03-01-2025 1:05 PM
I’m a member for 14 years - I have today complained fiercely to EBay with regards to 4% + 75p charge on each item purchased as we all know this is a Back Door way of recovering the Seller Fees which were scrapped recently - Buyers already have adequate protection - as to payment 2 days after delivery - we’re at the mercy of Royal Mail to scan all items when collected (not guaranteed) 😡
Fellow members I urge you to let your disproval known - SHAME ON YOU Ebay😡😡
03-01-2025 7:51 PM
I'm pretty sure all of the personal information, shopping habits, cross-site user tracking and the other data-broker stuff eBay do with its users is worth a bit of change
You either pay with money or pay with data, eBay are doing both
03-01-2025 7:52 PM
Ahh no email address that I know of
but I go into seller help
and ignore the bot nonsense and just put please phone me The bot will try and interfere just repeat “ please phone me “
you will see a prompt “ get use to phone you back “ confirm your telephone number & proceed
today it was a up to 20 minutes normally it’s about 3 ‼️ the representative was very helpful ( I’ve always found that before) he agreed with me and said no one is happy
but at least my point was recorded
regards to you all Dave
03-01-2025 7:54 PM
@japroc-34 wrote:Personally I don't mind extra fees as I do not sell often and it's not my job or anything (and they are smaller than old seller fees), but that "money after confirmed delivery" or 14 days is BS (just like "high value transactions" being held for 30 days)
I'm the opposite where I have enough in the bank so the 14 days doesn't really matter but it is sad that ebay don't have a way to trust me after nearly 25 years with them never having to step in and force a refund or pay a refund themselves in relation to my selling activity.
I don't mind ebay getting paid somehow - it's the presentation of fees to the buyer that I most dislike. That's really not how I want to sell things. I wish there was an option of 'private seller paying fees themselves'.
03-01-2025 7:54 PM
I'm pretty sure all of the personal information, shopping habits, cross-site user tracking and the other data-broker stuff eBay do with its users is worth a bit of change
You either pay with money or pay with data, eBay are doing both
Of course they are - like every other " corporate" ... data harvesting and selling has long been known ( even drs/NHS are participating along with shops " loyalty cards" )
If people still think " data protection" is for you - think again.
03-01-2025 7:56 PM
When we left the EU VAT should have been scrapped. Now if they force you to become a business seller they want more VAT on top of VAT that's already been paid and you have to abide by all EU rules.
Who's behind all this pulling the strings along with digital sales reporting done in euros happening at the same time? Seems to be a lot of foreign interference.
03-01-2025 7:57 PM
there kind of is, drop your prices by the same level the fees but that isn't feasible for sellers of low priced items
03-01-2025 8:05 PM
Without going into my background (because I won't for reasons) I am very aware of the data collection industry, privacy circumvention techniques, tracking, fingerprinting and how big data is used in advertising and marketing to profile people and things are only becoming less regulated with the push to AI systems
Your'e not wrong about data protection given how poor the UK ICO is at enforcing rules but eBay are hardly starving for income streams and nobody should think that they are not also the product
03-01-2025 8:07 PM
So it looks like the improved "buyer protection" consists just of buyers being able to call a 24/7 helpline. Everything else is exactly as it was.
The fees being kept for 14 days I guess is the means the allow buyers to be paid a refund when they rightly or wrongly claim an item didn't arrive/arrived damaged or there's dispute?
03-01-2025 8:23 PM
@papso22 wrote:What I am getting from this thread is that private accounts did not reduce their prices when ebay removed selling fees for them. Instead they pocketed the 'fee element'.
Had they reduced their prices, these new buyer fees would not have the impact that is being complained about as prices would not need to go up so much. Buyers would be paying much the same as they were when private accounts paid selling fees.
Because I am just getting rid of stuff, and don't have to worry about 'making a profit', I did put things on cheaper when the fees were removed. I sell some low value items, where the 30p fixed fee was a killer - the 75p fixed element is going to make those items not worth listing at all now.
I possibly will still sell a few higher priced items* - unless I can find an alternative site - but cheaper stuff I will car boot/marketplace/charity shop/throw.
I won't buy on here any longer.
* depending on Simple Delivery terms.
03-01-2025 8:25 PM
@jckl1957 wrote:You won't be forced into using Simple Delivery. Follow the link and read the FAQs. You will be able to opt out when you create your listings.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery
That is currently.
The CEO of ebay said in October that Simple Delivery will be mandatory for private sellers in the UK in Q1, so by the end of March.
03-01-2025 8:25 PM
They'll have to have a separate system from feedback where the buyer can acknowledge receipt of the item, because it's not always good to leave feedback right away due to some items going faulty after a few days. That happened to me a few times.
I also regretted leaving feedback for a seller who sent me a product so fast that I was so impressed that I left him positive feedback right away after just looking briefly at the product. They were Breathe-Right Nasal Strips and one started to peel off by itself in the middle of the night. Apart from poor adhesive, they were a clever looking fake; but useless. I then had a closer look at them and could see some differences, including some of the packaging. So I really regretted leaving +fb so soon and it made it very hard for me to get my money back. I had to do a follow-up fb saying they were counterfeit. The Breathe Right company helped me out and I told/convinced the seller, and I eventually got my money back.
