R.I.P eBay (UK) ------>> 19th Feb 2025

[yorkscollectables]

The introduction of the eBay Buyer Protection fee of 75p plus 4% of the value of goods,  effective from 19th February 2025 has effectively killed off eBay (UK).

Buyers have walked away and Private Sellers are now forced to drastically reduce their prices to try to compete with 'Business Sellers', who are not subject to the eBay Buyer Protection fees.

It's a great shame, and unless eBay's management team in San Jose, California see the error of their ways, and quickly, there will be nothing left to salvage from the wreckage !!

[abmedia2020]

---

@yorkscollectables wrote:

FACT

On an item costing £12 the eBay Buyer Protection Fee is £1.20

that's a 10% surcharge that Buyers are expected to pay !!

R.I.P eBay (UK)

---

I'm still can't believe they actually did this. How could they not see the perfectly reasonable (and transparent to buyers) alternative of simply reducing private seller fees to an appropriate level.

Unbelievable.

I purchased a 100m roll of bubble wrap recently, enough to last 30 years on current sales.

[oliwier_online]

when buying from business seller an item that costs £12, buyers are paying even higher ebay fee that are included in the price. Ebay final value fees are average 10% + additional fixed fee of 30p. Private sellers are not paying those fees. I undestand frustration and I believe that these changes hit the most small private sellers that sell low budges items . eBay has no control over it's own platform and many 'private' sellers who have 1000s of listings should have been  registered as a business sellers and ebay would be geting much more from fees. Instead they are now penalising everyone. It's unfair for genuine private sellers who just want to get rid of their stuff.

[johnwash1]

---

@oliwier_online wrote:

when buying from business seller an item that costs £12, buyers are paying even higher ebay fee that are included in the price. Ebay final value fees are average 10% + additional fixed fee of 30p. Private sellers are not paying those fees. I undestand frustration and I believe that these changes hit the most small private sellers that sell low budges items . ....

---

And don't forget that business sellers are either paying monthly subscriptions to get free listings, or else have to pay a fee just to LIST, let alone sell.

But this is all irrelevant, because business is all about perception.  Other platforms that had buyer fees had them from the beginning.  Ebay has suddenly changed the rules because they imagine the only way to counter the competition is to ape them.  (Interesting word 'ape' in this context, it has overtones doesn't it!)

Suddenly changing the rules in a very visible fashion is like doing a course correction in the middle of the Suez Canal.

[tommystrezures]

---

@johnwash1 wrote:

---

Suddenly changing the rules in a very visible fashion is like doing a course correction in the middle of the Suez Canal.

---

And for a bonus point, wasn't that the Ever Given, which caused something like 400 tankers to be backlogged for nigh on a week?

[brookysbooty]

AMEN 

Its just pure greed 

[yorkscollectables]

If anybody still claims that eBay visitor numbers and sales have NOT fallen dramatically since eBay began surcharging Buyers with this ridiculous Buyer Protection Fee, they are deluded.

Latest website traffic data confirms the massive decline in visitor numbers.

[brookysbooty]

Amen

Sent from Outlook for iOS<>

[papso22]

---

@yorkscollectables wrote:

If anybody still claims that eBay visitor numbers and sales have NOT fallen dramatically since eBay began surcharging Buyers with this ridiculous Buyer Protection Fee, they are deluded.

Latest website traffic data confirms the massive decline in visitor numbers.

---

Do you have a better source for that than you used before?

[andha-21]

You'd be surprised at the quality of information you can get from Nigerian Princes these days.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Here’s some concrete proof

 

[yorkscollectables]

https://account.similarweb.com/journey/registration?action=website_performance&domain=ebay.co.uk

unfortunately papso22, andha-21 and jonat_broad will all have to pay a fee to view the data

ironic isn't it............ having to pay a FEE .......................lol

the yolk's on YOU !!!

[vinylscot]

Different websites report the figures differently. I don't know what similarweb says, but ahrefs does confirm a slight drop of around 5% in traffic. However, February is 10% shorter than January, so, using their figures, eBay's UK site was busier during February than it was in January.

The trend, over the past year, is down quite alarmingly. However, there was no drop in February, as explained above, so the BPF can't be having the effect you claim it is having.

See below.

