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.

[bobosmiler]

Yes. Cancelled three listings rather than reduce prices to accommodate ’buyers fee’ and refuse to be forced to use their postal services risking my money on tracking system integrity as well as insuring item. 

[goodibags]

"Even if the risk is small it's not worth the difficultly and potential buyer disappointment that could happen if it sells twice. Also it might send the wrong message to buyers that I'm the kind of person that would put my own interests ahead of theirs."

Or am I putting my buyers' interests ahead of mine? They can buy just the one item OR a bundle that includes it, without even having to go through all the bother of asking me beforehand. Then again, I'm not exactly Costco.

As for the odds, some of these things have been listed for years. It feels more like the risk of an asteroid striking planet Earth. And I mean not one asteroid but TWO. On the same day!

"In the old gangster films townsfolk had to pay unnecessary protection to avoid reprisals"

It's a bit weird, this BPF thing. Initially, it felt as tho' we weren't supposed to talk about them before they started in case buyers found out about them. And now they're here we're STILL not supposed to talk about them as additional costs to buyers.

It seems as if the 'protectors' have us all well and truly 'protected'? 

[akemp1]

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@goodibags wrote:

It seems as if the 'protectors' have us all well and truly 'protected'? 

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To be fair ebay haven't yet noticed the opportunity to charge a Sellers Protection Fee to cover the risk of scam buyers who can so easily take our items and force refunds. Get ready for "It's free to sell, but we need to protect you".

Maybe ebay could hold both the item and money for 14 days to protect both parties in the transaction? They might even rent the item out to someone else in the hold period to get a return like they earn the interest on the delayed payment?

Or maybe Simple Receiving where the buyer can still use Simple Delivery to choose the courier that the seller needs to use but then the seller can use Simple Receiving to similarly inconvenience the buyer on where they have to go to collect it? 

There are so many opportunities for ruining ebay still to explore....

[andha-21]

To be honest I'd prefer they were honest about it all. If they called the entire system "Simply fleecing" and the slogan could be something like "Come to eBay to get sheared. Baaaa!"

[akemp1]

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@andha-21 wrote:

To be honest I'd prefer they were honest about it all. If they called the entire system "Simply fleecing" and the slogan could be something like "Come to eBay to get sheared. Baaaa!"

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Ewe have to be joking - they like to pull the wool over our eyes.

This will only end baaaaadly.

[goodibags]

I'm half-expecting to see a Bank Of Ebay pop up, either in town or online. Wonder what their new Cash ISA rates are? Obviously, with a 90-day notice period for withdrawals. Often more.

The 'Internet of things' is also an idea that hasn't properly taken off. There's no reason why Ebay can't act as a subscription lending library. Especially with all these unsold items hanging around?

[theelench]

Back in about A.D 30 a Roman Provincial Governor sought to curry favour with the Emperor Tiberius by screwing more than the required amount of taxes out of the provincials and sending it to Rome.

Tiberius was not impressed and wrote back "I want my sheep shorn, not shaved."  He at least had the good sense to understand that over-exploitation and a too high tax burden leads to discontent and even revolt.

Too bad that imperial ebay has lost sight of that in its provinces and isn't just stopping at a close shave but is now into selling skin-grafts as another revenue stream.

[starbuck_2014]

Buyers from Private sellers still have legal rights!!!!! They can open a case if they are not happy! Also, it does reflect on a sellers poor feedback, be it business or private. You know what I mean!

[starbuck_2014]

The reason is to push private sellers selling cheap items out the door. They are shafting the consumer. All they want is to get their Anchor subscription fee costing £437 a month for a business seller. Yeah, they have their other subscription fees but unlike good until cancelled with private sellers selling cheap items, the listing on the cheaper subscriptions end EACH month, 250 listings per month for £27 and 1,500 listings per month for £77. BUT each of your listings will end after a month and that will be added to your total free listings per month, hence, unlimited listings charge of £437 per month is needed. No point selling cheap and cheerful items, stocking fillers etc. BTW the buyer protection fee is higher than a business seller fee, lol. So, ebay are shafting the buyers, oh yes, as a business seller, you are even charged a fee on the postage cost! I see now, some private buyers are charging silly postage prices sending items tracked. Erm, heads up, from experience, RM do NOT scan the items lovelies so you still will have to wait for your funds.

