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.

[sammylou40]

The buyer protection fee puts buyers off. It implies a perceived problem. And for low value items, makes a purchase unviable. 
and no, in theory, because it’s not a main source of income it’s not a problem. 
but where else do you buy anything and the person you’ve bought from doesn’t get their money for 14 days?

if you compare it to the vinted system, which I sometimes buy from. Mainly clothes which are cheap as chips. The fees are more than worth it. If I’ve bought an item for a couple of pounds there I will likely have found it similarly priced on eBay for around £10. But I know that the minute I click that button to say I have the item, the money is released to the seller. 
they don’t hold it and build up the interest for themselves. 
and the same with the delivery system. Vinted offer no choice. Theirs only.  As eBay will be doing 

And I anticipate that it will be the same. It’s fine when it works and a nightmare when it doesn’t. 

[lehavre98]

Ebid? Check it out. 

[lehavre98]

ebid? check it out

[lehavre98]

I heard that the term is (desperate) Money Grubbing.  Designed to either drive private sellers away in droves or, the the more likely small minded intention?  To force private sellers into business (fee payable) accounts.  Seems like the 1st part of the plan is working! ebid, anyone?

[wargamers_vault]

I don't disagree that it's far from ideal. I suppose you have to keep in mind that 14 days wait is worst case. It could use some tweaking, and eBay do like fiddling around with things. Maybe a vinted style confirmation for the buyer, but then it relies on the buyer actually being bothered to click it.

The proposed delivery system I wouldn't be happy about, that should be opt in opt out IMO.

[jasonsdad]

Is anyone aware of what categories have had the protection money added onto ?  it was pushed back to mid month but am not seeing it in numerous areas.  If there are issues implementing this then surely it shoul;dn't be applied to just one or 2 categories only as this would seem to be discrimination.  Either none or all,  surely thisplanned change was planned and tested,  so what's going on ?

[lehavre98]

Business sellers think themselves "holier" simply because they have chosen to pay an ongoing fee for far far better service.  I suspect that in the beginning the whole ebay concept was to be a platform for PRIVATE sellers to get rid of their surplus accumulations.  The business bit patently came about when eBay got greedy & morphed into a Money Grubbing machine. Now, it feels that it can either squeeze more out of private sellers or force them into a fee paying "business" model.   Upshot?  Private sellers leaving in droves.  Ebid anyone?

[andha-21]

"I suppose you have to keep in mind that 14 days wait is worst case."

Is it? Considering it looks like they have a 2 day processing schedule at the start it looks like 16 could be the current maximum.

But in the new terms & conditions they changed the notification of change period down to 15 days from 30.

So in a hypothetical scenario. March 17 arrives and benevolent eBay inform their grateful users that they will now be keeping their money safe for them for 30 days instead, starting 15 days from this notice.

& as they are feeling particularly generous they have decided to apply similar safety protocols to Business Seller transactions and they will now have a 2 day processing timeframe.

Nothing we could do to stop that hypothetical scenario. If we feed this beast, we encourage it to destroy us.

It's like that Alien in the film Life. 

[lehavre98]

Ebay is bracketed in the "Money Grubbing" category for business description.  Patently, more money to be extracted from business sellers, hence this attempt to force private sellers into that fee paying mode. As a seller I'm de camping (ebid). As a buyer, I will definitely go out of my way NOT to pay any so called "Buyer Protection" surcharge. For what, exactly, is the question? You already have more than enough.  It's simply a money grubbing wheeze.

[andha-21]

Someone reported stationary yesterday, not sure which parent category that falls under and a new/recently returned seller says they have it on everything they listed. 

The stationary side seems to be confirmed and there are errors within it, the second post I don't remember seeing proof but you could just check their profile & then listings. They said that was multi category .

So on "new" accounts, maybe everything gets hit?

[ett1954]

"Business sellers think themselves "holier" simply because they have chosen to pay an ongoing fee for far far better service."

There is no choice, if you are operating a business (buying to sell, restoring to sell, making to sell, offering a service) then it is a legal requirement.  Your only choice is whether to break the law or not.

[l33p33]

"My husband used to buy vintage cars, now he can't"

Cry me a river babe.

[rsbrickshop]

It's not in toys and games yet. 

But from what i have heard it is in office and electronics.

[dantwocats]

OH This is depressing ebay must be holding ££££ in payments and drip feeding sellers(i have now had two completed this week) and just a lot of work to cheek it, buyer fees are not that clear and getting odd priced offers just amess ,I have always liked to leave feedback once a buyer has paid as they have done there bit but now its more work to go though all the payment .pending pending pending!! ebay have never listened anyway to made anything work better ,even changed the massages page and made it worse aaahh and add Trump in the mix and not a good week

[jow1995]

Maybe a daft question, but with 22k of sales and over 7k of items listed....Where do all this stuff come from? 

[parsley2003]

Books now i have taken my few listings off. I will soon be lost in the mists of time

[rubadubdub3girlsinatub]

What a money grabbing scam, purchases have been covered by eBay's money back guarantee for buyers and has worked for me with no problems in the past and most sellers like to resolve issues without receiving negative feedback from buyers and as for the eBay quote of sellers will not be paid until item arrives, well quite often small items can be sent by the cheapest method possible which is not tracked and even when items are tracked the tracking does not always show when checking with royal mail, I had an item arrived weeks ago from Germany and tracking is still showing item at warehouse, and seller has been paid. Another eBay idea that's causing problems, like the changing of the messages page set up, new ideas are I'm sure getting people to give Vinted a try, about time eBay hq listened to buyers and sellers comments.

[dyingcult]

and all this talk of 'levelling the playing field' regarding outing ''fake'' private sellers.. rogue trader will always find other ways to avoid fees and tax  maybe sell there stuff on consignment via a business acquaintance or open multiple accounts..or go back to selling at car boot sales

it's always the richest in society that pay least taxes-in percentage terms-anyway

[cdsjon]

Yeah i sold two items in February, still had no payment two weeks after selling. With the new fees on low value items sales are nearly dead anyway.  The money i got normally was then spent buying other stuff from ebay. Ebay was my go to for buying and selling... i will now NOT be buying from ebay...  unless things change.

[jasonsdad]

I think a great many of us have realised we are no longer wanted here on EBay,  perhaps selling cars and other high ticket items is the way forward.     Less populous and more specific, but massive margins for little required support and costs,  in effect highly profitable with considerably lower volume.  Less need therefore for large volume customer support, customer service operatives and office based employees.