Ebay's new Buyers' protection fee from the 4th Feb

[rsbrickshop]

I'm a private seller. Items I sell are between £2.90 - £10. Is It just me or will ebay's new Buyers' protection fee from the 4th Feb make it near impossible to sell competitively. A few months ago Ebay got rid of Sellers' fees for private sellers, which was a welcome move. But this new change and getting rid of multi-buy discount for private sellers will make it worse than it was with the original fees.

[troopster2525-per]

issue is i found out that come march we can not even opt out of the simple delivery Also apparently the only options for postage via simple delivery will be tracked so sounds like we will not even be able to send things via 2nd class delivery anymore

[pwyl4943]

Agree I'm exploring the alternatives appears they cant see that raising the cost of an item and pushing expensive tracked delivery options will just mean we close our accounts. Have tried to complain but the chat bot does not listen and the help is on a loop. Guess when we close our accounts they may analyse the stats and come to their own conclusions as we don't appear to have a voice. 

[carrotdrusus2]

There is platform called Delcampe which specialises in stamps and postcards.

They made this move a few months ago and it has absolutely destroyed sales,

the buyers disappeared completely.

They are already offering special deals to get sellers and buyers back on the site.

The same will happen here 

[goodibags]

I was just making the point that if you're buying something to sell it on there must have been a cost involved (in the buying bit). Therefore any profit you have made is some distance below the actual income received. You'd do really well to make a gain of 25% or 50%.

I have sold toy cars for double what I paid for them too, sometimes even more. But there was ALWAYS an outlay involved in the 'buying' bit. They weren't freebies.

[vapey_vapey]

These new rules encourage people  to become business sellers ,this solves all the problems you're talking about .I pay about 16% fees but I get to use the postal system I want and get paid daily with no waiting.I also get ot charge whatever I want for postage.I find cheap items for sale just not worth the effort my limit is £6.50 which nets me a fiver less my costs.You're allowed to make £1000 profit as a private seller or a business seller each year.I am sceptical of people who are making more than this selling old items lying around the house.If you are selling collections of things like coins and stamps you can argue that its private items you are getting rid of just depends on how much youre selling off and how much profit ,same with inheritances ,as long as you can show you diidnt deliberately set out to trade you can argue your case with the tax man.There's bound to be some grey areas!!!

[artemisia1558]

I agree entirely. It was a progressive move when eBay got rid of the sellers’ fees for private sellers but the new fee structure is extremely unfair. EBay will gain and we will lose. 😡😡😡

[vapey_vapey]

I sell cheap items that are not tracked ,I am open to being scammed everyday ,I found that about 1 in 50 items dont arrive ,or at least they reckon they didnt arrive. As I'm saving on the 49 items that i didnt pay extra to get tracked I see it as a sort of insurance policy for the ones that get lost or get reported lost.In any case one can spend the time to get refunded by Royal Mail for every lost item if you have the proof of posting it takes about 20-25 minutes to fill out the form and upload the proof of posting and the receipt.

[seedbankers]

Hi, Where did you fill in the form please? Post office or online. I tried post office ceo office and the woman said I didn't have my item tracked. I also have the same fear as you i.e. open to scam and just don't know when I will be told a lie. Your help much appreciated.

[carrotdrusus2]

You need a proof of posting.

Then go to Royal Mail claims.

The form is there to complete online, you need to upload a copy of your proof of posting and your invoice to show value. You will be sent 8 first class stamps as compensation within a week.

[tsc269]

Usually I just pop the item into a mailbox - most of my sales have been a few stamps or a single postcard. If I'm passing a post office I might get a certificate of posting, and if an item is worth £20 or more I  make a point of using a Signed service.

(Often I use a variety of old commemorative stamps  -four for the postcard I'll be posting tomorrow, totalling 85p -  and Royal Mail usually gives the letter the First Class treatment.)

Reading this and other forums, I get the impression that the people most likely to be impacted by the changes will be like me, selling and buying mostly items costing £2-20. I'm guessing that eBay wants to discourage us because the risks of problems and complaints for, say, 15 sales totalling £200 , is more than for one sale costing the same.

[timfy2017]

Who are you trying to compete with?

[timfy2017]

You are a business so there is no change for yourself

[1956glyn]

So the solution is we all go listing crazy and make sure our items end say within a week?   Well before the new systems kick in.

