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.

[bowerbirding]

Sorry to hear this is ruining the experience of ebay. I definitely preferred the old system.

Sent from my iPad

[the_doctor_078]

I might be wrong, but are the fees for this being calculated correctly?

The example on the eBay help pages say it's 4% + £0.75, which (although annoying) calculates correctly.

I have an item that I want to sell for £9.99, so by that logic I should need to list the item at:

Item Price: £8.88

Buyer Protection Fee (4% + £0.75): £1.11

Final Price: £9.99

BUT, I'm seeing the following:

Item Price: £8.91

Buyer Protection Fee (4% + £0.75): £1.08

Final Price: £9.99

But 4% of £8.91 + £0.75 = £1.11 - so I'm very confused...

[rsbrickshop]

Yes they are calculating the fees wrong, one of the posts on this thred said how.

[jasonsdad]

It's like a virus spreading through the categories 😀.      So I suppose the only exciting thing to look forward to  now is the 'Simple' Delivery; first Quarter means fully implemented by end march.

[christiesmusicstore]

I checked it out yesterday and the prices are way above buying online or at the Post Office usingRoyal Mail.This is absolutely a Money Grab from eBay

[jasonsdad]

Just basically another US Corporation vacuuming up all the UK money and shipping it back to the USA.  Those salaries at the top table need a lot of money to feed them.

[carrotdrusus2]

Well if it carries on at this rate quite a few of them will be looking for a new job soon.

[golfwatcher62]

It’s good bye eBay for private sellers and buyers. Who is gonna pay an extra £5 for example for the same item available on Amazon .. 

they've really shot themselves in the foot here 

[jonat_broad]

But....

- Lets say the same seller is selling the same item right, on both amazon and ebay. If you were selling it on amazon as a 'private seller' you'd still be applicable for fees, normally around 15%. So its likely that same seller would have to sell it at a higher price on amazon anyway

- If its a brand new item then generally, they might have to be a business anyway, so fees would apply on ebay anyway

And if its £5 cheaper on amazon because amazon sell it, well thats not in the slightest a fair comparison.

[alexis*27]

Yes, but it won't sell on eBay now because buyer's don't like paying a penalty to purchase.

[golfwatcher62]

Correct..

[jonat_broad]

Thats something different entirely. Even with that £5, with a fair comparison (used to used) then that product should possibly be more expensive on amazon.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

that is not strictly true.  It depends on what you are selling.  The majority of real private sellers are selling second hand used items.  For example i have been looking for a particular skirt to replace one i had which i loved but became too small for me, i head to e bay because somewhere out there in the great beyond there is someone who is selling that very skirt because they are too big/small for it now.  If the price is not outrageous then i would buy it. (unfortunately i have not found one in the right size yet).   That is why e bay is generally so good for buying, taking into account of course that they have really messed the search engine up over the past year!!  I am taking the easy option out for my selling and just leaving everything on at the price i want and if it sells it sells.  Not trying to mess around with round figures, taking the BPF off etc.  I have far too many more important things to do!

[lucy_farmer]

'....because buyer's don't like paying a penalty to purchase.'

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Depends on the buyer. If the buyer has bought a lot of vin ted in the past, buyers fee is perfectly normal.

And vint ted is the competion that ebay are particularly trying to eat into..

[*devils.advocate*]

Isn't that what sellers' fees were anyway?

[golfwatcher62]

No. Sellers fees were a different component.
This is simply charging buyers £5 extra for something that they already had
anyway. Eg buyer protection through PayPal Mastercard Visa klarna etc etc

[dyingcult]

As a long time buyer i am obviously unhappy with ebay uk at the moment but another aspect of this is most sellers will want their money asap so already i'm getting messages about leaving feedback before i've really been given the chance to inspect my purchased item which only arrived acouple of hours ago..  hardly making ebay ''fun and friendly''-their own words to promote these changes.

[golfwatcher62]

Precisely.. I’ve bought more items in eBay than I’ve sold.. I’ve 6 items in
my cart presently which I’ve removed because of price increase for buyer
protection fee…. Need I say more?

[kath3735_wxmjn]

well i will not be chasing any buyer for feedback, if they want to give it then good otherwise i will just wait patiently.   If i were getting hassled by a seller for feedback i would be tempted not to give one at all, i usually do within a day or two at most though.

[*devils.advocate*]

Sellers fees were a different component.

Why, I still paid them, albeit eBay only received them from a different final source - but I still paid them.

Before it was approx 13%; now it's less.

They charged sellers before, but you don't have any fees now.

Buyer's had cover before for free - now it's not.

But it's still less than before - unless sellers didn't reduce their prices by the previous approx 13%.

If they had done so, then surely this new fee wouldn't be too much of a problem?