EBAY FARCICAL BUYER PROTECTION FEES & POSTAL CONTROL

[sadcatjakus]

23 YEARS OF SELLING ON EBAY AS A PRIVATE SELLER AND I'M AT THE POINT WHERE I CONSIDER IT'S BECOMING MORE TROUBLE THAN IT'S ACTUALLY OF WORTH. THE BUYER PROTECTION FEES ARE A JOKE. EBAY CLAIMS IT'S FREE TO SELL. IT IS NOT. THE BPF IS INDEED AN EXTRA COST OF SALE, THEREBY DEPRECIATING THE SALE VALUE OF AN ITEM IN ORDER TO MAKE IT VIABLE AND ATTRACTIVE FOR BUYERS. THEY EVEN IMPOSE IT UPON CLOTHES WHICH IN ORDER TO COMPETE WITH THE LIKES OF VINTED WERE PUBLICISED AS 'FREE' TO SELL, INCORRECT. NOW, DESPITE THE MAJORITY OF LONG TERM, CREDIBLE SELLERS PROVING THEY CAN MANAGE THE POSTAL ELEMENT, THAT FLEXIBILITY IS BEING REMOVED DUE TO THE CONTROL FREAK ELEMENT WITHIN THEIR BUSINESS. SEETHING....

[*vyolla*]

It seems that no private sellers are overjoyed about the new buyer protection fee and simple delivery, but it really is a case of adapt or sell elsewhere.

Vinted do also add a buyer protection fee, by the way. 

[wintersdawn1]

I had a wonderful experience on Vinted last night and as I went to the checkout the postage was half price!

Ebay eats, sleeps and breathes greed and so it will eventually be their downfall:

1. Buyer Protection Fee – a total lie, appears to be copying Vinted but they are just pocketing the money as the buyer has the 30 day money back guarantee already.
2. Holding private sellers money - earning interest/investing.
3. Simple Delivery - once mandatory ebay will make money on every postage label for every item sold.
4. Hiding listings - ebay are hiding sellers listings so they have to pay to make them visible again.
5. Disabling the invoice facility - buyers are forced to pay BPF on each item so no combining orders now.
6. With Simple Delivery they make the buyer pay higher postage if a seller only offers one carrier.

[*vyolla*]

Wait til you try and use Vinted buyer protection and discover that you cannot speak with a human at all during the process, absolute nightmare.

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

"23 YEARS OF SELLING ON EBAY AS A PRIVATE SELLER" maybe ..... ????

[stephen6967]

one of my listing is hidden without any reason, I am done reporting to the customer service, exhausting

[department28]

'It seems that no private sellers are overjoyed about the new buyer protection fee and simple delivery, but it really is a case of adapt or sell elsewhere.'

Yes, unfortunately, this is what it is boiling down to. 

I think those who have been with eBay a long time, and had many enjoyable years of straightforward selling, are understandably finding it hard to accept the way things have been heading, compared to how it used to be. 

The (mostly) irritating changes & 'updates' have been accruing over the past few years, but this double-whammy of the BPF & mandatory Simple Delivery, has pretty much slammed the door shut on the old eBay... ☹️

[wintersdawn1]

Ebay cs is an amazing phenomenon - the gathering together of the most useless chocolate teapot people to ever draw breath. 

I don't know how ebay do it, possibly through careful screening, but again and again they pull it off and have, in essence, successfully assembled the most b/s dribbling, pathologically lying group of wonderful people! 🤣 

[scooterdemon]

Which alternative platforms are people suggested. Vinted for clothes I suppose, but what of everything else?

[jonatjonatjonat]

Vinted now also have categories for things other than clothes. Not for everything, but for things like toys, games, music etc - it is there.

issue there is, people assume its for clothes only.

And as noted above - Vinted also have a Buyer Protection Fee and Simple Delivery (though its further along and in a better state than ebays) and you are reliant on the buyer confirming delivery for quick release of funds).

