EBay plan to add fees for buyers - hurts businesses even further

[vintagefunk01]

From the sky news article here which is obviously a press release https://news.sky.com/story/ebay-selling-fees-are-scrapped-to-boost-to-reselling-13225638

It seems clear ebay is following in the footsteps of other selling marketplaces by adding fees for buyers in the early new year,  but since fees remain in place for business sellers adding another fee on top of this is another hit to our bottom line.

We will now be expected to absorb the buyers fee and our own business selling fee (and shop fees etc).

This seems crazy to me - although eBay say it'll be 'small' , if it's 8% like elsewhere that's a massive hit for us to take.  Yes it's for the buyers but we all know prices will drop because of it - for example a 350 item will now cost 379 to the buyer with an 8% fee that is currently used by another platform, so ofc sellers will drop the initial price so that the item actually sells and to offset this.

Fine for private sellers who have no fees to compensate, but insane for business sellers with hefty fvf and shop fees already 

[mayorsincome]

So, that's my first experience of this scam. What would Jesus do? I reckon Jesus would go with the cheaper Amazon, 5 easy payments and delivery for free to a locker of his choosing. No boulders to move.

'Buyer protection' sounds like something the local mob ask for from people.

Not only is the private seller losing out but it pushes me further away from using eBay as a whole.

[mayorsincome]

And to be clear the main listing shows "£90.16" which I thought was a very strange amount https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/356579679693 The Seller has listed it at £86.00. The scam money is on top of that.

It's only when you checkout from BIN button you can see the small print at the bottom about the scam.

At the very least this is underhanded and very poor business practice.

[westy9769]

yes there are, if you read it it says coming in to affect 2025 , ive just paid an extra  £21 on an item

[krafty-kreations]

So, that's my first experience of this scam. What would Jesus do?

Not sure what Jesus would do but I know I wouldn't be buying from a seller who looks to me like they should actually have a business account and buyer fees should not be added. 

[amazonharvey]

There seems to be a loophole members are saying buy on eBay. Com instead of
eBay uk same price no added fee’s and same delivery

[papso22]

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@amazonharvey wrote:
There seems to be a loophole members are saying buy on eBay. Com instead of
eBay uk same price no added fee’s and same delivery

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The fee avoidance policy says members can't do this and if they do they could lose their accounts.

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@papso22 wrote:

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@amazonharvey wrote:
There seems to be a loophole members are saying buy on eBay. Com instead of
eBay uk same price no added fee’s and same delivery

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The fee avoidance policy says members can't do this and if they do they could lose their accounts.

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No it doesn't. Nowhere in any policy document does it state that a buyer cannot access ebay through the TLD (top level domain) of their choosing. The issue here is that ebay are not requesting BPF's when purchasing from private UK sellers through the .com domain.

[papso22]

I have already told you that it doesn't use those exact words and I never said it did.  But it says that buyers cannot do something that means they don't pay the buyer protection fee.  Buying through .com is an example of that kind of activity.

Ebay have left it broad for a reason, they are not going to tie themselves down to specifics when high level covers everything. 

Mentors have had it confirmed by ebay that circumventing the BPF by buying through .com is covered by the fee avoidance policy, I am not making it up.

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@papso22 wrote:

I have already told you that it doesn't use those exact words and I never said it did.  But it says that buyers cannot do something that means they don't pay the buyer protection fee.  Buying through .com is an example of that kind of activity.

Ebay have left it broad for a reason, they are not going to tie themselves down to specifics when high level covers everything. 

Mentors have had it confirmed by ebay that circumventing the BPF by buying through .com is covered by the fee avoidance policy, I am not making it up.

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And I've already told you that I disagree. How can a buyer evade fees that haven't been charged?

This is an implementation issue involving a scenario that probably never crossed their minds and not an example of a policy breach.

[amazonharvey]

That’s what I thought eBay has covered every angle I am sure .its not worth
the risk to loose my accounts if I do
but it’s still unfair of eBay to add fee’s to my listings that the buyer
must pay at check out. EBay should protect every member they get enough of
are money all ready
Pay me after delivery confirmed . Make me pay upfront for my buyer
purchases to post tracked delivery or loose out if they happen to go on
walk about and the worst is simple delivery my words on this is not
nice so nothing .if I do postage free I have a choice but how is that
going to happen if small private sellers listings sell for a few pound.
They have a right to keep my money but not the postage I need to send
buyers purchases .
no small private sellers are going to stand by and see the sellers of the
future fall at the first post .
EBay makes money if you sell for 99p but how can you warrant them to pay
upfront on postage
But remember eBay takes a cut of that that you have to put in the short
fall.
Since eBay took over everything including no PayPal account .and dictates
what we can do and can not do .
the eBay that was great fun to use has for many years started to loose that
shine if lost it will be a great loss to everyone

[papso22]

They are deliberately taking action to avoid being charged fees that are properly chargeable under the BPF rules.

