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.

[dch2112011]

If a person registers a private account as an individual and buys from other private accounts or businesses  - there is nothing illegal happening.

If the individual person then transfers the asset to their own business and puts it up for sale - there is nothing illegal happening

I'll throw in that sole traders put all of their assets personal or business on the line - they do not have limited liability.

What possible misrepresentation could there be ?

It is not illegal to purchase anything  the rules only change when a business to business transaction takes place  - as far as I can see consumer to consumer, business to consumer and consumer to business transactions protect the consumer .

As you rightly state on ebay the MBG covers all transactions regardless of status.

How on earth does an individual who also has a business buying from an individual contravene any rights or law ?

I think it's a case of overthinking the process !

[_localhost_]

All these odd amounts are really confusing buyers.

£5.65 £11.28 £21.78 £2.78 £15.33

why don't eBay just round these amounts up to the nearest pound to make things simpler & tidier for buyers.

[buffster1963]

So you want them to round up and charge even more? As a buyer i do not find them confusing at all. 

[jonat_broad]

But my main point is IMO the practice is widespread, but never discussed or admitted to. Which I think strange when the argument so often employed when a "private" seller is pointed-out is that "It's against ebay's rules" and "The law is the law" and ALL sellers should abide by both.

There's definitely double standards in operation by the finger pointers when it comes to "private" sellers putting properly registered businesses at a dis-advantage and when business sellers are using the same tactics to disadvantage private sellers.

But how do you know it is widespread? Of course, if its wrong its wrong but its still a question of visibility. I wasn't aware it was a thing, so consequently, why would I complain. In a similar vein - I'd argue car canibalism is rife in birmingham, because my car got done. But I  wouldn't expect someone in County Durham to be remotely aware of the issue. And I don't think its double standards. Its just the private sellers who may or may not be businesses come on here and you can see their setup. No-one is going to come on here and out themselves as buying on a private account for a business. To be fair, I don't think the businesses selling on a private account would come on here and show what they are doing. But they are either a) unaware they should be on a business account or b) don't care

- A business selling on a private seller account - its a visible thing

- A business buying on a private account to then sell on a different business account - how would you even know without a lot of digging?

[dantwocats]

Round down you mean

[jow1995]

I have a regular "private seller" who buys my vintage tools, then relists on his "private account". 

[yorkscollectables]

This absurd eBay Buyer Protection Fee has already discouraged many BUYERS from using eBay, and its getting worse/

Less visitors to the platform hurts Business Sellers and Private Sellers alike, but eBay are too stupid to realise the damage they have inflicted on themselves and on all eBay Sellers .

[carrotdrusus2]

I have lost most of my UK buyers already, but they havnt gone elsewhere as I am still the cheapest available in most items, they have GONE. Thats bad news for everyone.

[_localhost_]

YOU are clearly well versed in the ins and outs of eBay. what about people who arn't such as new users?

[andha-21]

@carrotdrusus2 

Do you mean elsewhere to other sellers on site or elsewhere to other sites?

If the latter, are you already at the other sites too?

[parsley2003]

Low value sales are impossible now even my sets aren't selling it's totally dead. I've started listing elsewhere (no buyer fees) it can't get any worse. And people are cancelling when they see the bpf i've had one and my friend 2 cancellations. Will leave what's there for a while, have taken off best offers because then the seller pays bpf not the buyer, no invoicing though i mainly refunded people who trusted me and paid without requesting one, it's an absolute mess tbh

And i'm not buying any more nothing since 27/12/24. Business sellers are losing out too

[vinylscot]

You posted a link on another thread which clearly showed that there had been more visitors to the platform in February than there had been in January, despite the month being three days shorter.

Here's the screenshot showing the relevant data (again)

 

[carrotdrusus2]

Gone away from Ebay Hopefully they will go to the two sites I have now registered on. They will not pay £1.75 for something they were paying 99p for.

[bigfproductions]

I'm a buyer and being hit by a near 20% sales tax because I buy of lot of smaller items

The so called extra services are neither wanted or accessible to me

I can't  use their new support line as I am unable to use phones and the AI is as thick as sh*te - that is putting in mildly!

eBay is ripping me off big time so, I guess, it's time to do business elsewhere

amazing to think people are paid a salary to come up with these half cocked ideas !

[yorkscollectables]

Bigfproduction has summed up quite nicely, what most eBay users are saying:

The eBay Buyer Protection Fee is pushing BUYERS away from the eBay platform and all Sellers, irrespective of them being Private Sellers or Business Sellers are suffering because of it.

[papso22]

I will give you that a number of buyers have stopped  buying from private accounts because of the BPF, but where is your evidence that what that poster says is what most ebay users are saying?

[jonat_broad]

Here's a fact. Sales of items related to the search WW2 medals over the last three years.

This is the only thing that should matter to ebay (not necessarily limited to a niche category) but are sales going up in enough categories. So far, the BPF doesn't appear to have had a massive impact on orders for WW2 medals. Certainly not anything that you couldn't disassociate from say general sluggish sales across ecommerce in general.

[yorkscollectables]

The number of people visiting eBay (UK) since the introduction of the Buyer Protection Fee has dwindled and its still falling. This is backed-up and confirmed by independent website traffic data for the month of February 2025.

Visitor numbers are already down year-on-year Feb 2025 versus Feb 2024.

Also, due to the ever increasing volume of complaints from eBay (UK) Users it is taking eBay Customer Services longer and longer to answer calls and respond. This is another sign that platform users are not happy.

When you speak to eBay Customer Services, they say "we will pass all feedback about the adverse impact the BPF is having back to eBay Management", so they acknowledge there is a major problems.

Then if that wasn't enough, message boards like this one are full of people saying that the BPF has hit their sales.

HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED ??  take that back to your eBay bosses !!

[yorkscollectables]

REPLYING to JONAT-BROAD

what is the source of your data ?? eBay perhaps........lol..... so yes I'm SCEPTICAL

It's approaching the 80th Anniversary of the ending of World War 2 in May this year and demand for WW2 Medals would normally be astronomically high (judging from the 75th Anniversary), but the Buyer Protection Fee has made it much more expensive for people to buy WW2 medals, its as simple as that.

[jonat_broad]

HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED

Any would be a good start.