[polarlight3]

Seems like us private sellers who sell low cost items will suffer most. 
My items are small and cheap so I send as Large Letter to keep costs down for the buyer. Once this new rule comes in I’ll have to offer tracked postage which will kill that saving! 
That added to the fee the buyer has to pay makes most of my items unsaleable. 
Not that I’ve actually sold much since the Free Listing thing

started! I even opted to promote my items at the recommended percentage but haven’t sold a thing since! 
Guess I’ll just pull all my items from EBay and go elsewhere. 

[seedbankers]

A lot of people will thank you for that! Thank you, friend!

[vapey_vapey]

I do the Royal Mail claim online using my desktop ,very easy after you've done a few.Get the cheque in about a week.Never had a claim refused.When I get people claim non delivery I politely let them know that its very unusual to not  get a letter come through the  door and get them to wait as long as possible as items do get delivered even a fortnight late.I also let them know that im a small seller making very little and that helps too.I find that half the people who initially file a  non arrival withdraw their claim.Parcels are different because they cant go through the letter box I have a slightly different spiel for them.There are scammers about but not nearly as many as you would think.A scammer doesnt normally bother themself with a cheap item (but some do) scammers usually go for something worth a few bob so for that its better to use a signed or tracked service. Classic scammer tactic is they ask for a refund the minute after its supposed to have arrived ,theyre never interested in a replacement of course and get very huffy if you ask them to wait for it to arrive.They put it to an ebay decision at 1 minute past midnight on the day the case is to be decided so you get a defect on your account.Like I said  its an insurance policy paying less for non tracked.Ebay may eventually force everyone to send tracked whether business or private sellers as thats the biggest amount of disputes they have to deal with - that and items not as described.

[adrian_in_the_uk]

eBay has always been the place to go to if you want to get something cheaper than it is in the shop - so anyone claiming that lots of buyers will stop buying from private sellers and instead only buy from business sellers are fantasists.

Think of all the shops that have closed down over the years since online shopping emerged - that was because online businesses started undercutting their prices - and people didn't really care, they opted for cheaper prices, loyalty does not exist when it comes to saving money.

eBay has a good protection programme for buyers, so these days most buyers don't even bother to read feedback because if they have an issue with the item - they can get their money back and free returns.

Something also to consider is that there are business sellers on eBay who have thousands of bad feedback, some of which is alarming!

Many business sellers have items listed that are not in stock and then refund customers 5 days later, which is knowingly wasting people's time and even after that they don't take the listing down.

Other business sellers use gallery images and the item you receive is different to in the picture.

Some business sellers who sell second hand goods don't bother to give them a clean and it arrives filthy or new items that have damp, stinky boxes.

So if we are being honest without bias, whether you buy from a real private seller or a business seller posing as a private seller or a real business seller - the risk is the same.

When I make a purchase, as long as the item is accurately described and as pictured - I don't care who I'm buying it from, if it's a business seller posing as a private seller - as long as the price is good I will buy it because I know that if there is an issue with it - eBay will resolve it.

You may get a few rich folk on here looking for collectables but the majority of people are on here to save money on items for themselves or buy something cheap with the intention of making a profit.

If eBay are going to add £1.50 on to your item price - just write it in the listing that eBay have added the fee on, other private sellers selling the same item will also have the fee added to their item price so it shouldn't make your prices any less competitive.

[lucy_farmer]

'Ebay may eventually force everyone to send tracked'

Well, all private sellers will eventually be co-opted into 'Simple Delivery' (like it or not....) and simple delivery needs all items to have some sort of tracking.

(This is because, under 'simple delivery' *ebay* themselves will be responsible for refunding  any 'item-not-arrived'. So therefore there *has* to be tracking to make sure something is posted out in the first place!)

'....as thats the biggest amount of disputes they have to deal with....'

Yep, and the more disputes ebay can get done with automatic AI systems (which the simple delivery must be under, as it'll be an automatic process?) the more customer service *human* robots they can get rid of and save on wages.....

[ghostbay-killah-420]

I am closing down taking almost every listing off except for a couple of items i will list 2 or 3 items at most next month as I won't be able to do this new payment change as it will cost a lot 2 payout if you make a few sales at a time. Sorry ebay but there is noway I am paying postage out of my own pocket first like.

[buffster1963]

It only applies to private sellers so you will not be affected.