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 .

[the_book_seekers]

But the very fact that so many 'private' sellers pop up quite openly and innocently announcing what they're up to, seems to underline the fact that they're not aware of the illegality of their position.

So true. ebay has never grasped how our tax system works. From all the comments made ebay seems to work to financial limits rather than what a seller is doing - no matter how much money is involved. Policing the site properly has never been one of ebay's strong points.

[countrywill]

I have been selling electronic components for over 22 years and always had regular buyers. One of these items, I used to sell for £2. 95 plus p+p but now I have had to lower my price to £2.00 (that alone on this item is a 0.90p loss) because the Buyer Protection fee has increased my buy now price of £2.00  up to £2.80. So who loses out here? I am not even getting back what I have paid my supplier for my  stock after I have been forced to use a tracked postal service. These things would not sell at all if my price was any higher because the Chinese are selling the same thing for a lot less with free postage

[countrywill]

I have been selling electronic components for over 22 years and always had regular buyers. One of these items I used to sell for £2. 95 plus p+p but now I have had to lower my price to £2.00 (that alone on this item is a 0.90p loss) because the Buyer Protection fee has increased my buy now price of £2.00  up to £2.80. So who loses out here? I am not even getting back what I have paid my supplier for my  stock after I have been forced to use a tracked postal service these things would not sell at all if my price was any higher because the Chinese are selling the same thing for a lot less with free postage

[countrywill]

No I do not buy at wholesale prices or at a trade price so I am not a business, and I do not sell enough items to be a business seller

[countrywill]

I am not a business seller because I cannot sell enoughitems in the required time to become a business seller

[lucy_farmer]

'because I cannot sell enoughitems in the required time....'

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? ... what is the required amount of items? and what required length of time?

[podlingsmum2007]

The key words here that you used were 'supplier' and 'stock'. Your items are new as well, bought to sell on. How are you anything but a business? You are 'trading'. You don't appear to be selling unwanted items from your shed or attic.

[mibr2002]

I collect stamps, and have been selling my surplus items on ebay to fund new acquisitions - often from other ebay sellers.  As a result I engage in what is essentially a low volume, low value trade.

A large proportion of individual items  in the stamp world are priced for auction for £1 or less sometimes as low as 25p - and this is often close to the real commercial value.  . At this level BPF more thanj triples the purchase price - a selling price of £1 is inflated by 80%.  Consequently however keenly I price  the cheaper end of my available stock, the purchase price will always be higher than the market price or what anyone with any sense will pay.

I am still looking for the fantastic seller benefits to be gained from the imposition of this tax.

[wintersdawn1]

Not sure if it'll help but Vinted have now added a 'Stamps' category.

[originsreborn]

You've got to laugh or you'd cry!! 😂

[countrywill]

Because I used to repair electronic items like televisions andthings and I needed a component myself one day  but the only ones available that I could getquite quick were on eBay so I had to buy from there but it was a bag of 50pieces. So as I have a lot of friends in the business I thought I could sellthese at a lower price than the ones I bought of eBay trying to help otherpeople and save them paying more for these things., so I listed a few which andI just kept selling, but I am not a business seller I am a pensioner at the ageof 71 and recovering from a recent Stroke so I do not intend to be a businessseller. nor try to be, I said I buy from a Trade supplier because the guy I buy from is a T.V  engineer and he sells me things for a littlecheaper than to any one else but it is not trade price. He does me favoursbecause I have helped him out over the years by doing repairs for him when hewas really busy or short of time and sometimes he will give me some componentsthat he no longer needs for  free. I do ofcourse consider the components I have as stock but they are not really stock ina business way, they are just things I am trying to sell to help out with mypension

[countrywill]

I do not know but I looked at becoming a business seller a few years ago but it said you need to hit so many sales per month so I did not bother

 I used to repair electronicitems like televisions and things and I needed a component myself one day  but the only ones available that I could getquite quick were on eBay so I had to buy from there but it was a bag of 50pieces. So as I have a lot of friends in the business I thought I could sellthese at a lower price than the ones I bought of eBay trying to help otherpeople and save them paying more for these things., so I listed a few which andI just kept selling, but I am not a business seller I am a pensioner at the ageof 71 and recovering from a recent Stroke so I do not intend to be a businessseller. nor try to be, I said I buy from a Trade supplier because the guy I buy from is a T.V  engineer and he sells me things for a littlecheaper than to any one else but it is not trade price. He does me favoursbecause I have helped him out over the years by doing repairs for him when hewas really busy or short of time and sometimes he will give me some componentsthat he no longer needs for  free. I do ofcourse consider the components I have as stock but they are not really stock ina business way, they are just things I am trying to sell to help out with mypension

[the_book_seekers]

I'm afraid what you are doing still falls within the definition of business trading. It is what you do not how much you sell over a particular period. If you buy to sell then you are trading as a business. HMRC has a £1000 trading allowance which is intended from keeping traders like yourself from submitting self assessments. If your sales including postage total under £1000 per year then you are fine on this score. However being under the limit for self assessment doesn't negate the responsibilities to comply with consumer law, which means registering as business with ebay. You may never be bothered by HMRC or the bodies responsible for consumer legislation with your level of trading, but please understand you are trading as a business on a private account. 

[papso22]

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@andha-21 wrote:

@papso22 

In case you can help them 

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Option-to-send-invoices-disappeared/td-p/7783548/page...

I was speaking with a user called aquitania earlier, off memory it's post 176 going on.

I don't know what they are describing, never seen or heard of it before. You have any idea?

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I suspect this is inaccurate information from ebay CS as usual, but the only proof will come from a buyer who has  bought off a seller using SD and has been sent an invoice from where they chose the postage method.

An Ebay community manager has already confirmed that not being able to issue invoices is a known technical issue,  I would take their word over ebay CS any day. 

@andha-21 

[martinwh1]

Might I suggest the old adage "when you're in a hole, stop digging"? Every time you post it just emphasises that you buy in new things to sell on at a profit which is the accepted definition of a business. The daft thing is that, with the low value items you sell, you would be better off as a business seller paying 16% sellers fees instead of trying to mitigate the  75p + 4% BPF

[leighbayuk]

I had a series of email follow ups from eBay Customer Support following a previous chat session. In response to the addition of BPF to listings and the effect on prices, they said:

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To get the best price sellers as a workaround, seller can list the item after calculating there listing price along with buyer protection fees.

In response to the lack of clarity around fees being deducted from offers made by buyers they said:

Also, to ensure that the seller receives the right amount for their product they can counter offer to the buyer and discuss with the buyer if they disagree with the prices.

I think the fact that these workarounds and extra steps are now being suggested by customer services clearly demonstrates how badly this has been implemented. I can only hope that eBay review their whole approach when they see the negative impact these changes are having.

[papso22]

I think it clearly illustrates how little ebay CS understand how it works.

Sellers simply list at the price they want for an item, ebay does the rest, no workaround needed.

The counter offer/offer to a buyer will also be what they want to get, discussions with the buyer on price are not a workaround, they are just negotiation.

There is no need for 'workarounds' sellers just need to list and get on with life.

[leighbayuk]

Buyer offers require workarounds. Before, you could safely set a minimum offer or auto accept amount. Whilst you can still do that, the amount the seller receives will depend on if the buyer is from the UK or not. So you can't even manually calculate the fee and build it into these values as they may or may not apply.

[papso22]

That's a very specific problem.  I would have thought the best thing is to work on the basis that the offer from the buyer will be subject to fees and if not, that's a bonus!

[pillarboxred]

We are in the era of unbridled billionaire capitalism and things are going to get very nasty for ordinary people throughout the Western world.