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.

[plpmr]

adding to what's already said -

so we are to be charged for 'buyer protection' - but we already have it for free with eBay's money back guarantee, PayPal etc.

Factually what we have for free is now charged for, without an extras.

[555njp]

Removed post as I misread the email….sorry all.

[vinylscot]

I think you've missed the point.

The 75p + 4% is to be paid by the BUYER

The 30p + 12% was paid by the SELLER

It makes a huge difference.

[art2own]

Great, Private sellers still get to undercut business sellers by about 10%!

"What does Buyer Protection cost? Most listings are sold by business sellers and will include Buyer Protection at no additional cost...."

Most? What nonsense. I sell mostly paintings. There are currently 80,252 'Painting' in 'Paintings' listings for UK business sellers, versus 130,852 for UK private sellers. A search for sold listings shows 12,304 business sales and 21,462 private sales.

So much for "Most listings are sold by business sellers"!

[myriad*seller]

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@plpmr wrote:

adding to what's already said -

so we are to be charged for 'buyer protection' - but we already have it for free with eBay's money back guarantee, PayPal etc.

Factually what we have for free is now charged for, without an extras.

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Is it actually legal to charge buyers for consumer protection that already exists in law? It's like these "warranties" they try to sell you for washing machines. I tell them "why would i buy that when I have protection for FREE under Sale of Goods Act?" 

[centenary137]

Are you having a laugh, holding seller's money until item is delivered not sent will have no impact on you? Given the way courier and other delivery services have deteriorated especially at busy times, I can see a lot of private sellers being left out of pocket.

This is a serious deterent for private sellers especially ones who just sell the odd item here and there. The old saying, never sell an item on EBay for more than you're prepared to lose, for whatever reason, has never been more pertinnent with this change.

Im going to have to give serious consideration to stop using EBay for selling stuff.  This change is not on.

[wargamers_vault]

Private sellers can always absorb the cost increase to remain competitive. 

[555njp]

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@vinylscot wrote:

I think you've missed the point.

The 75p + 4% is to be paid by the BUYER

The 30p + 12% was paid by the SELLER

It makes a huge difference.

---

I apologise!! Mis-read the email doh! I thought it was to be paid for by private sellers - obviously more coffee needed before diving in with my size 9s…. 😂

[blue_sean]

Absolute joke. Ebay strike again - this is just commission by another name. Thought it wouldn't take them long.

It's a bit like Trump and tariffs - it will just be inflationary making it harder to compete. eBay is over

[555njp]

Managed to remove my totally incorrect comment, thanks @vinylscot 

[vinylscot]

That's a decent point. If private sellers had reduced their prices when selling fees were removed, this new imposition would pretty much bring them back to where they had been in many cases. But the fee removal wasn't presented as an opportunity to cut prices; it was presented as a way to make more money. A little foresight from eBay could have made this a little smoother.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

i am not interested in how V works or not, i do not use them and have never had an inclination to.  I am interested in the fact that i have used e bay for the past 10 years, reasonably happy and i am not happy with the changes.    There are plenty of people moaning on this site and quite rightly, we did not join up to vinted rules and regs, we chose e bay because of theirs.

[akemp1]

It's ebay's platform so they can do what they want but they seem to be making a complete fudge of things. I'd rather pay seller fees than have my buyers pay a protection fee. They don't need protecting from me I've been on this platform for nearly 25 years and never scammed anyone it's ridiculous.

I think it would be a lot fairer if they just had a single seller fee structure for everyone that was economically viable for both small and low value items.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

as i understand it (and i am often wrong with e bay topics) you will get the money regardless of confirmed delivery after 14 days.  Therefore you are not going to be out of pocket, you are just going to have to wait two weeks.

[hobbit66]

Totally agree. I've probably given a better service than most businesses. Stop demonising private sellers !

[kath3735_wxmjn]

not when you sell for very low prices anyway.  There comes a point when it really is not worth the effort.

[ett1954]

"If private sellers had reduced their prices when selling fees were removed" - and if eBay had ensured that 'private' sellers were correctly registered and paying the appropriate fees there would probably be no need for this extra charge, and certainly not at this level.  Another example of why incorrectly registered sellers are a detriment to both genuine private sellers and business sellers.

[ian_w42]

I am not fussed about the fee much - although 4% is too high, I was hoping for 1-2% - but the delay on payments for sellers is the big kick in the teeth.

eBay used to reward good private sellers with a strong record by paying them out immediately if they maintained a fast dispatch and delivery record, it was a reason to get customers their purchases as fast as possible which is critical to their experience on the site.

Now that has been taken away, you get no reward for providing a good service.

[kempseykate]

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@555njp wrote:

---

@vinylscot wrote:

I think you've missed the point.

The 75p + 4% is to be paid by the BUYER

The 30p + 12% was paid by the SELLER

It makes a huge difference.

---

I apologise!! Mis-read the email doh! I thought it was to be paid for by private sellers - obviously more coffee needed before diving in with my size 9s…. 😂

---

But in a way it IS being paid for by private sellers, because in many cases they will need to drop their prices.

I have just sold a job lot of 6 books for £3 on Best Offer, plus £3.25 postage.
They were on for £3.99 but they hadn't sold at that price. So £3 is the most I could get for them.

If I tried to sell the same set of books after the new fee is introduced, then the TOTAL price would still need to be around the £3 mark, meaning I would only be able to charge around £2.15 + the 84p fee for the buyer to see the £3 price they are willing to pay.

So, same item, same amount shown to buyer, 85p less to seller.

[golfballersuk]

Looking at it, you will still pay the price you see. If a private seller lists an item at £5, you will see the price as £5.95 and pay that price. 

The concern i have is the private seller should be paying that fee instead of the "buyer". Even though it will technically amount to the same any business re-sellers will be paying a fee to buy an item to sell on and pay another big fee on. 

Apart from that it's good news for business i feel....for once!