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]

With the old system, they often ran discounted fee promotions. Presumably that won't happen now; it would be even more confusing than it already is.

[blueswanwholesale]

Correct. but the product will no longer be competitively priced, once you take this unrequested fee into account. so sellers will drop their prices to stay competitive. so this is an ebay selling fee by the door. Ebay are such a devious, dishonest bunch of arseholes. There is no issue for buyers on the platform, as ebay always sides with the buyer, and will automatically reclaim any money in the case of a dispute. This is a selling fee, pure and simple

[blueswanwholesale]

Correct, this is such an obvious scam. Although pauud by the buyer, with this fee, sellers  products will no longer be competitively priced- so less likely to sell. So ebay KNOW that sellers will drop their prices to stay competitive. so this is an ebay selling fee by the door. Ebay are such a devious, dishonest bunch of arseholes. There is no issue for buyers on the platform, as ebay always sides with the buyer, and will automatically reclaim any money in the case of a dispute. This is a selling fee, pure and simple

[*devils.advocate*]

It shouldn’t be difficult for a genuine private seller to be competitive as the vast majority (even 99.9%) of their items will be (classed as) second-hand.

They’ll have had the use of the item over a shortish or long period of time so shouldn’t / won’t expect their money back in relation to what they paid for it.

And they’ll have precious few, if any, items which could be classed as new.

….. Ebay are such a devious, dishonest bunch of arseholes …..

LOL

[madeat136]

Those same second hand items are no longer desirable for buyers with the addition of these unjust "protection " fees .If a buyers stuff goes Awol does the fee cover their losses? Sent from my Galaxy

[andha-21]

"so shouldn’t / won’t expect their money back in relation to what they paid for it."

I keep seeing stuff like this. Who exactly is deciding that? Is it some legal thing I am unaware of?

The way I see it, I pay a market price when I buy something, so why am I not allowed to get as much back as I can for it?

Fundamentally, there doesn't appear to be any legal reason as if there was a top end, then the likes of CEX, MusicMagpie etc would have been all over it ages ago.

Maybe it's just because business sellers want a monopoly on selling so they can get back to the good old fashioned business model of fleecing people.

[*devils.advocate*]

I'm a buyer - I still buy from genuine private sellers.

Just as sellers previously paid a fee but now have no selling fees to pay, buyers had certain coverage for free.

Now there's a buyers' charge for it.

[*devils.advocate*]

They’ll have had the use of the item over a shortish or long period of time so shouldn’t / won’t expect their money back in relation to what they paid for it.

You selected only part of the sentence.

Unless it's a collectable, or rarirty, would you expect a second-hand item to increase in value?

And no, there's no reason against someone wanting to get as much as possible - but the question was one of being competitive.

At the moment, if you want to be competitive, it's price - it's a buyer's market.

[wara_rat]

Depends what you're selling. If you are dealing with collectibles People tend to have a very good idea of fmv and rarely go below it. You have room to maneuver on an item £10 up but virtually none on say a single common Pokemon card for £2. Theres the question of how much your time is worth. Who wants to trudge to the post office to get something tracked to make less than a pound when all said and done.

[*devils.advocate*]

And as I've posted many times, I'm sure that eBay want rid of these low cost items - hence the 75p charge.

So no trudge to the PO.

Regretfully, it is what it is - both buyers and sellers have to deal with it in their own way.

[wara_rat]

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@*devils.advocate* wrote:

And as I've posted many times, I'm sure that eBay want rid of these low cost items - hence the 75p charge.

So no trudge to the PO.

Regretfully, it is what it is - both buyers and sellers have to deal with it in their own way.

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[andha-21]

Fair enough I omitted the first half of your sentence, I didn't have any issues with that.

Regarding collectables/rare pieces you are exactly right but I wasn't talking profit management in my reply. Loss management is a thing too. If I spend £30 on a model and then my army plans change, I'm going to try and get £30 back for it. Not £10 or £20. I don't want to lose.

