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 .

[papso22]

Have you checked what you are, and are not, allowed to post on the boards?

[ripface]

No, I guess I didn't ... although I would have thought passing on helpful information that was sent from eBay in an eBay forum would not have constituted any infringements.

You go figure ......

[papso22]

That in itself shouldn't have broken the forum rules, but who knows these days. 

[ripface]

Ah well,  looks like they had a change of heart and re-posted my original message.  Funny old life!

[bogush75]

I just noticed some sellers sell 40-50 quid items for £1 or £2 with £40 or £50  postage cost.

Maybe this is the way (short term) to fight this scam?

[tressygirl]

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@bogush75 wrote:

I just noticed some sellers sell items for £1 or £2 with £40 or £50  postage cost.

Maybe this is the way to fight this scam?

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I did  wonder when someone would come up with that.

Brings us back to the days of postage price gouging, resulting in  eBay charging  a seller fee on postage to stop that loophole for evading fees.

Wonder what the answer will be, to  stop this one ? 🤔

@bogush75 

[martinwh1]

Compulsory Simple Delivery will be eBay's answer. So these people are just making it more likely which would be very bad news for people like me who mostly sell items which cost 85p to post 

[jckl1957]

It is against policy - listings will probably be removed if they are noticed or reported.

eBay fee avoidance policy

On this page

• What is the policy?
• Why does eBay have this policy?

  Avoiding eBay fees is not allowed, whether intentional or not. Sellers or buyers attempting to avoid eBay fees create risk for themselves and a poor experience for users.

  Examples of avoiding fees includes making offers to buy or sell outside of eBay, requiring the buyer to make additional purchases, or charging excessive postage fees.

[bogush75]

It is just showing the situation/ atmosphere between ebay and ebayers now, isn't it..

I wonder what ebay management is plannig now. Probably another genius move - fee or something.

Not good for the business.

[tressygirl]

Mmmm,  after a bit of thinking,  I'm gonna answer my own question here!

I asked.....

Brings us back to the days of postage price gouging, resulting in  eBay charging  a seller fee on postage to stop that loophole for evading fees.

Wonder what the answer will be, to  stop this one ? 

Suppose the answer is, if it stopped postal price gouging by adding a seller fee to the postage price,  if this becomes a big loophole evading the BP Fee,  then a fee may well in the near future,  be placed on postage here too.  🤔

Watch this space! 

@bogush75 

[madeat136]

I would imagine that ebay are probably earning on the postage that we buy from them already 🤷‍♀️Sent from my Galaxy

[buffster1963]

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@madeat136 wrote:
I would imagine that ebay are probably earning on the postage that we buy from them already 🤷‍♀️Sent from my Galaxy

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Not everybody buys their postage through Ebay. 

[papso22]

Indeed, and i would recommend not using Packlink under any circumstances. 

[61stephenuk]

You can find contact details and complaints procedure here

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/idd-ebay-sellers/#q1

[bogush75]

Maybe "they" will limit the postage cost / depending on item price etc.

There are many ways to play this game and many great ebay managers with new, great ideas.. as we already know.

[jph_068]

That's exactly how it is mate and it's made it difficult to know how much to charge now tbh. I'm not very familiar with it tbh. Is it a percentage of the sale? 

[f3speech]

We seem to have gone full circle here. I've been selling on Enay since 2001.

They used to charge the fee on the sale price (not postage). Sellers then started listings lower, but bumped up the postage to compensate.

Ebay responded by limiting the amount you could charge for postage and then charging the fee on the whole amount.

Now they have essentially moved the fee from the seller, but put it buyer side, and put it back linked to the item price only.

As we know buyers will still add in the BPF into their buying/bidding decisions. What will happen is that sellers will put item prices lower and bump the postage. Sellers dont lose out and buyers pay a fraction less.

It's like we just went backwards 20 years!  But if this is a cycle, then the next thing that will happen is Ebay restricting the postage in some way. Let's hope it's not "actual postage only" because that means you can't include packing costs in your postage price

[buffster1963]

Very soon simple delivery will be mandatory so they have already considered the postage problem. This way, the seller does not charge postage at all. The buyer buys it from Ebay and the seller gets sent a QR code to scan or print. 

[fittermd]

Totally agree. EBay know they are losing their position as market leader. They are trying to make some more cash prior to the inevitable move elsewhere. They charge fees on postage (or they did before the no fees rules), they control they amount of postage you can charge and now they charge the buyer for something that should be free and as you say is already in the postage fee. 

[f3speech]

I think there will be an issue with postage on auctions. If you set a sale price then you have the item value and can calculate postage. If you have an auction that goes way higher then expected, then it could be outside the advertised fee for postage with enough insurance to cover.  Who will pay that difference? I'm sure the UK Consumer Act say all the costs have to be displayed upfront so that you can choose to walk away. Not 100% how that works with auctions, but does that mean the buyer has the right to walk away at that point if they are unhappy with any additional postage charges? Or will ebay just cover it?