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 .

[goodibags]

The quick way to get from the price you want to what you need to enter: e.g. for £300

1. Take off 72p (so 300 - 0.72 = 299.28)

2 Divide by 1.04 (so 229.28 / 1.04 = 287.77)

You may need to wait a while before your listing comes up in searches. The good news is if you sort on price your item will appear higher in the list than business sellers' ones priced lower than yours. Another glitch!

Ebay has a whole rash of faults to sort out in the next week or so. Any longer than that and heads will start rolling! 

[vintique*violet]

So any potential buyer does not see  a buyers fee is to be added or included or which ever way ebay are implementing it, until they press the buy it now.. is that correct? 

So what would the figures be ? 

4% = £12.00 plus the 75p

So buyers thinking it is £300... would then be charged £312.75 plus the 20 postage? 

Or would the buyers fee show as included and it is taken off ie. buyer pays £300 plus postage, but the seller receives £287.25 plus postage ? 

[wintersdawn1]

Yes, just 'Tascam 133'

[capt_rico]

🤣  We are all going back to school way of thinking just to list an item that doesn't look dodgy and *bleep*e.  Appreciate the formula.  Should be ok until Ebay decides to mess about with it again.  I predict they will scrap the seller protection fee BS and revert back to seller fees.  Charging the seller was more acceptable to the buyers.  I don't think they appreciate having to pay an on top fee.  

[goodibags]

Yup, a seller fee was much simpler. They've created one big dog's dinner for everybody with this mess.

[capt_rico]

I think they see the price that includes the fee.  So £300 they see, and £300 they pay and see at checkout.  But from our end we see the price without the fee, and that's confusing.  The browser looks at you as the seller not the buyer.   

[wintersdawn1]

I believe the price including the 4% plus 75/72p shows in the search results of a particular item but the buyer does not see the breakdown - how the price was arrived at - item price + fees until they click buy it now.  Even then Ebay has sneakily tried to hide it somewhat by putting it on the left side instead of the main price area on the right.  

For obvious reasons they do not want to be too upfront with buyers about adding an extra fee on and also it is not for additional buyer protection (as they have claimed) but just extra money going into their pocket.

If the seller lists at £300 the buyer will see £312.75 plus postage is correct, except ebay have messed up and are adding 72p at the moment instead of the announced 75p so it will show £312.72 plus postage.

If the buyer pays £300 the seller would have to list the item at £287.74 (£287.77 at the moment due the 72p error by ebay) plus postage. 

[wara_rat]

Yes it seems to have settled down now. The 1st 48 hours I was getting some very odd results, unless there's a difference to how its charged when you accept offers? Idk some showed as added to my prices, some showed nothing and others appeared to be taken from my price. Seems to be working as intended now.

[vintique*violet]

So basically the BPF is being hidden from buyers? 

Nothing is transparent! 

[capt_rico]

Yeah I didn't consider that. If they Make Offer on my £300 (£287 +fee) say to £250.  My actual price will be 240 +fee  I think.  So you always have to work that damn fee into everything.   

[wintersdawn1]

Yes, as much as possible. 

Also I did not receive a message from ebay telling me about the BPF, only as a seller so only found out from this forum.

[capt_rico]

I shows up when you check out and pay. The buyer will see an actually LOWER price than the one they thought.  Your actual sellers price AND the fee are broken down and shown,  so the buyer will get annoyed because this will be the 1st time they see ebay has added a fee into the price.  Sneaky.

[andha-21]

A ha. Wait till you send someone an offer. If it's like it was before, now that is thing of true beauty.

Post 47, Existing listings February 4th 25 thread.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Existing-listings-after-February-4th-25/m-p/7758032#M...

Haven't found the way to link it yet.

[goodibags]

Ah, you found it, thanks. Pure Comedy Gold. I knew it was somewhere on Friday 7th but there was so much else going on it was difficult to keep up with it all.

Looking forward to watching 'developments' as they roll in tomorrow. I'll need a comfier armchair. 🤣

[andha-21]

Did you see the one where someone found a workaround to avoid BFP by using eBay.com?

That was really bloody funny too. eBay weren't happy.

[goodibags]

Apparently, many of the notifications from Ebay helpfully seem to take you there.

Like advertising 'offers'. Avoid BPFs - it could be a promo?

[buyincornwall]

PATHETIC - It's just PATHETIC. I have just listed an item for BIN £32.99. When I look in my active listings it shows as £32.99. When I click on the listing as if to buy it it shows as £35.03 which is what a buyer will have to pay. THIS IS BECAUSE eBAY HAVE ADDED THE BUYER PROTECTION FEE. PATHETIC - I wanted the item to appear for sale at £32.99 but it is now shown to buyers at £35.03. SO To sell it for £32.99 I have to calculate how much eBay are going to add as the buyer protection fee and then deduct that amount from the amount I list it for, (of course I will then only receive £32.99 less the buyer protection fee) PATHETIC. ONLY eBAY COULD DREAM UP SUCH A STUPID SYSTEM  and I may cease selling on eBay once my existing listings (I have 3 eBay Accounts) have completed. - PATHETIC.

[jow1995]

This maybe a daft question, but if you are just selling off unwanted items, why do you need 3 Ebay accounts?

[dogrobinsnest]

Hi Yes Agree with you. But Ebay are a business & have to make money they are not a charity. The old system was better for all . They Charged Approx 17% on all you sold, now with smaller items, with the so called buyer protection scheme which buyers do not need as they are fully protected anyway, will be charged upwards of 25% on items priced at £5. to almost 100% on items priced at £1. I understand that small business were not happy with the free to sell for private buyers, but this is just crazy. Ebay have made crazy decisions in the past this being the worst. The Global shipping they introduced was so expensive to use I sold 2 items abroad in 2 years I remove it & now sell many items abroad. To me Ebay employ many intelegent people who come up with these ideas to make money for them, it seems to me they may well be Intelligent clever people but they are lacking one very important thing Common Sence. Please Ebay think again before you destroy yourselves.

[vinylscot]

OK, I'll do it this time.

These changes shouldn't affect @buyincornwall  at all, because he should be trading on a business account.

No private seller has 15+ mobile phones for sale in a three month period, including many still brand new and boxed. The numbering system he uses in his listings also suggests he has listed almost 200 phones.