New Buyer Fee = Good News For Private Sellers!

[the-bee-keeper]

Now that ebay are adding this extra fee maybe they will actually allow private sellers to sell!

Now that the buyer has to pay a buyers premium, ebay will be making money off the private seller from the sales!

The more ebay push private sellers to reach the public the more money ebay will make! 

It couldn't be a better time to be a private seller!!

So come on ebay now is your chance to make more money!!

The private seller pays the way forward! 

[bonkersbassboy]

I agree - suicidal. I used to sell greetings card at around £1.50-£2 - I sold a lot but now no one is going to want to pay an extra £1 for “protection” from a birthday card - honestly! Yes my sales have also plummeted! I think they will have to backtrack this idea otherwise they will be left with only business sellers - which is entirely the opposite of the original concept of Ebay when it first started - or perhaps that is what they want ?

[owlita]

They'll achieve exactly the opposite as it will put both sellers and buyers off this sneaky platform. It'll be interesting to see if auctions are going to become less popular because the fee is the percentage of the final price. I certainly will be careful with bidding and will rather look for reasonable BIN listings which I prefer anyway.

[cheapluxuries]

No it is on all items sold by private sellers!  It is an absolute disgrace!

[cheapluxuries]

Are you mad?  This is the exact opposite of what is happening!

[ben5425]

Yep, that’s the final straw - I’m done with eBay after 20 years.  I had no idea about this and just bought a luxury watch, I was expected to pay £60 buyer protection plus £12 in VAT (on the £60 buyer protection) on top of the watch price.  £72 on top of the price I agreed with the seller.  I thought the seller was “at it” until he explained and kindly compromised by paying 60% of the fee and I paid 40%.  I didn’t think much more about it as nothing else that I’ve purchased on EBay has triggered this additional 4% charge until today when £10 was whacked onto a £235 jacket.  It lost the seller a sale as I thought he was just punting seller fees on to me.  I contacted eBay to find out what was going on and they explained this is “the future”.   It’s not, it’s wrong.  The price advertised should be inclusive of everything except postage.  So I’m out.  Life is too short.

[theelench]

Definitely tongue in cheek:

Haven't you read up about all the 'exciting' new protection you get for paying for your protection?

If I'm not mistaken you get a new, 24 Hr. robot to talk to 😮

AND...... (drum-roll) you get the 'security' of knowing that ebay will hang onto the sellers money for a couple of weeks, even though they already have a DD on the seller's bank account from which they can take the money if you want a refund.

[beachbay22]

No this new buyer fee has affected sales. I'm a private seller. EBay stopped charging selling fees - yay I repeatedly praised them during phone calls - yet a short time, few months latee, they introduce 'buyer protection' my sales have stopped. Thinking of leaving ebay sadly 

[beachbay22]

Yes buyers think sellers are making this charge when they don't have a choice.

Some sellers are exempt,  charity, auction?!

[rog_911]

Have you thought this through? 

2 identical items - one private, one business.

Which one would you buy? The one that is more expensive due to a fee or the business one without?

I know I look for a competitive price - and often that is from a business seller.

The only way a private seller can drive sales is to REDUCE their sales price.

[buffster1963]

The only sellers exempt are business sellers because they already have to abide by consumer laws. Anyone buying to sell should be registered on a business account. 

[cheapluxuries]

What's the alternative though?

[thestagemanager]

Previously the seller paid a fee when the item sold.  This is discontinued and the seller now pays a similar fee supposedly for buyer protection.  The buyers always had protection and in the event of a dispute Ebay always came down on the side of the buyer.  If sellers reduce their prices by the amount of the fee they will be no worse off.  Remember that business sellers have to pay tax and VAT so they were previously at a disadvantage.

[m25jet]

If you seriously think that buyers will be more inclined to buy from private sellers as a result of having to pay a higher overall price in order to do so, then you must be mad!  If you were considering buying an item from somebody and you saw two identical items for the same asking price, both in excellent undamaged condition and in full working order, one of which was being sold by a private seller, whereas the other was being sold by a business seller, which seller would you be inclined to buy from?  The private seller, in which case you would have to pay an additional Buyer Protection Fee on top of the asking price and postage and packing costs, or the business seller, in which case you wouldn't have to pay the Buyer Protection Fee given that eBay haven't yet gone so far as to impose this on items listed for sale by business sellers?

To be honest I think this is more likely to be the final nail in the coffin for many private sellers on eBay, rather than resulting in private sellers achieving a higher overall amount of sales as a result of eBay having imposed a Buyer Protection Fee on their listings in addition to the price of the item and the postage and packing costs!

[stevecoles2023]

I won't be buying anything from private sellers. I'm not paying ebay fees.. The sellers should pay the fees, they are the ones making the money.. I'm paying for them to sell on ebay. Get lost!!!

[forestfeline62]

Imagine telling a highstreet shop or supermarket ,we will pay you in 2 to 14 days depending on the quality of the food etc, but we might not tell you what we thought so we won't pay you at all .

[vintique*violet]

Good old fashioned garage sales? 

Bricks and mortar auction houses for larger item such as furniture etc. or those who deal in collectables?

Finding an " online platform seller" who sells on behalf of as a business and takes a percentage of sales proceeds? 

Charity?

Landfill? 

[theelench]

You always have paid ebay fees.  Any seller with any sense had at least some idea of what ebay would charge them for selling an item.  If they thought their item was worth £10 they'd put it on for £11 / £12, if it was Sponsored the buyer would be paying for that on top.

Just smoke and mirrors so ebay can claim it's "Free to Sell" without loosing too much revenue by not collecting fees from sellers.

[1crazydiamond]

The fees are passed to the seller thus less likely to buy.  = reduced sales

Great time to be a seller  LMAO 

I predict other platforms growing and ebay declining 

[1crazydiamond]

Any seller with any sense?

Increases their price??

And people find a cheaper one instead 

Your post is very flawed 

Price is KING  on a platform like eBay 

[thestagemanager]

Apart from having to wait for your money, the changes Ebay have made do not really affect private sellers.  If previously you listed an item for £10, when it sold you would pay a fee to Ebay of around £1.50.  You ended up with £8.50.  So now you list the same item for £8.50 and the buyer pays the protection fee of £1.50 so it costs them £10 and you still end up with £8.50.  If you arrange your own postage, as before, the costs to buyers and the income to sellers is the same.  Regards having to wait for your payout, if you have a job you work for a month then get paid.  Unless you are desperate for the money, having to wait for payout is a bit of a pain but to me not a reason to stop selling.