[sml192]

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@starbuck_2014 wrote:

BTW the buyer protection fee is higher than a business seller fee, lol.

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Only on low value items, i.e. items under £5.

[sml192]

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@starbuck_2014 wrote:

Buyers from Private sellers still have legal rights!!!!! They can open a case if they are not happy! 

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Buyers have very limited statutory (legal) rights when purchasing from a private seller versus a business seller.  They can, of course, open a case under eBay's Money Back Guarantee but that protection is in addition to their statutory rights even when purchasing from a business seller, it doesn't form part of those rights.  There is no legal requirement for eBay to provide such protection but it is in their interests to do so as it increases buyer confidence and decreases the potential for costly chargebacks.   

[insidethe93]

goodibags: ...Bank of eBay... There's no reason why Ebay can't act as a subscription lending library...

Given eBay's recent woes (or "whoas" as in "whoa, eBay, why do that, are you nuts?!"), my faith in eBay's now really close to rock bottom so I wouldn't go near a place that's got "eBay" above the door.

[date80211]

Why, please? I see that could be a real challenge; a real nuisance but why should it mean the end?
Will you post your arithmetic, please?

[maujohwai]

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@date80211 wrote:

Why, please? I see that could be a real challenge; a real nuisance but why should it mean the end?
Will you post your arithmetic, please?

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Why what? Please quote the comment you're replying to, otherwise your reply is meaningless.

[date80211]

Do you not drink coffee?

Since you seem to have again missed the point, however bad; however much of a challenge or nuisance, why should that mean the end?

Will you post your arithmetic, or do numbers not come into your philosophy

[lucy_farmer]

Good Morning date,

maujohai isn't trying to be rude!

He's just wondering if you are replying to the main OP or one of the 815 other replies (which are all possible to be replied to)

If it's the main original question you want an answer to, if you read your way through the 815 responses to it you'll probably find the answer! 

(you will have to pick your way through a lot of panicky and upset responses , but there is some good sense in there as well 😊)

[annemann-2009]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories. However I'm starting to think that, based on some stuff I've listed from my magic toy cupboard recently... That maybe listings get surpressed a little when you pick an advertising percentage that ISNT a recommended one. I got told I should advertise at 9% for an item. I did and I have 26 views and six watchers. But previously I picked 8% for it and only had three or four views. That extra 1% should not cause the amount of 'dip' that it did imo.

So part of me is starting to think something is up, if you don't pick the percentile eBay wants you to.

[dch2112011]

It could be a conspiracy or it could just be the volume of sellers using promotions - so if a lot of sellers were using high percentages then they will be seen more often and there are only so many prime spots -  or even that your items just haven't been promoted on facebook and google for a while - it all contributes to visibility  -

As a business on ebay and elsewhere visibility and ranking are number one priorities  which means optimising for google, facebook, ebay and promoting. The aim is to get position 1 or 2 against your search terms  and nab the prime promotional spots which again is influenced by your optimisation.

I am not sure whether this is the same for private accounts, maye some of the very experianced private sellers can throw some light on it ?

[m-bevis-1815]

"I am not sure whether this is the same for private accounts, maye some of the very experianced private sellers can throw some light on it ?"

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to my sales. I refuse to use the promotions, which they ask me to do alongside many of my listings. So many of my items have no views but have been on months, then might sell after a year*; some sell within a hour of listing. Currently the buyer's sale tax hasn't impacted sales, but I think it's just chance that I happened to have start listing stuff people actually want at a reasonable price, rather than anything ebay have done or not done.

There are three other areas of complaint currently:

1) The collapse of the invoicing system is a pain as buyers now have to overpay for multiple purchases/wins then get a postage refund after; some have been okay with that, one refused.

2) Ebay sat on my money for days on end is also annoying, which has implications outside ebay.

3) The random ending of new listings after they've only gone round once, instead of the 8 times it is (was?) supposed to be.

* I am convinced not every potential buyer is on ebay all the time, nor at the same time, they come and go. Sets of things that have been sat around for months can suddenly get attention and sell after no views for like 6-12 months.

[date80211]

Good for you.

If you have a helpful suggestion, please Post it!

If not, why are you wasting your own time, and taking mine?