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 .

[bogush75]

I always use sd or sf, unfortunately sometimes postman does not scan "delivered" with signed for..

[knightinarmour]

Dear John ripface

while I respect your complaint and the sentiments included within, which I’m sure many of us share and agree with, I regret nothing will happen and you may not get even a reply.

I complained formally on the 19th Jan and requested my complaint be sent to Legal (repeatedly). I haven’t even received an acknowledgment let alone an actual answer….

[debbie110_1]

I totally agree, I've also been on Ebay since 2003. They give you free listing's then they decide to bring out this Ebay protection fee because they are not getting any money from free listing's. I send everything tracked and if they are not happy they get a full refund. This will put buyers off I fear. You list something for 99p to try and keep your prices low, but they add 75p for the Ebay protection fee, it's absolutely *bleep*.

[kenwill9896]

I know I was a postman years ago, they do not follow the rules as we did
sadly.

[ripface]

I guess time will tell.  Interestingly enough I was checking the complaint log numbers from the previous "Complaints" raised by eBay on my behalf .....

Complaint#1: 2-191240564104

Complaint#2: 2-191341973754

If you assume one increment per complaint that equates to 100,000,000 complaints in a 24 hour period.

Sheesh!!

[slfragrance]

Yes I agree, what a con, get rid of sellers fees, then hit buyers now with protection fees, what a crock of *bleep*, EBay con merchants! Now this 2 days after delivery! Just another way of keeping it in there banks to earn interest just for that bit longer to con us, yet again! No wonder every is loosing faith in EBay 

[zillabudgie]

It's a scam. Otherwise private seller accounts would not be allowed anymore, only business ones. Ebay why don't you 'grow a pair' and implement this ruling instead?

[pondeag]

This isn't the case.

I'm looking at an item, which has a 'Make an offer' option. So I offered £40 for the item. The seller replied "Sorry my best offer is 40 for this item. Thanks for your interest" and then sent a counter-offer for £42.32, which is basically the £40 + buyer fees..

The seller isn't taking the hit here, I am

[lucy_farmer]

Yeah, the offers thing is a bit of a mess!

How it 'works' is:

If you, *the buyer*, makes an offer to the seller, the seller gets your offer minus the buyers fees (so the seller recieves a lesser amount than you've offered)

But if the seller makes an offer to the buyer, the buyer sees what the seller offered *plus* the buyers fees (so the buyer sees a greater amount that the seller asked for)

Papso got it with;   ' the seller is offering the lowest amount that they will accept for the item (so the buyers fee- which goes to ebay not the seller- has to go on top).

While the buyer is offering the maximum they are prepared to pay for the item so the buyer's fee has to come *out* of that amount.'

[bogush75]

Yes he is.

Buyer won't buy it for 42.32, so seller won't sell his item..

... + many sellers lower down their prices because of that fee and it means taking financial hit.

That fee can hit both ways.

[jow1995]

You are trading on the wrong account, selling handmade items  makes you a business seller. Just upgrade and the new rules will not apply, only snag fees are much higher, but instant payment! 

[papso22]

---

@slfragrance wrote:

Yes I agree, what a con, get rid of sellers fees, then hit buyers now with protection fees, what a crock of *bleep*, EBay con merchants! Now this 2 days after delivery! Just another way of keeping it in there banks to earn interest just for that bit longer to con us, yet again! No wonder every is loosing faith in EBay 

---

Pot... kettle?

[dogrobinsnest]

If a seller is selling a few hand made items, that does not make them a business you are allowed to make £1,000 profit before you have to pay tax why if you are selling a few items should you buy an ebay business account. for god sake.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

well you would say that, would'nt you!   Depends also what you call a few, that to me would be a handful not over a hundred.

[dogrobinsnest]

Of course I would say that because its the truth & you clearly don't like the truth.

[game_raid]

But it's not the truth is it.

It has nothing to do with profit or tax that suddenly makes someone a business, how many times do people have to be corrected on this, it is wrong anyway what you posted, it is gross turnover of a £1000 NOT a £1000 profit when it comes to the HMRC and registering as self employed.

An eBay seller must register as a business if, for example, they sell items they have bought to resell, they make items in order to sell them, or if they buy items for their business.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/business-seller-polic...

The poster is making items to sell, how does that not make them a business? It really doesn't matter if they sell 1 a month or 1000 they are a business and register as such instead of coming on here and complaining.

[dogrobinsnest]

LOL

[martinwh1]

I think it's what you're selling that's relevant rather than the quantity - I have over a hundred listed but that's because I'm selling my stamp collection (plus a couple of other personal possessions)

[kath3735_wxmjn]

i agree but the seller in question is not selling stamps etc they are selling over a hundred new handmade items.

[dls-online]

Sorry, just to jump in here to hopefully provide some clarity on this (I'm a longstanding member of both the CIOT (as a chartered tax advisor) and the ATT).

If you google "Badges of Trade" the first hit that should come up on any search engine is HMRC's guidance on this. Honestly, this guidance hasn't really changed since I did my tax exams all those years ago.

These indicators (dubbed "the bades of trade") are largely built up through case law, and provide the key indicators for an assessment of whether an individual would be deemed trading or not. Really helpful guidance for your self assessment. Hope that helps!