Ebay are hiding the Buyer Protection Fee

[savoirfaire*]

This is first time I have listed something for sale on Ebay as a private seller since all the changes and it seems to me that Ebay are being very covert about this buyers protection fee. The have effectively hidden the fee in my listing price. They need to make a clear distinction on the listing page for the sale price and their additional  buyers fee as they do with any postage costs. There is a temptation to reduce my listing price as it looks higher than I wanted but then, I will have effectively paid the fee myself and it has not been free to sell! 

[pegr-834437]

They tried that but private sellers were not happy that the cost didnt end in 99 or 00 so they changed it to this way so you could be sure of what the price listed was at.  I'm pretty sure its on the price breakdown what amount is the bpf though so your customer knows at check out.

[savoirfaire*]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

No, as of the weekend I am sure just below the list price it said (includes £ buyers protection fee) now there is nothing at all.

[style_wise]

eBay recently added a Fee Calculator to the listing process. Personally I think this makes it completely transparent what the Seller Price is, what the exact Buyer Protection Fee is, and what total price the Buyer will see. Yes, it takes a little while to become familiar with it. And some days - like today - listing is a bit glitchy and you have to enter a price before it becomes visible.

[papso22]

The listing price is what the buyer is expecting to pay in total.  Why does it matter to them at that point what goes to the seller and what to ebay?

[jonatjonatjonat]

True - but the OP is referring to what the customer sees - not what the seller sees prior to listing.

That being said ebay only have to make it clear any fees BEFORE the buyer pays. Which they do - on the basket stage. There's no actual stipulation to present the fees separately at every stage of the customer journey (though Vinted do - so its not like its unprecedented).

[savoirfaire*]

Why wouldn't it matter how much eBay is charging?

[savoirfaire*]

I think you miss the point, it is not transparent to the buyer what the fee is.

[jonatjonatjonat]

No - I got that. I don't see why they don't present it on the listing page.

Like I say, Vinted do, and its Vinted they copied.

[*devils.advocate*]

The old seller fees were 'hidden'.

Did buyers worry about how much they were?

Or did they just pay the price they saw?

[savoirfaire*]

The seller fees or final value fees to be correct, were not added to the list price, they were charged to the seller after the sale was complete so that is a completely irrelevant comment.

[savoirfaire*]

When did you last buy something in a shop and find out at the checkout when you get your receipt that the price on the tag includes a mandatory store service charge.

[*devils.advocate*]

No they were  not - I agree.

But the buyer still paid them - so not irrelevant comment.

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Private Sellers are merely the conduit for monies to pass from buyers to eBay one way or another - always have been. 

It's the buyer who agrees to pay the price they see - and if that includes a fee, however it's shown or not - then they'll pay it.

[papso22]

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@savoirfaire* wrote:

When did you last buy something in a shop and find out at the checkout when you get your receipt that the price on the tag includes a mandatory store service charge.

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Irrelevant and fictional example.

You are implying that in this fictional shop you don't know about the fee until after you pay as that is when you get the receipt.

That's not how it works on ebay.  

[savoirfaire*]

I have implied nothing, it was an analogy, yet this is exactly what is happening here and very relevant. You cannot escape from the fact that ebay are failing to clearly stipulate their fee on the price tags, not once you take it to the checkout and get a breakdown. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

It isn’t though exactly what is happening on eBay. In your shop analogy you find out AFTER you’ve bought something that there is an additional fee. 

they are failing to show their fee on the product listing pages for sure (and they could display it like Vinted do) but they aren’t legally required to show it at this stage it has to be said.

[savoirfaire*]

In the end this played out as per my original post, to make the sale I ended up having to reduce my asking price to cover the £15 ebay had inflated it by so it was not free to sell.

This experience has been a farce, most of the buyers I communicated with had no idea about ebays buyer protection fee. They seem to have side stepped their legal obligation to be transparent with buyers about the fee by doing it at the later checkout stage. In a way this reminds me of the whole P.P.I scandal and should be looked at by trading standards. 

As for the few community members replying defence cases for ebay or trying to be derogative, I can only assume they must be on ebays payroll or trying to earn better badges.

[papso22]

Both of your assumptions are incorrect.