Ebay buyer protection fee? Genius move or own goal?

[darktints]

I've got a lot to unpack about ebays recent performance so please scroll on if long stories bore you.

So I've seen a couple of threads on here about the new buyer protection fees but other than a couple of tiffs between the "die hards" and the "have nots", no one seems to be making much about ebay's strategy in all of this.

Although ebay has a good market share, increased competition from freebie platforms such at Facebook MP, Vinted and other apps clearly had them spooked and coupled by the drop in active users they have expeienced since their peak in 2018, has led to ebay making some radical changes.

So back in October 24, ebay removed selling fees for private sellers which personally I thought was a genius move. Take a short term hit in cash flow to rejuvinate the active user base thus bringing more people back to the platform. After all, the more active users you have, the more opportunity you have to sell them stuff, right?

Now they have just announced the new buyer protection fee system, which I do understand why its here. Afterall, supporting customers who used your service for free is a hard pill to swallow, especially for the finance department who care little about customer base and repeat sales and are more focussed on "did we cover our bills this month"?

Where I come stuck with this new direction is that if you are trying to attract more active users to your platform, adding a surcharge to any purchases they make not from a business account will surely keep these kinds of users on the freebie platforms, thus completely undoing all of ebays good work back in October.

Like it or not, the second hand goods market is highly price motivated and only works when costs are minimal. I believe in the long run, this "robbing Peter to pay Paul" approach will not lead to increased user activity and ebay will become bogged down in the same (albeit very slow) death loop of hemeraging active users.

This obviously has no effect on businesses who sell on ebay (well not in the short or medium term at least) which is where ebay no doubt makes the majority of its money. But buyers who are minded to haggle over a £1 difference on a £3 item will not want to be paying 75p + 4% on top of second hand goods.

With platforms like Amazon offering a more streamlined shopping experience for buyers of new goods, and Facebook and others offering essentially a free shopping platform for used goods, ebay seems to be working its way into an uncomfortable middle ground being the jack of all trades and master of none.

If you got this far, thanks for your time. This is not a rant or a leaving announcment, just my observations.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

what goes around comes around, as they say!  All these sellers that seem to be happy at the moment (whether business or private) may find that they will be the ones complaining at the next new rules that are introduced!!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

there is a big difference between making a profit and actually asking a reasonable price for something.   If i want to give away my stuff i will take it to a charity shop, if i want only a £1/2 i take it to a car boot.  My spare room is divided between car boot and e bay, when SD comes in it will be all car boot.   I will not get as much for the items but at least it will be a lot less work with photos, measurements, packing etc.

[moldosgifts]

So your a regular at the car boot then. (See my previous post on this subject)

It all choice at the end of the day, if you want to throw the baby out with the bath water at the first sign of change tis your choice.

I suspect you'll be still here selling for what you want.

Once you take a deep breath the changes is just that change designed to stop business posing as private sellers. It not designed to stop genuine private sellers.

The legal rights involved with each type is chalk and cheese.

[carrotdrusus2]

I took the opportunity to advise someone who buys regularly from me that his price per item would go from 99p to £1.79 . He suggested it was a cheek asking HIM to pay a fee.He immediately asked me if I would be listing on any other platform as he would buy from me there. So thats at least one buyer who doesnt like it.

Not sure the negative reaction will be from just private sellers, certainly in the collectables market anyway.

[dch2112011]

Out of interest when selling at 99p is that figure a figure you arrived at by removing the seller fees when they were applied before the free selling period ?

if so would adding the buyer fees back in not bring your sale price back to roughly where it was  pre free listing ?

If so and the same buyer was buying at the seller fee inclusive price why would you feel the need to scaremonger the buyer ? 

Unless of course you made a similar big announcement to the buyer that ebay had removed  fees and the items would now be cheaper,  in which case a simple message saying that ebay have reintroduced fees and therefore they would be added back in -

it just surprises me that if the buyer had been aware that you removed fees from the price and they are now being added back in that you would have got such a reaction after all they were happy buying at a higher price before you removed the fees and therefore when fees are added back should be happy they got a run at the lowered price.

[carrotdrusus2]

I sell at 99p postage free , I do not make a profit.

So you got that assumption badly wrong didnt you.

[dch2112011]

Not really, it was an interest as to whether you reduced the price by the sellers fees to arrive at 99p  which would be the right thing to do given that you were keen to tell the buyer the price would go up when ebay add fees - in the same vein you should have been keen to tell the buyer that ebay removed the fees so the price was going down.

If you left the price the same in effect keeping the seller fee reduction for yourself albeit you claim to be making a loss it would explain your buyers indignation that you only told them when a fee was going to be added in effect making the buyer pay the non existant seller fees and the new buyer fees which is a double whammy !

