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 .

[leighbayuk]

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@edwardian-dreams wrote:

The buyer making the offer doesn’t get told by eBay that your bpf will be deducted from the offer and what the seller gets will be less than the £10 you’re offering 

try it and see

theres nothing there

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It is there, but eBay are trying their best to hide it. On the Offer screen there is no mention of BPF. If the buyer continues to the Checkout screen there is some small grey text which says “inc. buyers protection fee”. If they click this, it then shows a breakdown of the fee and the offer that the seller will actually receive.

eBay say the buyer pays the fee based on the final sale price. In reality, if the buyer makes an offer, the fee is deducted from the price. eBay think this is fine.

[newsgood2]

I don't know if it is that way around or just confused as, I just bought something last week and paid the amount the item was on for. When I look at the item now it is cheaper that what it is on for now, which means the buyer (Myself)I s paying for the BPF. It appears that it is inconsistent who is paying depending on what format it is in.

Ebay are basically completely devoid of any real intelligence as, the whole set-up is barking mad, unethical and dishonest!

[leighbayuk]

Exactly, the way the fee is presented is different depending on the listing type or direction of the offer. It is added onto a seller’s offer, deducted from a buyer’s offer, and variable for an auction. 😜

[papso22]

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@newsgood2 wrote:

I don't know if it is that way around or just confused as, I just bought something last week and paid the amount the item was on for. When I look at the item now it is cheaper that what it is on for now, which means the buyer (Myself)I s paying for the BPF. It appears that it is inconsistent who is paying depending on what format it is in.

Ebay are basically completely devoid of any real intelligence as, the whole set-up is barking mad, unethical and dishonest!

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It's always the buyer who pays, contractually and legally, it's just that because a seller can get less than they thought they were going to it feels to them as if they paid it.

It's an issue of perception over reality.

[action_man]

Papso22:

It's always the buyer who pays, contractually and legally, it's just that because a seller can get less than they thought they were going to it feels to them as if they paid it.

It's an issue of perception over reality.

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Yes it is an issue of perception over reality. Because if a buyer makes an offer to a seller of £25, the seller does not get £25 and won't know that until after the event. The BPF is deducted, so that is the reality. The buyer doesn't always pay the BPF and no amount of gaslighting will change that fact.

[papso22]

And no amount of spin will change the legal and contractual position that it is a fee charged to buyers by ebay.

There is no agreement whereby the seller pays the fee on behalf of the buyer, which would be third party consideration.

Sellers may perceive it as they are paying it, but the reality is that they are not.  Whatever a  buyer pays or offers to pay, includes an element for the BPF, sellers need to get used to that.

[action_man]

Papso22:

And no amount of spin will change the legal and contractual position that it is a fee charged to buyers by ebay.

There is no agreement whereby the seller pays the fee on behalf of the buyer, which would be third party consideration.

Sellers may perceive it as they are paying it, but the reality is that they are not. Whatever a buyer pays or offers to pay, includes an element for the BPF, sellers need to get used to that.

_________________________________________

So sellers need to get used to finding out something after the event, rather than eBay be honest and upfront. Sellers need to get used to a bait and switch. OK, thanks for the clarification.

[faceache65]

I've also removed the option to let buyer send me an offer. 

I now rarely send offers.

I've also stopped adding new listings as sales plummeted once buyer fee was introduced.

There doesn't seem any point!

[faceache65]

I'd give vinted a go but it's awfully fiddly on a phone. Does anyone her use vinted on a tablet. I have kindle tablet I coul use if possible?

[return_of_the_king]

To be honest I have been put off selling or buying on Ebay full stop by the new changes.

After a very long lay off from selling and very few purchases using Ebay I was enticed back with the no fees ad campaign Ebay ran before Christmas. Things seemed great and I even purchased some add ons along the way to support Ebay. Sadly that has now come to an end.

I also bought a lot of higher priced items in the hundreds of pounds, spending £3500 since the end of November. I am totally put off of buying with the new Buyer Protection fees and more so as I already have that with my preferred payment option, this means I will buy less on Ebay.

As for selling it now makes less sense for me, to attract buyers you have to price items in a way to make it worthy of the purchase, you list an item and then Ebay stick the the buyer protection fees on top which makes it now look like the seller is over pricing an item. If I adjust the price to make it more acceptable to a potential buyer I am basically paying the buyer protection fees for the buyer and losing out myself and doesn't make sense to sell in the first place.

When you buy something from most retailers they try to sell you extended insurance as a option and you can choose to take it or not but that isn't the case with buyer protection.

I have a few items still listed which I will probably end and look at alternatives to sell them. Ebay needs to take a good long look at how the changes has impacted both sellers and buyers and rethink it as this is clearly not the way forward.

I have been on Ebay since the day it pretty much started mainly as a buyer but also sold items occasionally. My wife was a power seller and again was with Ebay pretty much from the start.

Message to Ebay

Without sellers there are no buyers! Without buyers there are no sellers! Without both there is no Ebay.

2024: Revenue of $2.6 billion, up 1% on an as-reported basis and up 2%

2025: potential losses the way you are going.