Buyer fees 2025

[tulipsorange12]

If I sell something for £1 is it true that the seller is charged a 75p flat fee? That is so  off putting as a buyer and seller. 

If I send an item via Royal Mail's untracked service when will I get paid - will it be 48 hours after the estimated delivery date. 

These changes are rubbish for everyone.  Surely they will impact sales adversely.

[goldenwolfman]

I've just found a seller with 11,500 items, who has just joined ebid and is still on Obey as well (at the moment). He operates looking like a business but is private - no one cares there and isn't so cryptic about it. It may be that it's his collection of old - who knows, but when anyone sells here please remember this site used to be MORE about collecting. BUT It's become more about business now and I understand business sellers frustration at Chinese sellers who arrived and trade from outside the UK BUT use a UK address??? Its clearly wrong, but Obey did nothing.

As for those 'businesses' who trade as stamp, coin, postcard and goodness knows what ever else is collected - it's difficult to see who is a genuine collector (inheritor) disposing and who is a business avoiding - it's also difficult to prove, unless they openly buy and sell on the same account? Unikely - but I have seen it.

Anyway the point is the genuine collectors will leave as they can no longer sell cheaply and they are the same people who buy here - so businesses will suffer as well.

I don't collect stamps anymore- but i do keep my Queen Victoria and a few others - want the rest gone, just inherited more I don't need, but now at a stroke Obey have stopped me selling here as I can't put a stamp on a packet of stamps that's going to a stamp collector - do they want a label? Of course they don't, but no one has thought of that - been watching the stamp listings drop and they have not really started to plunge yet as SD has not taken over. It's one that was really thought out by dimwits!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

all my items are auctions actually although i very rarely get more than one person bidding.  The thing is that you say people are talking 'in general' and that means that they are actually not talking facts but just hearsay.  I prefer to actually give my own experience which (up to now) has not been bad.  I do not like the fees or the wait for money but for me it is working as they said it would.   My sales (again, so far) have not been affected but i do realise that different categories can have different outcomes.   No, i will not end up lowering my prices, only the ones i would do anyway, i always start with slightly higher than i want and always know what i will lower them to.   Anything less will go on the car boot.  Yes, the figure may vary after the initial bid but if someone wants it they want it.   By the way i have had one item that had more than one bidder and strangely enough they still bought it!

[rupert606]

To be fair, I do know of some private media sellers  - naming no names - who are clearly buying CD collections in order to sell.   I can tell because the diversity of taste is rather too eclectic! 

So saying, having just looked at two of the accounts I was thinking of, both are now business sellers.  

Not sure when that happened, or maybe my memory is naff. 

[rupert606]

The trouble with that is your bid is lower than you think. 

Same thing with best offers but this is even more misleading.

[handmade_by_me]

Yes, but are you selling? They put the fees on and it may only be a £1 or 2 but its enough to put buyers off. Buyers these days want to pay as little as possible.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

yes, i am selling and it was the best Feb i have had.    I never sell a lot anyway, probably averages out at a couple of items a week if i am lucky but as it is only unwanted stuff i am not bothered, it is all a bonus.  It depends on what you sell, most of mine is clothing and another £1 is not going to put that many people off as it is low priced anyway.      As a buyer i was looking for a skirt a couple of weeks ago and found someone selling a bundle of 3 all of which i liked so i bought them, good price even with BPF.  (even better was that they all fit and were good quality)

[rupert606]

Some items, some categories, are much more price sensitive. 

[yoleesplace2012]

You are 100% right, ebay have no concern for their sellers and are ripping off their buyers with their mad buyer protection, when before there was always the ebay guarantee. Everyones sales have dropped and buyers are drying up because they are finding their purchases too expensive. What I want to know is why change something that works well to a complete catastrophy? Like your photos Anonymous it sums up the future demise of the greedy pigs at ebay!!!

[5savoy]

Greed is taking over the World !

[jonatjonatjonat]

They are all nickel and diming.

TikTok Shop have just announced that IF you ship yourself and don't buy their labels or use their fulfillment, it'll now cost you 50p an order. 50p an order charge for absolutely nothing to happen on their part.

[5savoy]

I've been trading on eBay since 2002,selling on a weekly basis since 2008 with continuous 100%,Why would my buyers need protection ?

Maybe traders with less positive feedback might warrant additional protection !

This fee has left many traders disgruntled.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Because all a buyer protection fee is is eBay’s fees to cover their costs associated with the sale. Calling it buyer protection is 1) marketing and 2) a rip off of Vinted. It is however poorly named as it’s caused the confusion as per your post.

of course if you are ‘trading’ then you might want to assess  business seller account and whether that is for you.

[bamboid]

Your point about buyers blaming sellers for the so-called "Buyer Protection" fee is quite valid.  I have been adding a footnote to all my recent listings saying "I am listing this item with a starting price of £.......  Additional costs have been applied (and are retained) by eBay under their Buyer Protection Policy".

It does, I hope, make it clear that I am not clawing in more money but, that said, I have noticed a huge drop-off in my recent sales and am seriously wondering whether or not eBay is the platform for me anymore.

[lucy_farmer]

Traders  disgruntled?

Traders don't have to pay the BPF. 

It only hits private sellers. You know, people selling off their own unwanted personal possessions..

[rupert606]

It's ironic that it's eBay's larger business sellers who are most advantaged by Buyer Protection Fees - ironic because some of them are the most incompetent and unreliable sellers on the site.

I can think of one media seller doing £90m a year who will NOT improve their packaging  despite clocking up nearly 5000 negs a year.  

[rupert606]

Two of my favourite private sellers have given up since the introduction of Buyer Fees. 

Both sold items in the £2-£10 range, both commonly received orders for multiple items, both offered combined postage discount.   Both suddenly finding their items no longer attractively priced and having to refund buyers to correct the consequent OTT postage cost. 

Bidding is all up the creek because the buyer sees one amount, the seller sees another.

Best offers similarly messed up.  You offer £12, the seller thinks you're petty because they see something like £10.79.  Ridiculous.   

You'd think that after all these years that eBay would know better than to fiddle with the kind of fundamental transactions which enabled eBay's success in the first place! 

A lot more I could say.

[theknittingandsewinglady]

Kim Standerline