Buyer protection fee

[nostalgia.toys]

I understand that eBay has to make a profit but this is just not working. I am having to reduce my selling price by 4% to achieve the advertised price I am seeking, effectively a selling fee of 4%. Buyers seem to be staying away as I have only sold 2 items since this was imposed when I would normally have expected to sell 10-12 in that period.

I know other platforms use this system but they are selling relatively low value items. 4% of £20.00 would only be 80p but 4% of £200 would be £8.00, enough to put buyers off.

Are other private sellers finding a significant reduction in their turnover?

[vintique*violet]

After 4th Feb if you sell or buy you are automatically agreeing to those new terms and conditions - many do not agree with them for whatever personal reason they hold... some  are waiting to close their accounts after the 30 - 60 day period has lapsed just incase there is an issue with any sold item so they can look after their buyers.  Some have already had funds held and are waiting for those to release, some were awaiting orders to be delivered to them before closing their accounts...plenty of comments on here with numerous reasons why people are not listing, even if it is free, and I say the word " free" loosely because there always seems to be a " catch?"... it is their choice not to agree to the terms and conditions for buying and selling. 

[deba3602013]

Yes to all of that.  ebay has encouraged their behaviour.  No doubt about it. 

[deba3602013]

Stop it, you're scaring the horses. 

[deba3602013]

Logically that would be the case, but ... 🙂

[vintique*violet]

😀😂..........."Neigh"... truth is truth... 

[deba3602013]

Sorry, I don't know how many employees eBay have ..

Hehe.  Very naughty thing to say. 

[rainbowtreasuresuk]

HUGE PLUMIT in my sales - average 17-20 items a day to 3/4 items a week!!

shocking - im sure this is due to the buyer protection fee,which is for what? other than lining ebays pockets,as a seller we are still expected to refund/replace the item so what is the purpose of this fee,can someone explain please

I also think ebay are wanting private sellers gone and have only business sellers

[papso22]

A private seller is one that is getting rid of unwanted personal possessions. 

[cobwebcottage]

HUGE PLUMIT in my sales - average 17-20 items a day to 3/4 items a week!!

Not on this account. Do you have another?

I also think ebay are wanting private sellers gone and have only business sellers.

What is your definition of a business seller?

[clavdivs05]

Nothing suprises me anymore. Very disappointing, isn't it?

[wendybing]

I agree to a certain extent. I havent changed my prices and will continue to list on Ebay because there is a chance  someone will buy them.

However I do slightly disagree with the free to list. In theory it is free. However having your listings available to be viewed is another matter.

Ebays user agreement states:-

• to drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer;

Therefore the only way to guarantee your listing is seen by all is to pay to promote it.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

When it first started i thought i would try putting one of my 'higher' priced items  on promotion just to see.  I had less views (like none!) than when i had not been paying.  Never paid to promote since and i have still managed to sell enough stuff.  Of course if no one paid to promote then e bay would still have to list items..... 

[shooglynail72]

The buyers fee is a disaster for our sales which have dipped 70% since February, even our regular buyers are reducing the number of items they purchase now.  we have decided to give it until the end of June if things haven’t improved significantly then unfortunately we will have to close our eBay store as we are just breaking even since February. We have been with eBay for approx 19 years and changed our business model and pricing to adapt to their changes however this is the final blow to us. 

[*maetrix*]

What exactly is this "BPF" payment covering?

If the item arrives safely & the buyer is happy shouldn't the BPF / fee which has been charged get refunded?

???

[jma2815]

‘Sales dipped 70%’, ‘Regular buyers’, ‘business model’, ‘pricing’, ‘break even’. 

Oh dear. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

Do you get your car insurance back if you don't crash?

it's a fee - to cover the cost of maintaining a secure payment system, amongst other things.

[lucy_farmer]

'......changed our business model and pricing to adapt to their changes....'

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Shoogly, I'm not trying to be rude, pedantic or picky here but ;

One of the reasons (apart from 'developing new income streams'  🤢) why ebay are doing these god-awful UN-improvments to the site, is to try and force  "private" sellers to register as businesses.

(by "private" I mean businesses trading on private accounts)

'Private" sellers have all the financial advantages of not running businesses (business selling fees etc) and don't give buyers their consumer rights.

"Private" sellers pee off both registered business sellers and genuine private sellers who are now having to put up with the same pain as the accounts it was aimed at.

I can see that you've been here for years ; when you started there may not have been much difference between the accounts, but there is now!

And I can see from your post that's it's probably never crossed your mind that you're 'pulling a fast one'....

In my opinion ebay have to take some of the blame for not getting on top of the "private" seller problem, they've had many years to do it in!

And now they've decided to punish *all* private sellers for the sins of the "private" brigade.

You may not make many friends on these boards 😢

[cassidy_r_private]

Just out of idle curiosity, and this is a long shot....I don't suppose it has crossed your mind that all of these potential impairments to your sales could be fixed if you changed your status from private to business?

Assuming that the recent changes are completely to blame for your predicament, it could be the easiest option.

[shooglynail72]

That ain’t no solution

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[cassidy_r_private]

Why am I not surpised?