[exponential_developments]

My ebay fee's as a business are currently 17% which is ridiculous, and remember fee's are taken on postage as well as the item value.

[bzmotman]

I'm posting this from a Business account in the name of transparency & no I don't work for Ebay. The following only relates to the niche category I list in; I dont claim it applies to all of Ebay - it might & it might not.

Since Feb 17 when BPF would have hit private accounts my auction sales on my 2 accounts are up week on week by the following Feb 24 30%, March 3 another 20% March 10 another 40%. I know the figures don't fit your argument but thats what they are.

A couple of what I think are the reasons is firstly buyers do not like/want BPF so are moving to Business sellers where the amount they bid is what they pay, no "hidden" add ons. Yes I know Ebay show the fee but how many buyers actually bother reading it just like they don't read condition/description then complain when an item isnt in the condition they thought it was & secondly fewer private sellers are listing because they perceive the BPF as making them uncompetitive & as a barrier to selling. Additionally they may have had pushback from buyers over the BPF & don't want the hassle. Less choice is driving buyers to Business sellers.

Personally I don't like the BPF as I suspect it will hit Businesses in due course but with Ebay having given private sellers fee free selling I struggle to see how private sellers can complain. There is no such thing as "free" it has to be paid for somehow & BPF is how Ebay have chosen to do it. If a private seller doesn't like it they have the choice of moving to another site which will probably be using the BPF model as well.

[oliwier_online]

Maybe it was ebay hidden plan when they introduced 'free selling' to to encourage more people to come and sell on the platform and then suddenly hit them with that additional fees? Not sure. Personally I think it should be more straightforward and fees should have same structure for private and business sellers. 

eBay should more focus on fraudulent private sellers who claim to be private but in fact they are doing business selling in here. Not sure if eBay doesn't see this, but surely 'private' account with 1000 listings with brand new items and multiple quantities is definitely not private but business. eBay should have some system to check this. 

Who knows why are they doing this 😑 Watching buyers moving to other cheaper platforms like temu or shein, ebay should make changes to get more people in and not the oposite, otherwise they will losse even more

[brookysbooty]

We all have the right to complain you state that we should understand that nothing is free , then it’s time our wording changes. EBay declared it everywhere on TV / social media it’s now FREE to sell on eBay. But what they should have actually said at the same time is , BUT buyers will have to pay this and this is changing. Instead of leading everyone into a false sense of security regardless of what there true intentions were all along.
I have been using this site since it started way before the date on my account and have never seen such an obvious sign of greed from eBay. And it’s extremely quiet, I have never experienced in all the time I’ve been here. It’s always been open and fairly fair for EVERYONE and it still should be so why should private sellers move to other sites. EBay should be treating everyone equally, everyone should treat everyone equally we already live in a hostile and challenging world it’s all down to greed.

[lovethebeach33]

well said brooky, i completely agree with your comments.

this was never about pitting Private Sellers against Business Sellers

it is 100% about the NEGATIVE impact that the ebay B.P.F has had on visitors to the site.

declining visitor numbers hits all Sellers, and eBay doesn't understand this.

[jonatjonatjonat]

congratulations on finally finding evidence of a drop in visits from I assume January to February? Or is it YoY?

....also taken from the same similarweb, stats for other sites. These are site visits in Feb 25 vs Jan 25

Amazon.co.uk - 14% down

Argos - 21% down

Etsy - 15% down

Temu - 8% down

Tesco - 12% down

You are pinning all of this on BPF, which won't help matters I get that, it will be a conversion blocker, but its not the only thing happening in the world. All marketplace sites (and similar) are seeing a downturn in visits because people are simply less inclined to spend. As such, many simply aren't even visiting. ebay is not unique in that.

[abmedia2020]

---

@bzmotman wrote:

my auction sales on my 2 accounts are up week on week

---

Assuming you have bidders on all your auctions, then the only way sales can be up is if you list more.

Or do you mean auctions ending with at least one bid are up?

[kath3735_wxmjn]

but it is free to sell for sellers (unless you are daft enough to pay for promotions).  I had a really good Jan and even better in Feb compared to last year.   I do not like the changes me but so far none of them have impacted on my selling.   Then again i would not be over worried if there had been a drop as i am selling unwanted items that would have gone to a charity shop if i did not use e bay.   I will however not be continuing when SD comes in.