& yes, it's definitely a buyers market and it's got a whole lot worse here since they did their updates. I normally have a couple of hundred items bookmarked, anything that interests me, most auctions. & some of the markets have taken major hits in the last fortnight. I buy very specific hiking gear, stuff I like. Inov-8 G400 , Hanwag boots, Paramo clothing and it looks like those markets are around 40-50% down on what they were a month ago. Even secondhand that stuff fetches big bucks if it's in good condition.

A set of (near) mint Hanwags sold today on auction for something like £43. That's ridiculously low.

[wara_rat]

At least that makes sense. I've always found ebay a good place for collectables though. If I want a real item I will go to the shop to check it out, or get it from Amazon next day free post.

[cheekydog2]

This "buyer protection" fee fools nobody. Everyone knows its fees by the back door against private sellers although I suspect this might be one that comes back to bite ebay on the ass. I've been on ebay off  and on and since 2002 and slowly but surely they've managed to make it more and more difficult to be worthwhile selling low priced items. This new fee just increases that price point again. On top of that we have the  new scam of keeping funds for 2 weeks if untracked. Many people will just go to alternative places to sell. I'm not sure even ebay are stupid enough to try and make buying their postage compulsory but these 2 most recent scams I think may well be adjusted in the next year as there is no doubt whatsoever it will result in fewer sales and affect ebay profits

[*devils.advocate*]

Neither profit management nor loss management - it's cost management.

You say that the Hanwags sold today on auction for something that's ridiculously low.

That's today's market and if it is, why would you expect to recoup your £30?

Maybe if the market changes - but the here and now?

[dogrobinsnest]

Yes I think you are correct they have very short memories. When they started they wanted any sales before this crazy new charge they were making 16% + on all sales including postage so all these small sales add up but they have just blown that now & as far as I can see lost lots of buyers & sellers in the process. I hear from a good source there is a big seller on here is hoping to open up a new platform in a few months time starting with selling collectables & then expanding fingers X for them the sooner the better.

[andha-21]

If I'd sold at any time in the last couple of weeks I would have lost a considerable amount against what I paid. But I stopped all my listings on the 3rd. I didn't like the look of the updates and wasn't going to play guinea pig for anyone. Plenty of others available for that role.

So right now, I'd have no expectation of getting £30 back and that's exactly why I'm not listing anything (yet). But if I'm not selling I can't buy so they are losing that way too.

[martinwh1]

The so called "protection fee" only actually adds a 24/7 Customer Service. eBay freely admits that the free cover for non-receipt and SNAD continues so the new charge is simply a buyer's fee

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[blaizev]

So let me get this straight. Not only are eBay now charging Buyers what used to be 'selling fees'  under some guise of providing customers protection for a person to person transaction they have next to no control over.

But they are also witholding money from sellers so they can gain interest on that.

So what they've done is basically given themselves twice as much money while making the buying and selling process worse for their customers?

They are making money from 'fees' at both ends now. From buyers and sellers. Like how does the value of the item pertain to the rising cost in a fee if that fee is basically nothing more than a customer service helpline.

Complete and total scam.

[ile136yz]

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@blaizev wrote:

So let me get this straight. Not only are eBay now charging Buyers what used to be 'selling fees'  under some guise of providing customers protection for a person to person transaction they have next to no control over.

But they are also witholding money from sellers so they can gain interest on that.

So what they've done is basically given themselves twice as much money while making the buying and selling process worse for their customers?

They are making money from 'fees' at both ends now. From buyers and sellers. Like how does the value of the item pertain to the rising cost in a fee if that fee is basically nothing more than a customer service helpline.

Complete and total scam.

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Understand your comments, but eBay are scaring off Viewers/ Buyers with the 'Buyers Fees'.

If the Private Sellers are making low or no sales, then there will be no funds to hold.