Upcoming ‘Buyer Protection Fees’

[lady4838]

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😡😡

[hlary123]

I sell items at a small price and mostly to collectors who enjoy buying 10 to 50 lots at a time and then receive a combined invoice. If eBay were in any way able to raise the protection fee on one, overall, transaction to a buyer then, surely, that would be much smarter and keep many hundreds of private seller like myself onboard. 

[kateco1596]

Wow! I have suddenly found so many people on ebay who are clones of me! Why
have I spent so many years with my tape measure and phone camera (digital
camera in the early days) to hand, and collecting 'strong' packing boxes
from friends and neighbours, the odd bit of bubble wrap from the
supermarket and stood in the queue at the Post Office (certain I picked up
covid there from the person standing behind me sneezing, last Christmas). I
will have spare time that I've never had before and probably not a lot less
money in my pocket as I will stop buying so much stuff from ebay with the
thought that if it doesn't fit (my body or with my room colour scheme etc)
that I can always re-sell. Slightly relieved and planning to take up yoga
and swimming - should be able to come off blood pressure tablets at last.
Thanks ebay x

[cobwebcottage]

Whatever price you sell it for, will be the price you get. The 4% does not include the postage. The buyer will pay this as well as the price and fee.

It will all settle down, although it will take time.  Vinted have used a similar model since they started and everyone is now used to it.

[akemp1]

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@kateco1596 wrote:
Wow! I have suddenly found so many people on ebay who are clones of me! Why
have I spent so many years with my tape measure and phone camera (digital
camera in the early days) to hand, and collecting 'strong' packing boxes
from friends and neighbours, the odd bit of bubble wrap from the
supermarket and stood in the queue at the Post Office (certain I picked up
covid there from the person standing behind me sneezing, last Christmas). 

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Ebay had us addicted into a mad consuming loop. When I bought my first car my family joked I might keep the box for posting something. When I bought my first flat they asked about the box.  When I bought my first house the box thing was mentioned again. I now have half a room of stuff listed, a pile of boxes in the garage and another big pile of boxes in my utility room. I also have piles of used jiffy bags in various sizes. I'm doing all this work which on average doesn't make any profit.

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@kateco1596 wrote:
I will have spare time that I've never had before and probably not a lot less
money in my pocket as I will stop buying so much stuff from ebay with the
thought that if it doesn't fit (my body or with my room colour scheme etc)
that I can always re-sell. Slightly relieved and planning to take up yoga
and swimming - should be able to come off blood pressure tablets at last.
Thanks ebay x

I just increased my pension contributions with the money that I would have previously regularly spent on ebay. They unexpectedly made themselves my new year's resolution. 8 days into the month and I have yet to spend any money that wasn't already in my seller account balance (which annoyingly just got returned).

So yup 'Thanks ebay x'!

[cm90691]

You're completely missing the point. Yes, the buyer will get the price they sell for but  buyers will pay more which will be very off-putting and the seller will have to lower prices to compensate. Eg If you currently list  plastic hairslides for 50p each your buyer will NOW have to pay a massive £1.27 for the same item (before the postage gets added on). The buyer probably won't then buy from you at all; instead they'll go to poundland (or similar) where they will buy 2 hairslides  and a bag of sweets for the same price. 

[cm90691]

Sorry meant to say 'seller' will get the price they sell for

[cobwebcottage]

I'm not missing the point.

I have bought many items from Vinted and am well aware that the displayed price does not include the buyer protection fee or postage. If I wanted to buy 2 hair slides, I would buy them from a business seller for the price advertised or go to Poundland.

[jckl1957]

Most private sellers will not list a single hairslide at 50p.

If they have multiple cheap items with variations, they should have a business account - and the new fees will not apply to business sellers.

Ebay will still be good for the lower price second-hand item, the unique collectable, the niche purchase.  Those are the things that private sellers should be selling and that buyers should be prepared to pay a little more for.

If I am selling a lovely, vintage brooch for £6.95. the buyer's fee (which an interested bidder will not see as a separate amount) is just over £1 for something unusual and desirable and definitely not available at Poundland.

