This is going to mean the end for many small private sellers. "Buyer Protection Fee"

[vinylscot]

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

75p plus 4% buyers fee, so something which was priced at £5 will be £5.95 in February.

[forestfeline62]

The problem stems from items not being scanned on delivery to prove delivery on standard delivery cost with Royal Mail .I have reverted putting tracked 24 on my items to get them delivered quickly and the extra 20 p for this service  is worth not having the stress and the extra 20p guarantees the item gets scanned . The extra buyers fee gives buyers the opportunity to say they haven't received the item because it hasn't been scanned ,I know not all buyers will do that but there will be those who will .

[maujohwai]

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@wara_rat wrote:

It's easy  to have hundreds if not thousands of items if you're dealing with a collection, say albums CD's or books. If I'd bought one book or album every week for the 40 years I've been interested in these things, my attic that would have 2080 items in it.

On the other hand if I had 300 T-shirts in a range of sizes and colours listed as new I see where your coming from. Depends on the items. Even ebays help article says you wont be taxed on your own stuff though £6000 and up will be liable for capital gains tax.

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Good illustration of the difference between random items and 'stock'.

The CGT allowance is actually only £3000 this financial year, but the tax is of course only charged on gains (less expenses), not takings, just to be precise.

[sml192]

This keeps causing confusion. 

The Capital Gains Tax annual allowance (Annual exempt amount) is currently £3,000 (2024/25 tax year), previously £6,000 (2023/24) and £12,300 (2022/23).

However, the amount at which an item/collection is considered to be a chargeable asset (Chattel exemption) is still £6,000.  It has remained unchanged since the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 was enacted. 

[goodibags]

Ah, good old CGT. Another generous allowance and tax threshold for those that REALLY need it most.

If you sold a luxury yacht or a second home on Ebay (IF only those categories existed) you most certainly wouldn't be worrying about breaching the £1,700 whatever-it-is reporting limit for so-called 'income' inclusive of all postage too. As long as you made a small loss or kept profits within the CGT allowance you could keep every single penny of it.

It's another world when you have hundreds of thousands of pounds. Let the plibs squabble over who's 'running a business' today, or buyer fees, retained payments, cost of printer ink, etc... 😁

[fishing_tackle_emporium]

I think Ebay CEO's five year old was let loose in their office one day while the platform policy screen was in edit mode. I'm pretty sure pretty soon they'll notice this random change and put things back to how they were.

[jow1995]

Upgrade your private account to a business account, the new rules will not apply, only snag fees are much higher

[poshboutique2]

Let see what happens to the traffic flow  due the impact of BPF before rushing to assumptions which have not been tested.  Less viewings due to the BPF will mean less sales - that will impact business sellers too as small private sellers that buy on eBay maybe less inclined to do so now and shop elsewhere.  Business sellers need to be wary of the BPF - as it may indirectly impact their sales in an adverse way.

[akemp1]

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@fishing_tackle_emporium wrote:

I think Ebay CEO's five year old was let loose in their office one day while the platform policy screen was in edit mode. 

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Five years olds can be surprisingly smart and understand the stupid things grown ups do.

[pinkrabbitprinces82]

yet tell me about it ebays uk facebook page is getting a hammering alone with many private personal complaints direct to ebay company. I started a petition and made a post on this forum about it. you can read/sign and share it here, your signature won't count though until you confirm it's you signing via your e-mail. 

You can leave a comment on the petition bottom left hand side of petition. https://www.change.org/p/ebay-gone-to-far-with-new-policy-change-from-4th-feb-2025

[andha-21]

I saw both of your recent posts, just had a look at the petition too. Good luck with it. Personally I think we should just be going to Trading Standards & the Financial Ombudsman.

There are areas of this rollout that could definitely be challenged legally.

[jwhudson]

I’m sorry but your comments are totally misguided.  There are very many private collectors, who do not run a business, who wish to buy and sell, as part of their hobby. 
These new eBay charges are going to make it much more difficult for hobby collectors to exchange their surplus items for a reasonable price. 

[jwhudson]

Totally agree! 👍

[jwhudson]

You say that EBay could probably have undertaken other solutions.  What are these solutions please?

Thank you. 

[andha-21]

You mention CGT. My main area of interest (models) actually has a cross over with that too, where they are classed as Chattel.

Not sure if there are other areas that it applies to as well.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

but your petition is incorrect, you do get paid without tracking, it is just a wait for 14 days.  

[goodibags]

CGT is a whole new universe, rarely glimpsed and out of bounds to most private sellers and associated swamp-dwellers. I haven't yet found an item that ushered me into that bucolic and hushed promised land.

(I don't think an unwieldy record collection counts as it's mostly tat now all the best stuff has been flogged off.)

If you do have one treasure it and make sure it's under 24hr lock and key.  😁

[fishing_tackle_emporium]

If you send items using royal mail's click & drop app then it doesn't matter whether it's tracked or not. It is still scanned by royal mail and delivery is registered. It is not made public to the sender or the buyer, but truat me, they will have a record of it and proof of delivery. I know this be cause I've had some (undesirable) buyers try it on and claim that they haven't received an item (small value items that I send using 2nd class letter, for example). I just simply provide them with proof of postage and ask for their patience, while I contact Royal Mail with the collection reference. They then confirm to me that the item was delivered by them, I then tell them that...and miraculously they then close the case saying "sorry, my mum picked it up and gave it to my bro by mistake, or...sorry, found it, it had actually slipped under the floor mat in the porch etc etc

Summary, they can try all they want, as long as you buy the postage online (rather than just a stamp and drop in postbox) it can always be traced.

Which is why I, along with many many others by the sounds of things, are fully baffled as to what the heck this buyer protection fee is for. If they genuinely don't receive an item then the funds are automatically put on hold in your eBay account? So if a seller is dodgy, they can't get away with it anyway. And if its Royal Mails fault, then you are compensated for your loss so refunding the buyer doesn't put you out of pocket. These are all real experiences with me so I'm failing to understand this new policy by Ebay, regardless of many times I scratch my head!

[lucy_farmer]

'......Which is why I, along with many many others by the sounds of things, are fully baffled as to what the heck this buyer protection fee is for......'

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The buyers fee is to try and make up the money that ebay have lost by getting rid of private sellers fees.

It doesn't give any new protections that buyers didn't already have  (apart from a dedicated  24hr telephone 'help' line that has already been admitted to being run by AI bots out of office hours)

Ebay just want to make life really difficult for under-the-radar business sellers on private accounts to make them register as actual businesses. By 'under-the-radar', they mean 'private' accounts who are only selling 2 or 3 hundred Brand New duplicated items.  (Yes, fishing emporium... you are one of their targets!)

[edwardian-dreams]

They got jealous of vinted because they offered a better experience for buyers and sellers 

(Plus the money lolol lost) none of the constipated fill in this specific that specific 

say it’s sleeveless then they ask you what type of sleeve it is and then tell you to add the missing moronic item specific 

moronic means you’ll be superseded 

as for specifics eBay got this wrong in general

ive offloaded a few glass and ceramics I inherited 

they wanted to know about three fkn times what year they were made in

as I said moronic 

and the last joke is that those specifics make no difference 

they must suck your time 

[jonatjonatjonat]

This policy may be of interest