying to figure a way out of this confusing debacle.  It seems that the only winners other than Ebay will be companies like MusicMagpie who can make there money through volume of sales.

[jonatjonatjonat]

I don’t think you have understood how it works. In no way does the BPF come off what is paid to the seller.

[4minutemile]

I understand exactly how it works. ebay fleeces the buyer and puts off another buyer who might have bid if it weren't for the totally unnecessary fee.

It's exactly the same ploy that Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, did by adding 2% to employers' National Insurance Contributions instead of the employee's National Insurance Contributions. It has exactly the same result because employers will in future pay their employees 2% less.

It's not rocket science! And the fee is totally unnecessary when the seller has a 100% positive feedback rating and insures even the low value items by getting a Certificate of Posting. It's not about protecting buyers. It's a new revenue stream for ebay. It's disgustingingly obvious!

[4minutemile]

If you were intending to start a business and believe that it will be worthwhile then go ahead. Unfortunately, in this high expense, high tax environment that we currently have in the UK, trying to earn a living is a total waste of time.

[foredeckunion]

110% agree. It’s a reputation -destroying fleece, plain, simple and obvious.

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[vintagedeco]

This is my business ID; which I sometimes use for buying.  (Not been a business for many years.)  I have recently closed my other eBay account, from which I occasionally sold.  My reason for this is that I cannot be bothered with  eBay's latest idiocy of  'Buyer Protection Fee' and 'Simple Delivery'.

Do the same and teach eBay to behave reasonably. No private sellers will severely reduce eBay's revenue.

(The last straw was dictating how I ship my items.  My items - my choice.)