[sadcatjakus]

That’s right pal 23 years, barring 3 Mths and in 1 Mth you’ll have been doing the same for 22 Years. So what are all the question mark for?

[sadcatjakus]

That’s correct Pal, 23 years barring 3 Mths. In 1 Mth, you’ll have been doing the same for 22 years. So what are all the excessive question marks for?

[kitkatback]

With regards to no invoices, I advised the buyer to pay in full and told them the discount for combined postage i would refund them.  I then after payment, refunded the discount for combined postage.  Unfortunately,  seems to disable my ability to leave feedback.

[dch2112011]

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@wintersdawn1 wrote:

I had a wonderful experience on Vinted last night and as I went to the checkout the postage was half price!

ebay offer similar incentives in the form of free postage, vouchers - yesterday had £15 voucher to buy on ebay - I guess you have been unlucky and never received an ebay voucher or free postage but hit lucky on vinted - doesn't mean ebay don't offer promotions !

Ebay eats, sleeps and breathes greed and so it will eventually be their downfall:

1. Buyer Protection Fee – a total lie, appears to be copying Vinted but they are just pocketing the money as the buyer has the 30 day money back guarantee already.

The MBG is paid for by members - through seller fees and now buyer fees with added protection - Where do you think the money comes from to protect buyers ?  Would you prefer that the buyer pays or the seller or perhaps both to keep everyone happy ?

1. Holding private sellers money - earning interest/investing.

Asking for proof of delivery before releasing payment to sellers  gives buyers confidence and incentivises 'busy' sellers to  post the order in a timely manner

1. Simple Delivery - once mandatory ebay will make money on every postage label for every item sold. 

True but SD standardises shipping costs - no more seller inflated prices - no more 'fines' for buyers when sellers use incorrect postal rate - no more false address seller scams - full tracking reduces INR claims for sellers when in transit 

1. Hiding listings - ebay are hiding sellers listings so they have to pay to make them visible again.

ebay prioritise 'promoted' listings rather than hide non promoted listings - one post on the forum from a business seller is complaining private sellers are being promoted FOC in front of sponsored listings !

1. Disabling the invoice facility - buyers are forced to pay BPF on each item so no combining orders now.

Should private sellers disposing of unwanted personal items need to supply commercial invoices ? Combining orders is allowed with one BPF  using simple delivery but the onus is on the buyer to add to basket and pay in one go

1. With Simple Delivery they make the buyer pay higher postage if a seller only offers one carrier.

 True - This is an attempt to make sellers offer greater choice,  those that do will be more competetive than the sellers who limit the buyers choice

[vinylscot]

All the above in your post is true, but

1) eBay has communicated and implemented these changes very badly indeed

2) a close look at any of the changes shows that the benefits to eBay certainly far outweigh any benefits to either buyers or sellers. This seems cynical and breeds resentment.

and 

3) Simple human nature. People don't like change

[theelench]

It certainly is IMO.

Isn't it strange that all those "years of straightforward selling" found ebay inundated with private sellers mostly buying and selling to each other ?

So glad that I set-up my stall on ebid when ebay slapped 10% on P&P costs rather than weed out those evading fees by charging 99p for the item and £5 postage.  Now they're doing the same again  --  hitting all private sellers because they've allowed the problem of businesses operating on private accounts to escalate to such a degree.

Most annoying for me was that as the "irritating" up-dates piled up, ebay's control increased, not only the enjoyment faded but sales fell every time as popular (private) support for the site melted away.

Definitely time for me to leave it to the businesses, legal and illegal to fight over the bare bones that are left.

[insidethe93]

wintersdawn1 wrote: "5. Disabling the invoice facility - buyers are forced to pay BPF on each item so no combining orders now."

It creates work for sellers as, in my own experience anyway, sellers give a part-refund to do the equivalent of combining postage. If the uncombined postage isn't that much I just check-out but sellers do the part-refund. If the uncombined postage is a lot at check-out I'll use the "add message for seller" and enquire. It also means buyers spend a little extra time, to say thanks.