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 .

[kempseykate]

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@ett1954 wrote:

"BUT    how does the Seller claim the loss or damaged from the Courier if the seller did not purchase the postage label (the Buyer will have this paperwork not the seller)." - The seller doesn't claim; the contract will be between eBay and the postal service / courier as in Simple Delivery the buyer is purchasing the postal service from eBay.  Any such case will be down to eBay to resolve financially - hence the buyer protection fee; this is what the fee is for.

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No, that would still come under the MBG, it's just ebay have to deal with it (as the buyer of the label) rather than the seller.

The BPF is merely for the knowledge that sellers have their funds held for up to 14 days (makes no odds as buyers were covered by MBG anyway, regardless of when seller gets their money), the knowledge that payments are secure (were they not before?) and 24/7 access to phone or chat help. As a buyer, never having had to ring/chat to ebay about anything I have bought in over 20 years, this will be really good value for money for me - not.

[ridware]

but.........where items need to be competitively priced , sellers like me will need to reduce prices to allow for the protection add on. plus , buyers were ALWAYS protected by ebay anyway.  ie  if a buyer is unhappy with purchase / item lost etc , ebay simply freeze the amount on sellers account and force a refund. so the extra charge is just extra profit for ebay.

[ridware]

i think the real purpose here is to force  private sellers who sell regularly  to become business sellers and start paying fees again. problems with new fee for me are.........

1) as i understand it ebay will add  £0.75  to each item sold plus up to 4%.  i periodically list 100 items at average £3 each.  this increases that to  £3.87, a 29% increase.  £3.87 is hardly a nice round selling price , and uncompetitive for what i offer

2) instead of seller payments being available  as soon as buyer pays, ebay hold the cash until item delivered or 14 days. no justification for this. meanwhile ebay make millions extra in interest on retained cash

3) seller protection ?  ebay already side with buyers in event of a dispute and freeze seller sale value until resolved. ebay will make many millions extra profits from these fees.

time to ditch ebay.

[studiomaster_uk]

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@jckl1957 wrote:

I haven't seen this suggested in many (any?) posts, but private sellers could always drop their prices.

Selling fees were nearly 14% + 30p per transaction.

With the new buyer's fee of 4% + 75p, for cheap items, private sellers could easily reduce the price by 50p. 

On more expensive items, sellers could cover the buyer's fee by starting sales at a lower price and still be receiving more money than they would have when we had to pay fees.

Example for a £5 item:

Seller's fee 70p + 30p  Seller receives £4

Buyer's fee 20p + 75p  (So drop your price by £1 and receive £4.05, buyer pays under £5 )

a £100 item:

Seller's fee £14 + 30p  Seller receives £85.70

Buyer's fee £4 + 75p  (So drop your price to £95; you receive £10 more than you would have previously and the buyer pays under £100)

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I don't disagree with your calculations but I'm caused to wonder what the effect on revenue will be, both from the average private seller perspective and that of ebay, although in the latter case I would guess things are dominated by business sellers. Still, it's disingenuous to describe things as 'free to sell' when that's clearly not the likely resulting effect.

[jckl1957]

It is also disingenuous to have a private account if you are clearly trading and buying items to sell.

A genuine private seller probably does not consider the money they make from selling their own secondhand possessions as revenue or an income stream.

Ebay will clearly increase their revenue as they will now receive a payment from private sellers' sales.  Possibly, in some cases, business sellers trading on private accounts will now decide to switch to a business account, pay the correct fees to Ebay and avoid the imminent changes private sellers will have to deal with.

[rebelbhoy67]

The fees are paid for by the buyers, the seller will get 100% of what they sell buyer protection fee will be charged to the buyer which is why I refuse to shop on eBay now why should I pay fees on top of what I'm buying absolutely no chance eBay are all for private sellers now wonder what will happen when buyers are lost eh.

[papso22]

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@rebelbhoy67 wrote:

The fees are paid for by the buyers, the seller will get 100% of what they sell buyer protection fee will be charged to the buyer which is why I refuse to shop on eBay now why should I pay fees on top of what I'm buying absolutely no chance eBay are all for private sellers now wonder what will happen when buyers are lost eh.

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Well either the total ebay price is acceptable to you or it isn't.  If it is are you saying you are not going to buy just because part of the price is a fee?

That's seems a bit odd to me.

[goodibags]

More likely, the buyer will no longer have to option to buy because the item they're looking for is no longer listed for sale.

[papso22]

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@goodibags wrote:

More likely, the buyer will no longer have to option to buy because the item they're looking for is no longer listed for sale.

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Because 'private' sellers have thrown their toys out of the pram?

If the item was a one off (as is more likely with genuine private sellers), then it seems foolish for those sellers to stop listing and hence lose a potential sale.

