On of the key things with SD is seller is no longer buying the postage. So it terms of basic buyer protection the buyer is no longer protected by distance selling laws which up to until now has been a pretty fundamental part. In my opinion Ebay are a middle agent who are selling on the item to eventual buyer but even if this not the case it still a huge change
So you could say that the likes of Ebay and VTD have to offer buyer protection . Whilst VTD description of BPF is infinitely better than Ebay's neither are making that point clear to the buyer . Even under this changed set-up the buyer is still protected as if the courier service offers compensation than that to a fair degree replaces distance selling as lost or damaged items can still be compensated but it is no longer the sellers responsibility to sort the issue out and is now and issue between buyer and who sold them the postage and Ebay etc are selling the postage for their own benefit that is Ebay .
So what does BPF actually offer the buyer and the only tangible reason if there is an issue with the condition or the item is not as described . Again VTD go to some length to manage this expectation were Ebay just spout marketing blurb . However for the seller this is something that would be covered by agreed T & C' s . So real BPF should only really cover time and effort for the likes of Ebay to resolve.
Given Ebay BPF fees then I would say only the 4% part of BPF could be genuinely classed as BPF and the 75p flat fee is for all intents and purposes a selling fee and should be clearly advertised as such ! to all parties .
So If SD removes distance selling rules from the equation then BPF had to be in place 1st which what they have done. You can have SD with Ebay "offering" BPF !
However Ebay need to understand that not having BPF was a USP feature of Ebay that they should exploited and by going down the BPF they have actually allowed the likes of VTD to have a more competitive edge as there BPF is cheaper and a lot more honest !!