That's fee avoidance.

You can disagree with me all you like but I am right!

It may have been an option to write software to prevent this breach, but instead ebay decided to cover it with a policy change that came in with the new BPF.  Just because the system doesn't stop it doesn't make it OK.

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@papso22 wrote:

They are deliberately taking action to avoid being charged fees that are properly chargeable under the BPF rules.

That's fee avoidance.

You can disagree with me all you like but I am right!

It may have been an option to write software to prevent this breach, but instead ebay decided to cover it with a policy change that came in with the new BPF.  Just because the system doesn't stop it doesn't make it OK.

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No, you're making a lot of assumptions and jumping to an unreasoned conclusion.

Plenty of UK buyers access ebay through ebay.com. How can they avoid a fee that they are not aware of and not asked to pay? 

[papso22]

Ignorance of the terms of the user agreement, and published policies, is no excuse.

If you have an ebay account and use a site you should know what you can and can't do.

Ebay are not going to differentiate between the deliberate avoiders and the ignorant avoiders when they take any action.

[amazonharvey]

Because the fee is added to the private sellers items before it is uploaded
on to eBay .then there is no nasty shocks at check out .Read the letter
that was sent out to every seller informing this would happen . That’s
pulling the wool over buyers faces if they do not know about the 4% being
added .

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@papso22 wrote:

Ignorance of the terms of the user agreement, and published policies, is no excuse.

If you have an ebay account and use a site you should know what you can and can't do.

Ebay are not going to differentiate between the deliberate avoiders and the ignorant avoiders when they take any action.

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No. Ebay.co.uk policy applies to ebay.co.uk. Ebay.com has a separate policy.

If the user never accesses ebay.co.uk, how can they be aware of its policies and rules?

[papso22]

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@the-layer-laboratory wrote:

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@papso22 wrote:

Ignorance of the terms of the user agreement, and published policies, is no excuse.

---

No. Ebay.co.uk policy applies to ebay.co.uk. Ebay.com has a separate policy.

If the user never accesses ebay.co.uk, how can they be aware of its policies and rules?

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Because they will have registered their account on ebay.co .UK and received emails about the user agreement updates.

You are quite clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel now.  I shan't reply to you again.

[the-layer-laboratory]

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@papso22 wrote:

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@the-layer-laboratory wrote:

---

@papso22 wrote:

Ignorance of the terms of the user agreement, and published policies, is no excuse.

---

No. Ebay.co.uk policy applies to ebay.co.uk. Ebay.com has a separate policy.

If the user never accesses ebay.co.uk, how can they be aware of its policies and rules?

---

Because they will have registered their account on ebay.co .UK and received emails about the user agreement updates.

You are quite clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel now.  I shan't reply to you again.

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There you go again, making assumptions. What about the users that registered on ebay.com? There's no need for you to reply, but let's not pretend that not doing so is due to some sort of moral high-ground or being reflective of the quality of your argument.

[amazonharvey]

No not at all these are the messages I am receiving today .I am not
scraping the barrel but others are informing members what to do .I am not
going to risk my account on rumours .I only write what I know not what
others do .
but adding the 4% to my listings before they go live buyers are not being
told so no shocks at check out .
I am a buyer as well I choose my sellers but do not need buyer protection
to buy from them
EBay is so big worldwide it should be eBay that protects us all they get
enough money.

[the-layer-laboratory]

---

@amazonharvey wrote:
Because the fee is added to the private sellers items before it is uploaded
on to eBay .then there is no nasty shocks at check out .Read the letter
that was sent out to every seller informing this would happen . That’s
pulling the wool over buyers faces if they do not know about the 4% being
added .

---

I'm very well aware of the policy. The issue is that the policy doesn't cover certain scenarios when purchasing through ebay.com.

I'm sure ebay will sort out the oversight in time, but they'll only do so effectively with a pure software solution, not just relying on poorly thought out policy amendments.

[amazonharvey]

Yes I received the letter but does every buyer know about it ? The 4% added
to every private sellers listings I think not .every member should have had
a email telling them in future when you buy from private sellers this will
be added on .so taking them away from possible purchases .and this 4% is
your fee to be paid in case you get a nasty seller and need protection. As
stated eBay should protect us all we pay them enough