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 .

[englishclock]

Ebay has really had a brain fart with this new protection racket fee for Private Sellers

The only good thing seems to be Business Sellers (*like me) don't have this imposed on our listings....just have around 16% taken as fees (gulp!) instead LOL!

[martinwh1]

Most of my items are £1.50 including postage, they would still sell at £1.75 so 16% fees would be fine. The 75p flat fee is the killer for small price items - my items won't sell at £2.31 so that's the end of eBay sales for me and many others in the same position. I assume getting rid of us is part of eBay's new marketing strategy.

[alittlemouse1]

It is correct. Sellers will have to lower prices so the buyer pays the same as before when buyer protection fees are added on. 

[dogrobinsnest]

So a postcard or a for Sale at £1.00 how do you lower the price then ???? The minimum price a private seller can set is 0.99p a crazy messed up situation I am sure most except Ebay Mentors would agree.

[ile136yz]

Understand what you are saying.

I think even eBay must see the drop in views to all Seller's Accounts since the introduction of Buyer's fees. It is scaring Buyers off the eBay site & they aree buying elsewhere.  Low views equal low sales.

[dogrobinsnest]

Thankyou & I totally agree with you hopefully they will come to there senses .

[seekers_haven02]

I have just noticed that my items have an inflated starting price on the listing and am not happy - As normally offer free postage this makes it all look very bad - my items are normally under £1 the starting price has been automatically increased to £11.11 which means if I offer free postage I am effectively getting nearly half of the item price.  As a pensioner and not a business this means it is totally non productive and hence the reason why all of a sudden no one is buying my draught excluders - I was lucky to make a £1 on each one but enjoyed doing it - now after being with e.bay for 25 years - looks like the big boys will win the day and never mind us little ones 

[seekers_haven02]

I made a mistake on my post I meant my items are £10 not £1 - 

[jckl1957]

As you are making (or buying?) the draught excluders to sell, you could open a business account to sell them on and avoid the new buyer protection fee.

If the other things you sell are unwanted personal items, you could keep your private account to sell them on.

Do I need a business account?

If you plan to sell casually, such as selling items you no longer want, a private account is the best option. 

If you want to sell large quantities, if you have items that you've made or bought to resell or if you already have a business outside of eBay, you’ll need to register a business account.

[musician-songwriter]

Totally agree with both points ebay are stealing what they can from us. It's a captive market and we created this monster. Just like amazon and we wonder why all the shops are closed now 

[leighbayuk]

The new fees are terrible for low cost items. I sell some spare keyboard keycaps, mostly to help out folks who have lost one. These £4.29 (inc. postage) items were getting slapped with an 89p surcharge.

For years we have been advised to incorporate the postage cost into the item price and offer this as free postage, because items sell better with a simple upfront cost. With the new buyers fees, eBay will now apply the fee to the total paid. So they double-dip by charging a percentage of any inbuilt postage as a buyer's fee, then take a cut from the seller as payment processing fee, and then sell you the postage.

I am now listing these items with a separate postage charge to reduce the fee to the buyer. Still getting hit for 82p on a £2.50 item though. 🤑

[sharongolfer]

It’s a rip off. They say the buyer pays but they don’t the seller pays. I agreed a price of £90 for an item I will receive £83 net of postage, VAT and the new buyer protection fee. Tell me how they can say the buyer pays!!! 

[alexis*27]

Buyers aren't stupid. I've never bought anything from Vinted because I saw the ads years ago and immediately thought "well how do they make their money?"

Three seconds before "buyer protection fees applies" appeared at the bottom of the screen.

They'll be thinking the same thing about the eBay ads.  And when they look at listings and see the fee, they'll be off to Amazon instead.

As for "eBay doesn't care because naive new buyers sign up every day", Schpock is barely squeaking by and can't even afford advertising any more.

[walincm6]

I went back to eBay from Facebook when it stopped charging fees, so I guess its back to Facebook again for me. Bye bye

[madeat136]

Re the new payments after delivery .

I sent two items in the same package (after refunding customer excess postage ) 

Item 1 " payment will be available on the 16th" 

Item 2  " awaiting delivery " 

Go figure 🙄🤷‍♀️

[andha-21]

Unless you added the tracking number of the first to the second you could be in bother there.

The buyer can simply say not received. 

If you have PM proof it may help but it seems that eBay CS side with the buyer most times, regardless to proof.

@madeat136 

[madeat136]

The same tracking number us on both , and positive feedback recieved 🙈What else can I do 🤷‍♀️Sent from my Galaxy

[knightinarmour]

I’m really confused. I have 14 things in my watch list. Not one says anything about “buyers protection”… of the things I have bought since Jan 25 (3) didn’t have it (and yes private sellers). 

im also selling stuff and have 7 things in draft and one thing launched today. The item I launched today didnt say anything about buyers protection- out of the drafts only ONE states it, the others do not. Is it only some categories? 

[andha-21]

At the moment, yes. They are adding more categories day by day. 

There's a thread here where users are posting the categories that now have BPF, at least the ones they find.

[andha-21]

Sounds like you did everything the right way so hopefully it will turn out okay for you. Unfortunately you still get to wait for your money though.