Ebay's new buyer protection scam

[wayne15071965]

So I have been a seller on and off her since June 2001, Over the years I have sent items recorded delivery that either never turn up , or arrive with no notification of delivery.  Now someone wants to charge a buyer a fee for safe delivery, when they would have been charged that in the P&P cost.  Frankly it sounds more like a scam than customer service and Ebay are also trying to force us to use their shipping option, So much for free enterprise, sound like trying to get the monopoly on delivery as well.  As for hanging on the sellers cash til 2 days after delivery, really so post office goes on strike and you don't get paid, Think I may start looking to leave. So much for eBay's loyalty to us .

[tygerboi]

Yes, sorry, I misinterpreted eBay's help section on buyer protection fees.  I have only recently started listing multiple items for sale on eBay, as a private seller, and all since the free seller fees came into effect.  Were the old seller fees more expensive than the current buyer protection fees, or do the extra costs sort of balance out, but now they're levied at the buyer rather than the seller?  I have noticed for some of my low-cost items that it is harder to price competitively without either lowering the initial price to allow for the BPF, or else absorbing postage costs instead of charging the buyer for them.  Either way, it means that making any profit at all (or even breaking even) on such items (under £10 inc postage) is very difficult.  I don't know how much difference this charging method makes on Vinted and the like, but I thought on eBay that good buyer feedback was what made sellers trustworthy to prospective buyers?

[wara_rat]

Only sold 1 thing since the fees came into effect, they seem to have come out my sale price rather than being added to the purchase price. Can't be 100% sure, though, because I wasn't paying attention and had advertising fees and also sent an offer. Will monitor the next sale properly. If this is the case I will be deleting all my < £5 items. Either way this disproportionately effects cheap items such as common trading cards.

[martinwh1]

The old fees were 30p + about 14% compared with 75p + 4% so ther's a  "break even" point somewhere. I think someone has suggestes it's about £5. I only sell personal items, currently my stamp collection, so making a profit or breaking even isn't an issue as they cost me a lot more originally. My concern is that most of my current items are BIN £1.50 including UK postage and I can't increase them to £2.25 when businesses can continue selling at £1.50. There are plenty of private sellers in the same position and not just in the "stamps" category so the conclusion must be that eBay wants rid of us. That's only stage one though as, once Simple Delivery also becomes compulsory, buyers will pay for postage but the minimum price will be £2.70 , the current price of a Large Letter up to 750gm via Tracked 48 so "free" postage ceases but buyers aren't going to pay £2.70 shipping for something that fits in an 85p to post envelope unless that's reflected in the asking price - business sellers again aren't affected so eBay gets rid of another load of private sellers.   

[always_nice_deals]

No!

the buyer sends an offer for £80, and I see it as £76.23 - right ?

[originsreborn]

"There are plenty of private sellers in the same position and not just in the "stamps" category so the conclusion must be that eBay wants rid of us."

Spot on and very astute. I said this to my partner fortnight ago. Ebay want rid of the small 'Private' dealer. It's not in their business model any more. All these nasty little changes are to p*ss off the small person and either make them into a big person (i.e. Business seller) or jog-on and sign up with Gumtree / Vinted or whatever.

I'm personally giving it 2 months to see how things go and then I'll make my decision what to do long-term.

[martinwh1]

No you receive £80 but the buyer has to pay eBay £3.95 for "Buyer Protection" which is really just buyers' fees as it offers no more protection than buyers currently have for non-receipt or SNAD

[chba_3657]

Wrong the seller gets charged

[chba_3657]

 taken from earnings, ebay is done

[wara_rat]

Thanks, its been open to interpretation with multiple posts on either side. I read it this way and I'm pleased you have settled it.

[papso22]

Look again, the seller gets the price pre BPF plus the postage.

The buyer pays the order total, which is then broken down.  Which is exactly how ebay said it would work.

You have misinterpreted what you are seeing.

[second_life_electronics]

Whatever tbh,

eBay is done

[denalan]

You are right I set my price at £10.99 all of a sudden I saw the price rise by £1.16 and my total selling price ended up at £12.15 which I did not  want, so I reduced the price by 16 pence to get it to £11.99 so now it sells for £1 extra, whether this will make an impact on sales, only time will tell

[valueaddedresource]

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@papso22 wrote:

Look again, the seller gets the price pre BPF plus the postage.

The buyer pays the order total, which is then broken down.  Which is exactly how ebay said it would work.

You have misinterpreted what you are seeing.

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@papso22  exactly - eBay is just "showing the math" as my school teachers used to say, but that doesn't mean the fee is being charged to or paid by the seller.

[always_nice_deals]

You completely utterly don't get the bloody point mate. Forget the math forget your primary school teacher. I repeat - adding any compulsory charges increase the price so anything you sell is more expensive - read as "less competitive"

[always_nice_deals]

I don't see any point posting here any comments as this platform is run by eBay so they can moderate anything and also check our opinion. As the last decision made me stop selling ANYTHING on eBay - I just switch to Facebook marketplace, Vinted or Craig's - ANY OTHER ALTERNATIVES?

[valueaddedresource]

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@always_nice_deals wrote:

You completely utterly don't get the bloody point mate. I repeat - adding any compulsory charges increase the price so anything you sell is more expensive - read as "less competitive

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@always_nice_deals  nothing in my comment said anything about anything being more expensive or less competitive.

All I said was what the seller sees on their side of the transaction is eBay showing the breakdown of the math including the fee paid by the buyer and there is nothing in that previous screenshot that shows eBay is charging a fee to the seller.

[always_nice_deals]

Nice one! 

I know what you said, the worry here is it looks like you trying to explain eBay where there is no explanation apart of the making money machine. The most ugly thing is it was planned and deployed around Christmas. I hope they pay for it, business going down to the point they will pay people to buy and sell on that constantly problematic platform. You take care, no offence.

[valueaddedresource]

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@always_nice_deals wrote:

Nice one! 

I know what you said, the worry here is it looks like you trying to explain eBay where there is no explanation apart of the making money machine. The most ugly thing is it was planned and deployed around Christmas. I hope they pay for it, business going down to the point they will pay people to buy and sell on that constantly problematic platform. You take care, no offence.

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@always_nice_deals in that case, may I suggest a trip to the optometrist? Nothing in my comment "looks like" that at all...unless you're looking through bent and tinted lenses for something that wasn't there so you can get defensive and start an argument where none exists.

In fact if you were to look at my posting history here, I think you'd find I am far from an eBay cheerleader or defender on this or a variety of other issues.

But I do believe in basing critiques in facts and the facts are the screenshot in the post I was referring to did not show the seller being charged a fee as the poster claimed - which was all my comment was about - period.

No offense taken or meant - I get where your frustration is coming from, it just simply has nothing to do with what I wrote so I'd kindly suggest directing it to a more proper target. 😉

[always_nice_deals]

Thanks mate, and apologies for my comments. Yes, you are right - I am frustrated as hell. Let's name the devil here, it is a money making machine not a charity. I knew the selling for free is not going to last forever and this place is not the best to share our opinions. My  previous comment has been edited/adjusted already.

So I am going to say the main point again:

Adding any extra charges - no matter on which side - makes the listing less competitive - and another thing is - They started from small percentage like years ago with business selling - it will go up.

All the best.

[chba_3657]

Your right but the buyer reduced his payment by the buyer fee, i was expecting 25 he took away the fee.