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.

[jma2815]

There won’t. The vast majority of ebay buyers don’t know or care who they’re buying from. All they want is the item they ordered, very cheap and in better condition than described, delivered yesterday. They notice if it comes from China and they want to return it. 

The warning that consumer laws don’t apply is offputting if you notice it but I doubt a lot do and even then  they know that the MGB is a very robust protection for buyers so they’re fine going ahead - I’ve had to invoke it myself only this week.

Many see a private seller with, say, 200 brand new handbags for sale but it doesn’t occur that there might be anything amiss, they just want to buy that handbag they couldn’t afford in the shop. 

[ceres_plantery]

I hope they apply this judiciously. Electronics are always expensive. Years ago when I returned something from Argos, the operative check everything, saying that once someone returned a brick instead of the electronic equipment. Bought a reduced Satellite dish from Lidl. An installer came and raved and ranted saving that the most important wire was missing. Very sad, people are just dishonest. People even stole from church bootsales. 

[sid.123]

Thanks for the quick responces, just a waiting game i guess untill they roll it out to everything.

[vintique*violet]

So do the bidders see that they are being subjected to a BPF  in their final price? 

Is it shown in each bid? 

If the sellers start price is £3.00 does it show on the actual listing £3.75 which would be the 75p added and then the 4% in incremental bids on top.. or would it be 4% added first, increasing with each bid price  and then once the bidding is over the 75pence added?  I am just not understanding how it works on auctions and how the buyer will know that there is a BPF... as on the BIN the price is set say at £250 ... but the BPF fee is not shown until they go to checkout which would then show say £10 odd buyers protection fee included, highlighted underneath the price.

I can't get my head around how the auctions will  work? It's already been a long day as up since the crack of dawn.... so any explanation would be appreciated. 

@papso22 

[jma2815]

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@tressygirl wrote:

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@toptap1 wrote:
So, a buyer commits to buying an item for £10 then has to pay £11.15 when they check out.
But they don't find out until after they've made that commitment.
Not helpful...


Sent from Outlook for Android<>

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Nope, that's incorrect.

The buyer will see the item priced at £11.15 on the listing.

When they go to pay at eBay checkout they'll be paying £11.15, and there,  they will see that breakdown, that is,  £10 for seller item,  and £1.15 for a Buyer Protection Fee.

Now,   will they then message the seller and ask what this fee is for?  Yep, I believe seller's will be inundated with that question!

@toptap1 

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That’s my problem with this. Whatever the item is priced at you’ll get held to ransom at checkout. Adjusting your price while listing won’t work in the mind of the buyer. 

This buyer fee only works on V because there’s a very strong culture of low ball offers there that ‘make up’ for the buyer fee, which has to be seen to be removed by the seller as some kind of compulsory favour. It will be a nightmare on mid priced ebay listings with offers turned off. 

“There’s a £7.40 fee on my order, take £20 off and I’ll buy it”. 

[ceres_plantery]

Well pointed out. They probably have an integrated formula, adding 745p first and then each suggested increase adding 4%. It’s like incorporating a formula into a spreadsheet. Won’t be difficult for Ebay. I’m just worried about about my £3.00 items as if this applies to them, who will fork out all that money.

I never use auction as I’m too honest to fiddle with the prices. I just give an honest price and if people buy my stuff, I can buy something else, or put money aside for house renovation. With this HMRC business pinching pennies, I might as well just watch TV.

[doumind_7]

Good post.

I've just done a check on vinyl records and laptops all used private sellers. Have not found one with the BPF on. Others are saying it is there. Really? Strikes me as an unholy mess.

As you say a nightmare on mid prices items and below I would add. No point in selling my vinyl at under £10. I'm currently opening an account with Discogs.  Fairly straightforward.

[seedbankers]

I meant 75p

[ceres_plantery]

I think ebay should do it selectively. As the man selling postcards said there would be no point of him selling them on ebay. IT MAKES COMMON SENSE. A lot of scammers are abusing the ebay, making money on its back.

[doumind_7]

Good on Violet. I've been thinking the same. Auctions could be off the table..err....wasn't that the whole point of EBay in 1995? "The World's Biggest Auction Site". Ha! Not for much longer.

[papso22]

I am making educated guesses here, but based on how you have to work with percentages in a changing price market such as an auction.

It's easy for ebay to add the BPF in its entirety to the auction start price, exactly how they do with a BIN, but it's when there are bids that it gets tricky. 

That's when I think they switch to the bids being inclusive of the BPF but they don't actually have to calculate it until there is a winning bidder.  At that point they work backwards from the winning bid, take out 75p, do whatever needs to be done to get the 4% out (which I think is divide by 26) and then tell the buyer the breakdown at checkout.

So a winning bid of say £20.50 becomes

fixed fee .75

%age fee .76

balance to seller £19

There will be some rounding somewhere.

[toptap1]

I was asked to clear out my brothers loft when he passed away.
There were 100s of dvds and cds, most of which went to the charity shop.
I was selling the rest on Ebay for £3-£4 each with free postage.
I've delisted them all and sent them to the charity shop this morning.
Thanks, Ebay...

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[ceres_plantery]

It wouldn't be on top of the final fee. I think first 75p will be add and each suggested bidding will reflect 4% add to the last bidding price. eg £10 will show the next suggesed bid eg £12 + 4% +75 price as listed in the box for you to click submit. It's not difficult if you know how to use spreadsheet such as XL

[vintique*violet]

I am sorry to hear of your brother... and subsequently now what you have had to do... 

I have been/are in a similar position.. it sucks.. and with all the "mess" of eBay's own  makings, something you could  probably have done without. 

Heres to the rest of 2025 being better for you. 

[toptap1]

We shouldn't have to be working on educated guesses.
Just about sums up Ebay really.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[toptap1]

I want to buy things on an auction website.
I shouldn't need an Excel spreadsheet to do that.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[thesmi42]

It also appears that information on Buyer Protection is being shown on items that do not (currently) include the fee.  So, I'm not convinced that it will be obvious that the protection is not included on such items.

Has anyone bought something under these circumstances and  if so, is it defined on check out as not included?

[doumind_7]

'cor blimey now we're on to doing spread sheets  for auction items! Next you'll need a maths degree to join ebay!😁

[jma2815]

I’m a middle aged farmer’s wife who used ebay to get rid of a few old clothes that are now mysteriously smaller than they used to be. 

I don’t want to get and learn how to use a spreadsheet (or buy a printer and a car for the evri/Yodel/post office drop offs) for that. As I’ve said before, I gave up selling last weekend because I don’t want to be treated like an eBay employee. 

[doumind_7]

Good for you. 😊