Sorry for the digression, but leaving feedback within a day or so for some items is ok, but not all of them. So, eBay will have to encourage buyers to tick a box when they receive the item posted untracked. If they don't then sellers will have to wait 14 days to get paid, assuming the buyer has not raised an Item Not Arrived case.
Buyers will often raise an Item Not Received case after two weeks, in which case they'll get refunded because more than two weeks is too long to wait.
eBay should release funds within an hour of delivery confirmation in the case of tracked packages. But they want to get interest on the millions of pounds that will be in their possession for the two days after every sale and the reason they'll give is that they want to make sure that the buyer is satisfied with the product. Amazon did the same thing in the last few years, as they want really good customer service for their buyers. Not sure what they do with untracked items tho, I don't think it's an option on there.
You have to be a pro-seller to list on Amazon too. I couldn't afford the certificates and other paperwork, so I ended up coming back to eBay.
Now this news in the email today from eBay. It'll be hard to sell low cost stuff on here now. I have loads of 2nd Class stamps (Letter and Large Letter) for the small stuff (I am a seller as well as a buyer), so I'll be waiting a while to get paid for those sales.
2nd Class Small Packet is cheaper and better when bought on eBay and you get confirmation of delivery in about 85% of the cases. There'll be a problem though for the other 15% unscanned ones. So, you'll have to contact the buyer to make sure it's been delivered. 99.9% of my Track 48/24 show confirmation, so ok there.
I use RM Track 48 for items worth more than £20 and Track 24 for items worth more than 30 to 50, depending. SD too, mostly for stuff over 100 to 150.
I'll have to take some stuff to a car boot or charity shop because the fee will not make it a cheap enough buy. I sell a variety of stuff. I'll be cancelling some of my cheaper items soon because of this. And as a buyer, the bargains won't be quite as good now.
I hope low cost sellers realise that they'll still get paid after using their 85p and £1.55 stamps for the small and inexpensive stuff, although they'll have to wait a while.
Oh, I forgot what I was going to say now. So, I'll leave it there. It's long enough now, anyway. LOL
03-01-2025 8:30 PM
PS - some people on this thread think they'll have to factor in the 4% for high cost items, but the eBay email said that the % will be lower for high cost items, as it is with other fees. So, not too bad there.
03-01-2025 8:41 PM - edited 03-01-2025 8:44 PM
It is bad for sellers like me who sell some items at 2.95 as 4% + 75p means the price to the buyer will be about 50% higher at £3.84.
Feedback, as always, will not be taken into account, because it is voluntary.
Payments will be made 48 hours after tracking shows delivery or 14 days after posting.
Feedback is not mentioned at all in the email received today.
03-01-2025 8:44 PM
03-01-2025 8:47 PM
Same .. I'm totally done here. I only sell a handful of pc spares and was selling off my badge collection but I'm done now. Ebay are an actual scumbag of a company, avoiding tax, screwing over sellers, actively encouraging buying scammers, couldn't keep our personal data safe.
03-01-2025 8:55 PM
03-01-2025 8:58 PM
03-01-2025 9:06 PM
Thanks for 'your' reply. Yes, me too - I don't like throwing stuff away. Semi-retired and need to down-size.
For collection stuff, I use Facebook, which is not that often. It's a small town, so Facebook is used as a billboard for the town.
I still have a lot of cheap stuff. For example, I still haven't binned my old cassette tapes because some people still collect them. Some of them go for more than £25. But many are just a few quid. But I'll have to factor in about a pound, because that will go to ebay now. Still might be ok before the April increase on 2nd Class Large Letter. Regret not getting round to selling them a while ago.
I still haven't set up the old Technics Stereo that I bought off ebay years ago!
Happy New Year!
03-01-2025 9:07 PM
03-01-2025 9:13 PM
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Am I missing something here or is the above slightly ambiguous.
Are ebay saying if you put up an item for sale on your listing for £18.51 they will apply the buyers fee and show the cost to buyer as £20 ( hopefully with an clear annotation to buyer exonerating seller for the extra £1.49!)
or are they implying the seller has to do all the work for them and work out their own price plus the charges to show as the total price.
It probably does not matter either way but I feel like being pedantic among the chaos that is ebay notifications.
Never say never but I cannot see myself continuing on ebay ... it's all too much faff now for the stuff I sell. What buyer is going to want to pay 4% fee plus 75p on top of £1.45 - £1.99 for a used knitting pattern. What seller is going to want to absorb said cost on such an item and then still have to use Simple deilvery and / or wait 14 days for payment.
I am a dinosaur both as an ebay user and in human years and I think I am about to confirm my extinction, at least as a seller on here.
If I do I will also probably not give ebay my NINO and as doing so could leave my details open to possible
security breaches on the site for no good reason. If I don't sell I will not be buying here.
I will myself give details to the Tax office, although as a private seller I do not believe I will owe anything.
I have enjoyed ebay over the years but now at my age life is too short for all this added kerfuffle .