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.

[gemini-project]

It looks to me that the only private sellers complaining are the ones running a business (illegally) on a private account.

[andha-21]

Should have gone to Specsavers!

[gemini-project]

I did but it seems eBay didn't 😀

[incredible_how]

You can't have looked at everyone who is unhappy - then there are the buyers too...

[maujohwai]

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@incredible_how wrote:

Sending offers: I've just made a little chart of prices to show me what the buyer will see.

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Could you possibly share your chart? I am reducing prices so that, once BPF is added on, they are what they were before, and after just using trial and error for a bit I was thinking of making one myself. Actually, is a macro what we need? Can anyone a bit techier than me help with this?

[wintersdawn1]

This might help:

https://claude.site/artifacts/16aab181-f07e-41cd-a2be-608b241dffda

@maujohwai 

[goodibags]

There is a nice little table a very helpful user put together

https://claude.site/artifacts/16aab181-f07e-41cd-a2be-608b241dffda 

You just have to allow for the fixed fee being 72p instead of 75p at present.

[goodibags]

You beat me to it 😁

[wintersdawn1]

I have my own spreadsheet for the BPF calculations and my amounts come to the same as the claude calculations so seems they used 72p, although it says 75p at the top.

[edwardian-dreams]

They used to have custom postage as an option and removed it a couple years ago 

this was handy for large letters and for overweight items which their categories didnt  and don’t cater for (they have stupid problems with postage there as they tried to combine couriers and Royal Mail but the work on different systems) anyway

I think the cheapest is about 2.30 with inpost locker to locker 

[the_laser_architect]

not to mention sellers charging for tracked/insured postage so we're in effect paying twice for buyer protection.

[the_laser_architect]

the "no extra cost" is BS. A £50 item i was watching suddenly shot up by £2.75 so it IS costing buyers extra!

[the_laser_architect]

How on earth will it encourage buyers to buy from Business sellers? Two exact same items, one of them new at full RRP from a business seller vs a new item from a private seller at say £10 cheaper is in no way going to encourage buyers to buy from the business seller. You're deluded if you think it will!  This is just a slap in the face for all the solid and honest private sellers out there. the last thing i sold it took 11 days to get my money! Forcing private sellers onto business accounts will leave them liable for all sorts of liabilities. IYou seem to be reveling in all of this BS....i wonder why???

[edwardian-dreams]

What does this cost to buyers actually give them that they weren’t getting before

[*devils.advocate*]

..... vs a new item from a private seller at say £10 cheaper .....

Not in my experience - as a buyer.

The quality of the item between the two is different.

I'd go with the Business Seller every time at the moment - just look at so many of the posts on the Board at the moment.

So many new/newish sellers who haven't a clue what they're doing - and yes, that affects my view of existing private sellers I'm afraid- especially as there are so many chancers which colour my view of even genuine private sellers.

I know it shouldn't - but that's the way it is presently.

[the_laser_architect]

All this charade is is a slap in the face for honest and trustworthy private sellers. I have had far more hassle from business sellers than private ones over the years. The buyer is paying for the protection twice now. once through ebays take and then again with a lot of the sellers charging them for tracked postage (and also hidden within the free postage scam!). Why should i pay extra for a sellers postal insurance if it goes missing? As for my absolute last sale, i posted promptly and it still took 11 days for me to get my money.  This will definitely drive private sellers and customers away from Ebay and you are deluded if you think it will drive them to business sellers.

[maujohwai]

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@goodibags wrote:

There is a nice little table a very helpful user put together

https://claude.site/artifacts/16aab181-f07e-41cd-a2be-608b241dffda 

You just have to allow for the fixed fee being 72p instead of 75p at present.

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Thank you, and @wintersdawn1 , and "claude". Just what I was thinking of. (Where it says "Final price", that is actually the BPF.)

Although it says "75p" at the top, the conversions actually use 72p, but that's what ebay does, which I hadn't realised!

[goodibags]

"I have my own spreadsheet for the BPF calculations and my amounts come to the same as the claude calculations so seems they used 72p, although it says 75p at the top."

I'll admit having too few items on sale to need it. Also, there are jumps in buyer fee which suggests 2 separate components are being rounded separately. e.g. It's impossible to hit 99p in buyer fees, only 98p or £1.

Likewise, taking 96p off your price won't always make it reduce by £1.

Basically, you always end up having to check what the final price will be.

[goodibags]

You mean when given a choice you'd actively pick the lower quality item at the higher price?

It's certainly an unusual approach.

We get the impression you must spend a lot of time buying things you do not even want. Fingers crossed, maybe other businesses will reciprocate?

[*devils.advocate*]

A very poor attempt at humour.