The same brooch would previously have attracted fees of £1.20 so, as a private seller, if my items are not selling, I still have the option of reducing my prices - a solution which has not been mentioned but which is available to all private sellers.  I did reduce my postage prices when I stopped having to pay fees - I wonder how many others can genuinely say they did this.

[anglez]

I think everyone will look at what and how they sell on eBay and make a decision as to whether they will continue. I sell collectibles at a starting price of 75p and leave it to the market to decide on the price as there is no means of identifying an objective value. A lot of items I sell go for 75p and I can’t see buyers making a bid if the starting price is at least £1.50. Many buyers will bid on several items in the knowledge that they can combine them for a reduced postage cost. This will no longer be possible.
Considering the pro’s and con’s I will move all my selling to Delcampe. I think this will eventually attract a lot of collectibles buyers away from eBay

Sent from my iPad

[cm90691]

Agree - not going to worth selling anything under a fiver.  Guess listing and selling in job lots may work for some - certainly be something buyers will look for more to avoid fees. I had never heard of Delcampe and wish I had a few years ago when I inherited a huge coin collection. Certainly will be trying it out for antiques etc so thank you.

[lynsteve1]

I have this on most Royal mail parcels tracking looks like never collected from locker or post office

[cm90691]

The "hairslide" was just an example (yes a silly one) of how a 50p item would now cost a buyer £1.27. Was trying to say that it is going to be difficult (and simply not worthwhile) to sell low-priced items. Of course we all have the option of reducing prices but that depends what you consider an acceptable profit margin. In the past I've sold items for 99p, not made a profit on postage and packaging; then spent at least 20 minutes wrapping the item and time (and petrol costs) to the post office or courier shop. Would I take a job offering £2-3 an hour? Definitely not!  It has becoming increasing difficult to sell on ebay due to the huge number of listings. Looking at your example, the word 'vintage' is used by thousands of Chinese sellers to describe new (certainly not genuine sterling silver which is often printed on the product or quality items) brooches.  There are 77000+ "vintage brooches" - yours may indeed be lovely, but will anyone find it among the listings? Maybe some of the small private sellers leaving ebay will end up being a positive things for the remaining sellers - ebay has just grown too big (that's my opinion, of course)

[lynsteve1]

I have used a few times lately and taken a week with no tracking sitting there looking like still not collected from the locker. I assume received as buyers havent complained. I will remove as option and stick to couriers who do at least track.

[cobwebcottage]

I agreed with what you were saying up to the point when you started mentioning profit margins and  'Would I take a job offering £2-3 an hour? '

The new fees only apply to private listings so your points about profits and hourly wage should not be relevant and if they are, then they are selling on the wrong account.

A lot of small business sellers earn less than minimum wage as we have such high fees to pay.

[ghearb]

TBH - I was already winding down my selling on Ebay as I have noticed a distinct lack of support from Ebay over the past year or so, to do with buyer abuse/scams and dodgy updates (I have been a member since 2004) - this has just accelerated my decision.

So after 20+ years, I will be ending All my selling activities on Ebay from Feb 3rd..... Well done Ebay a lesson in how to drive away loyal users

[trevdbowler]

Dare I mention it......I've suddenly had a pleasing rise in bids on my sales over the last few days.

Anybody else noticed it ?
Are buyers now taking the plunge, aware of the forthcoming Ebay 'improvements'  to increase buyers costs ?

[tressygirl]

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@trevdbowler wrote:

Dare I mention it......I've suddenly had a pleasing rise in bids on my sales over the last few days.

Anybody else noticed it ?
Are buyers now taking the plunge, aware of the forthcoming Ebay 'improvements'  to increase buyers costs ?

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Should be interesting if others too are experiencing this.  

[kath3735_wxmjn]

but maybe that is because people who did not like vinted's way of selling sell on e bay instead??   I will not be doing SD and i will not be going to Vinted or any other site that uses the system.  Cutting off my nose etc, possibly but that will be my choice.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I do not buy a lot these days from anywhere, trying to keep my material items down as i am getting older (clearing my brothers house a couple of years ago made me see the light - although i did sell a fair amount of his stuff on here!).  The thing is though that when i come on here to check or listing i do look for certain items that i am wanting and that will not be happening in the future.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

you have lost your argument by being pedantic over the hair slides!