[carrotdrusus2]

Tying yourself up in knots now, a simple apology would suffice.

[dch2112011]

Not at all you are evading the question which makes me think you did not pass the fee reduction on to the buyer but were keen to tell him the price would be increased with the new fees thereby double charging the customer - no wonder they do not want to buy - you have blamed ebay but haven't played your part.

Why not come clean and send the customer another message informing him that you pocketed the fee reduction so he will be paying non existant sellers fees and the new buyers fees - wonder what he will respond with then ?

[carrotdrusus2]

Oh dear, there was nothing to pocket. 99p less 85 p postage less ebays fees of 43p leaves MINUS 47P.

Even you could work that out surely, still waiting for the apology, no? a well never mind.

[dch2112011]

I am not your accountant and have no interest in you selling at a minus figure - your choice -  but if you were doing this with the sellers fees included and happy to do so -  the sudden change of heart to not absorb the fees or to reduce the price by the sellers fees  was kept away from your customer;  instead you decided to only inform the customer that ebay were going to add fees thus hiding the fact that the customer is paying twice for fees pulling the wool firmly over your customers eyes.

You sell how you want, you tell your customer half truths - that is your choice, it is your business you are running but trying to convince members by playing a pity me card  is only going to raise eyebrows as to why you would decide to sell at a loss irrespective of fees especially as a private seller.

Any apology should be directed from you to your customer who you have dragged into your grievance about having fees added to your  activities

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Hardly the first sign of a change on e bay is it?  There have been plenty of changes i have not been particularly happy about and i stayed, never even mentioned leaving because of them.  Simple Delivery is one i will not stay with, i would have been prepared to try out buyers fees and waiting for payment but NOT simple delivery when it comes in.  You can suspect all you want but i will be gone unless and until (not likely)  they revert back to the seller deciding on postage and dealing with it for ourselves.  I am not interested in whether they are doing it to stop pseudo private sellers because for one thing i doubt if it will, i cannot see how it would.  I do know they could have made efforts before now to deal with pseudo sellers but did not because they make too much money out of them.   Not sure what my selling as a regular on car boots has to do with it.  I keep the two lots of items separate because of the nature/quality of them.  I have also never bought anything off a car boot or from a charity shop for resale on ebay either, in case that was what you are implying.  I sell for my family as they cannot be bothered or have the time and i do.

[dch2112011]

Hang in until they roll simple delivery out - I think that noone has seen the finished product yet,  What have car boots got to do with it - except as an alternative ?  

Of course you are a genuine private seller - just look at your items, quantity for sale and record -  I hope ebay tweak the simple delivery to add more couriers and follow through with the hints that not all listings will be eligible  with a good wind that will include  items offered with non included carriers, non parcel sized items and anyone offering free delivery or at the very least to allow sellers to eliminate non suitable carriers or even to add a preferred highlight to the carrier chosen by the seller from the list - at the moment the choice for a buyer is very very limited.

Changes always bring discontent with established sellers especially those who have learnt and applied a way to give good customer experiance - strangely they are the ones who adapt better in the long run.

[carrotdrusus2]

Someone as intelligent as you think you are should have grasped it quite easily by now.

WHEN ITS BELOW £1.79 ITS THE BUYER THAT HAS TO PAY THE FEES!!

And the buyers in the instance I gave will not pay it.

My sympathy is with the buyers not the sellers.

I cant reduce my price from 99p to absorb it.

My situation is pretty unique on here, but after putting your foot in your mouth and getting it so badly wrong, instead of just either moving on, or apologising, you are now trying to ram your whole leg in. Add that to the snidy comments that imply I am up to no good makes you look look even more foolish. But you have made me laugh so thank you for that.

You best carry on sniping at everyone from behind your account that you no longer use so they cant check what you are doing!! 

I bid you adieu!!

[mr.mxyzptlk99]

Looks like a bit of an own goal to me. I don't do a lot of selling, just hobby/home related stuff mostly, but I'm now seeing literally double the number of views on Facebook MP and Gumtree, compared to Ebay (for the same items obviously).  I don't reduce my sale price to allow for the protection fees (why should I?) but I do make it clear in the description what Ebay are adding and why.

I can see Ebay's problem in trying to compete with the likes of Vinted, etc, but this move just seems to be driving buyers away, and inevitably we sellers will follow.

[edwardian-dreams]

“ebay seems to be working its way into an uncomfortable middle ground being the jack of all trades and master of none”

this

but the worst thing is that things don’t sell the more they tinker around and change things constantly putting barriers to sales which seems to be their reason detre 

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