ICYMI - Last Minute Buyer Fee Change, Will Be Phased In Starting With Electronics

[valueaddedresource]

In case you missed it - eBay will *not* be adding Buyer Fees in all categories tomorrow, instead opting for a phased rollout starting in Electronics and then expanding to other categories "in the following weeks."

The update was tucked into a broader announcement posted to the community earlier today:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Announcements/Buyer-Protection-Pok%C3%A9mon-Day-VAT-invoices-amp-oth...

Starting from 4 February, Buyer Protection will be live to give buyers more peace of mind when shopping on ebay.co.uk. To minimise any potential disruption on our platform, the Buyer Protection fee will be gradually rolled out across items listed by private sellers, starting in Electronics and coming to all eligible categories in the following weeks.

[doumind_7]

Disagree. This is a the biggest online auction site in the world. You can't exclude certain groups because you don't like them (sounds like Labour). And you don't have to put up with it. Move elswhere.

[medealady]

Checked well after midnight UK time and no changes in electronics. What I did notice however was a bizarre pricing of £ per kg for mobile phones! and where businesses were selling variations a median price displayed. All this done by ebay! good to know I can compare mobile phones to fruit n veg!

[valueaddedresource]

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@papso22 wrote:

I wonder if they have decided that for listings that were already active before today, the BPF will be included in the original listing price rather than programme the software to add the BPF to the listed price originally selected by the seller?

While that would make life easier for ebay, it's a bit harsh on the seller who chose a particular price without allowing for the BPF and gets paid less the BPF.

Alternatively, it's not happened yet!

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@papso22  @wellingnorth  - not sure if it's related but the forums are currently being flooded with complaints about the latest updates to both iOS and Android apps not being compatible with older devices...we're seeing a bunch of posts about it over in the US community as well but all of those posts so far appear to be from users who are registered in the UK.

Makes me wonder if they perhaps pushed an app update for the UK specifically as part of enabling Buyer Fees, not realizing it would cause this massive issue with older devices, and so maybe they've had to hold off on launching buyer fees will they figure this mess out?

If so, that would certainly be exactly the kind of disruption eBay had hoped to avoid by making it a phased roll out. 🤦‍

[bittyboy101]

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@doumind_7 wrote:

Disagree. This is a the biggest online auction site in the world. You can't exclude certain groups because you don't like them (sounds like Labour). And you don't have to put up with it. Move elswhere.

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Well said !

[bittyboy101]

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@lucy_farmer wrote:

'....Everyone has the right to sell their stuff on eBay whether it is big business sellers or tiny private sellers.....'

Nobody has any *right* at all to use any private company (like ebay) They can choose who they want and don't want on their site.

We have to put up with it or go somewhere else....

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Some of us private sellers have paid eBay for shop subscriptions and promoted listings - In UK English law, If someone has paid for a service and hasn't done anything wrong - They have a legal right to use that  service.

[ioweddie]

What defines an eligible category?

[valueaddedresource]

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@ioweddie wrote:

What defines an eligible category?

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@ioweddie assuming this policy page is still accurate - it would be anything not in Vehicles, Classified Ads, and Property categories.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buyer-protection-fee?id=5594 

[doumind_7]

Quite frankly eBay are not introducing anything at the moment. Nothing happened yesterday, tech is up the creek, no announcements. I will not be buying it selling until they sort this self made mess out.

[theelench]

It might be a long wait, once one un-tested change goes wrong all kinds of un-foreseen side effects show up and with more changes coming down the line, who knows...........

[valueaddedresource]

FYI - eBay support on X/Twitter is now saying Buyer Fees have been postponed until February 6th.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Buyer-Fees-Postponed-Until-February-6th/td-p/7765487 

[doumind_7]

I would'nt bank on Twitter being right.I

Not sure why eBay are not making an announcement on the site.

[doumind_7]

Bet ya it doesn't happen. They'll be a sort of meet half way "solution."

I would suggest that a compromise might be to make  all items under £10 exempt from BPF.

[papso22]

It's not on Twitter any more!

[valueaddedresource]

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@doumind_7 wrote:

I would'nt bank on Twitter being right.I

Not sure why eBay are not making an announcement on the site.

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@doumind_7  yeah, support doesn't have a great track record so I always take it with a grain of salt but their follow up tweet had said they had put in for the policy page to be updated and a public announcement to be made so....🤷‍

They've now deleted it all so who knows what is really happening - what a mess!

[doumind_7]

Just take down all your listings. Personally I'm not even going to buy anything either. Too likely the tech will wipe everything out.

[spitfire167]

Already seen a lot of sellers adding the buyer fees to listing which are NOT Electronics  claiming Ebay forced them into it . reported NOTHING was done

[andha-21]

Far more than Electronics have BPF fees now. There's a thread trying to keep an up-to-date list here. Users doing it as eBay aren't saying.

Most recent I've seen mentioned were stationary and garden.

[andha-21]

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/New-Buyer-Fee-CATEGORIES-Thread-Please-Add-any-update...

[colins83]

eBay have screwed this up big time, I have over 800 listings most of which were priced in the £2.25 ish range this puts £0.80 price jump on my items. This includes the postage if i take the postage off i am making   £0.70 on each sale, eBay are making 0.80. Why am I selling on eBay now, to be honest having seen the drop in sales over the last few days I have spent the morning looking at other sites, WHICH DO HAVE AN APPEAL. 

Even as a buyer what am I paying the 80P for? Seller Protection i dont think so Its just and eBay tax !!

[madasatadpole]

absolutely nailed it  mate, i totally agree