Giving up selling because of stupid "Buyer protection Fees"

[col8361]

Anyone else feel this way?

As a private seller. I am seriously contemplating stopping selling because of these rip off "buyer protection fees".   It is very, very off putting for buyers to see these strange buy it now prices. All it really does is force us to lower the price we are asking for.

Getting to be much easier just to take my stuff to a car boot sale or the skip. E-bay is hard enough work already.

[jonatjonatjonat]

the buyer protection fee is nothing to do with the money back guarantee.

[theelench]

Yes it is, it's being represented as an enhancement to MBG that buyers are being required to pay for.

Where is the enhancement ?

We (the regulars) all know it's a miss-named attempt by ebay to re-coup lost income after declaring (falsely) that it's now "Free" to Sell" for private sellers.

The MBG still stands in full, so what are buyers being asked to pay for ?   Only to increase ebays profits.

We know it's only ebay transferring the previous Sellers fees to buyers so they can claim it's "Free" to Sell" without losing too much income.

Buyers see it as a price increase due to a new fee added to their purchase. 

Total ineptitude on the part of ebay and yet another act of sabotage to private sellers ability to sell on this Business Only site.

[col8361]

Totally agree. After 21 years on Ebay with 100% feedback, ONE just ONE negative from from a stupid ignorant buyer lowered it to 97%, putting off other buyers.

[col8361]

LAST STRAW was Ebay wanting my NI number for HMRC after yet more trouble with a buyer, simple posting and ebay. No way could I ever trust Ebay with that. All companies say they "Hold your info securely" but when hacked all you get maximum is "Ooops sorry".

[ragitis]

There is life after eBay

[tranceenthusiast]

How this isn’t being investigated by regulators is beyond me. Buyer protection fee should be called scam tax.

Nobody is buying anything so it won’t stay for long anyway. 

? 

[tranceenthusiast]

Ps sellers have to factor it in or face not making a sale.. Even then people don’t buy, so everyone loses out. 

[j***193]

I agree. It's like charging us VAT for selling. It is diabolical. The fee is too high.

Buyer Protection fee is calculated as:

A flat fee of up to £0.10 per item, and

7% of the item price up to £20, and

4% of any portion of the item price from £20 to £300, and

2% of any portion of the item price from £300 to £4,000

This seriously inhibits selling items for a realistic price especially if you choose eBay postage services.

[theelench]

That is down to ebay showing it at checkout in addition to the item price.

It looks like an additional fee.

We both know that it was the fee taken by ebay from the seller

which until this stupidity began the buyer never saw, knew or cared about.

All they saw was the item price which included the seller's fee to ebay.

Even when the seller reduces the price to "factor in" the BPF the buyer still sees a fee in addition to the (reduced) item price and feels ripped-off even if they're paying marginally less.

It has always been a "Golden Rule" of selling that ebays fees were concealed from the buyer by including them in the item price.

Ebay has now sabotaged private seller's sales by waving the amount it takes in fees in the buyers face at checkout.

Even more so if the item then has to be sent using Stupid Delivery with an inflated postage cost.

Total stupidity on ebay's part IMO.

[j***193]

I'm looking at Vinted now. It too has a buyer protection fee but cannot see
how it is derived. But the fee is shown up front before posting.

I think eBay has copied them without thinking it through.
Surely it's about volume - Vinted being smaller needed the extra revenue.
eBay being much larger and in the dominant position could afford to do it
simpler with lower fees. What do you think?

[gjalp]

It’s always about money and shareholders and revenue streams. The bigger, the better. Ebay doesn’t really care about sellers (unless they are doing dodgy dealings, then they want rid). They are big corporate. We are barely little fishes. Do your best to keep your account clean and your buyers happy and/or look at other venues. 

[department28]

'We both know that it was the fee taken by ebay from the seller which until this stupidity began the buyer never saw, knew or cared about. All they saw was the item price which included the seller's fee to ebay.'

Exactly. Given the option, I'm sure most sellers would much rather revert to listing & final value fees, than have this ridiculous buyer protection fee tacked on to their item price. Obviously, eBay preferred to invent a 'new' fee, rather than lose face by backtracking on 'free to sell', which always seemed like a dubious idea anyway.

Now, every time eBay decide to change the BPF, the price the buyer sees has to be changed, causing annoyance to sellers who do not appreciate eBay 'interfering' with their listings. The seller used to be in total control of item price, and postage price... not any more, sadly.

[jonatjonatjonat]

That’s akin to asking why Tesla’s are so expensive if Elon Musk is so rich.

[theelench]

"..ebay preferred to invent a 'new' fee, rather than lose face by backtracking on 'free to sell', which always seemed to be a dubious idea anyway."

I think ebay always intended to introduce the BPF.   "Free" to sell was just to boost the number of sellers and listing numbers before doing so.  It only lasted about a month before the BPF/ Holds on payouts/  SD were all announced.

Just ebay slight of hand to get a wave of new sellers who knew no better and would be all the easier to confuse and bamboozle to maximise ebay's profits.

Ebay has moved from FVF, which with falling sales have been drying-up, to buyers paying the BPF instead.  But with private sellers having to reduce their prices to cover the BPF or appear to be charging more than the unaffected business seller who can still conceal their fees in the item price.

And of course ebay has its eye on the bigger pile of cash it hopes to make by "persuading" even more private sellers who have had their sales sabotaged by ebay into sponsoring their ads. in an attempt to get some of them back.

The whole idea of ebay as the place for private sellers to sell on their unwanted collections or household goods has now gone.  It's no longer a place where they can advertise second-hand goods at a reasonable price and expect to get it.  

They now have to consider how much to reduce that price to cover the buyer's fees or appear more expensive than a business selling the equivalent item and also consider paying ebay for visibility in order to sell anything.

Something that even seasoned business sellers are having trouble with after ebay has changed the Sponsorship rules again.

About the only thing that is open and honest about ebay for private sellers these days is that you can only expect little, get less and then wait up to 30 days (if you're lucky) to get your hands on the pittance that all your efforts have made you.