[game_raid]

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@goodibags wrote:

More likely, the buyer will no longer have to option to buy because the item they're looking for is no longer listed for sale.

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Well that's the sellers loss if they prefer the item to sit at home gathering dust because at the end of the day if that item is priced correctly the seller will get a sale whether there is a fee or not.

[goodibags]

Don't forget it is also the BUYER's loss. And quite obviously it is EBAY's loss too, especially if the item is sold on another platform. Or just ends up in a charity shop. Or landfill?

To be fair you cannot blame the people who are not on Ebay for any of this. It has absolutely nothing to do with them.

[game_raid]

How is it the buyers loss? Most people these days cross list anyway to give themselves a better chance of a sale, and not all marketplaces are ideal for that vintage HI-FI System or whatever.

It is the sellers loss if they prefer for give the item to charity or landfill and are not prepared to lose a few quid in fees, isn't something back better than nothing? A private seller is generally looking for a fair price for that item and it's up to them whether they absorb the fee or not to get a sale.

[ruby*ryan]

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@papso22 wrote:

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@goodibags wrote:

More likely, the buyer will no longer have to option to buy because the item they're looking for is no longer listed for sale.

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Because 'private' sellers have thrown their toys out of the pram?

If the item was a one off (as is more likely with genuine private sellers), then it seems foolish for those sellers to stop listing and hence lose a potential sale.

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Not sure why 'private' needed to be in inverted commas? As a private seller (no inverted commas) I haven't thrown my toys out of the pram. I just don't agree with recent changes to eBay, and more importantly if/when Simple Delivery becomes mandatory, it simply (no pun intended!) won't work for me.
So I will be selling very little on eBay - if I can sell it elsewhere I will do. 
Likewise buying, if I can buy it elsewhere, I will do.

I think in this day and age there are very few items that will be one-offs - unless, of course you are making original one-off pieces ... but then that would be a business seller, not a private seller.

2 of the items I sold recently were reasonably rare, but there were still others of the same thing listed. I can only think of one thing I have sold over the last year that was a one-off (on eBay), and that was a demo-tape given to us by a family member, but even then, there are probably a couple more copies of it somewhere in the world. But most of the stuff we are getting rid of is fairly widely available - and I would have thought that was the same with most private sellers.

[goodibags]

I agree, it's nothing to do with 'toys thrown out of prams' but just logic. Clearly, the more hurdles (like transaction fees) that are thrown in front of buyers the less viable it will be for (private) sellers to sell to them. And with most sellers also being Ebay buyers (I started in 2002) the less time they'll end up spending on here. With the likely outcome of fewer future sales.

Some sellers may need the income but in many cases it simply won't be worth the faff listing stuff that'll be less likely to sell than before. I have listed and sold rare/unusual items but also put up a few duds in my time. 

The changes may be 'strategic' but it does feel a bit like a policy of managed decline. 

[game_raid]

If they are selling for an income then they are a business and should register as such then the new policies won't affect that seller.

I am still unsure why it would be less viable for a private seller to sell that old jumper they no longer need or any item they no longer use? I guess they should they just give it or throw it away.

[papso22]

Because most of the members making a fuss about the BPF are actually  businesses trading illegally on private eBay accounts.

[nothing.anymore]

Personally, I wouldn't mind the fees. It was strange when ebay allowed buyers to sell for "free" in the last few months, so going back to some sort of fee scheme seems natural. Although they did word it in a weird way, making it look like they are almost penalising private sellers.

However, I stopped all my sales now. It's the delayed payments that mostly put me off - just like many private sellers, I want to see the money in my account before I send an item. And to have freedom to choose the carrier.

I know I will miss selling here. I enjoyed communicating with the buyers, however briefly, and packing - I used to make my own packaging from reused boxes, but, unless ebay corrects their new payment plan, I will not be coming back here to sell. I will however have a good look at anything I'm searching on ebay to buy myself, and if there's not a big difference in price, I'd rather still buy from a private seller than business. 

[goodibags]

No, it's perfectly reasonable to be selling your own things AND receive an income from them. Lots of people do just that. I have many friends who are NOT businesses.

Whether or not you're reliant on that income is another matter.

[goodibags]

Don't forget the BUYERS!😀

[kath3735_wxmjn]

but the big thing about E Bay was that you could nearly always find the precise item you were looking for.  For instance i had a top that i loved so much i ended up over a period of a few years buying 23 of them all in different colours,  (I know ridiculous but there again i wore all of them at some point).  I sadly outgrew them over the past year or two and have sold most of them (2 left) on e bay but i would love to buy some more in my size, unfortunately so far none have appeared (wrong sizes) but they are still out there and one day they will appear!   A lot of my clothes are not one offs but people quite often have favourite items that have worn out or are the wrong size and these sites are (or used to be) perfect for finding them.  Maybe not one offs but still wanted by someone,