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😡😡

[stimpson_jc]

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@jma2815 wrote:

If its broken and genuinely not as described why don’t you want to return it or ask for money back? If you just keep it you’re encouraging this seller’s behaviour. And I say that as a seller myself. 

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Cos it's 40 years old and it would usually, possibly, cost me more for another one and only if I kept waiting for one to crop up probably in a similar state so it's mainly an unpleasant surprise where I just thought I would have been getting something better. I'm not going to try to wangle a little bit of money back.

The VAT man obviously knows this is how things go in selling 2nd hand items and yet still stoops to the level of taking the same percentage as brand new goods so I feel like I've been fiddled a little by the taxman.

I'm certainly not keen on more private sellers becoming business sellers after these changes.

[jma2815]

“I'm certainly not keen on more private sellers becoming business sellers after these changes” 

I don’t think they will, for right or wrong.  I looked into it just out of curiosity as I’m a prolific crafter and was considering trying to sell my hand knits (but of course wouldn’t dream of listing them on my private account) when I saw the the fees I was shocked. 

[prom22]

I have just posted in Seller Central:

Buyer Protection Fee funds - New ebay department

regarding this issue of feedback being accepted as proof of delivery, hopefully this will come about if enough people act.

[evilfish3dprints]

I read that through the Global Shipping, we'll receive payment after the item reaches the seller hub, not the customer, I hope this is true..

[stimpson_jc]

Feedback being accepted as proof of delivery has always been an odd one. Back when Paypal decided the cases I won a case on the fact that a buyer had left good feedback but then claimed it never had the 2nd item in the parcel weeks afterwards, but I know it did for sure and I think the buyer was just a little strange.

I've had similar buyers since including ones who even thanked me for the items in messages and left good feedback only to find the tracking shows they had not picked it up yet from the depot -and then opened a case to make it even more confusing.

Some people leave feedback by mistake or whatever reason under the sun.

[vintique*violet]

Yes, as  it should be as the buyer pays for this service and the funds go to eBay, so the seller is not involved outside of the UK. 

[jma2815]

I had one in 2021 as a new seller that was sent to a locker but the locker was full. It was instead left at the reception of a nearby municipal building and the buyer collected it from there and it wasn’t scanned as delivered.

Being ‘new’ I didn’t get paid for that one until about six weeks later when the buyer left good feedback and the CS rep took that as proof of delivery and released the payment before I was even off the phone. 

[stimpson_jc]

I've just been browsing through Money Saving Expert forum ebay section and there doesn't seem to be many money saving tips as usual 😂 😂😂 

Just the usual people constantly trying to scare private sellers into becoming business sellers like a witch hunt.

But they forget... they don't like it when someone brings up the counter argument that if they're business sellers they must comply with all EU regulations 🤔  and do they know all the EU regulations? Nope! Of course not.

Then they cover up their tracks by deleting all mention of it to save their own skins from the same sort of petty scrutiny. 😉

[leadhills_scot]

I've left ebay because I'm fed up with the pretend private sellers shafting legit business sellers. I can fully understand the anger against those that float the law. As for the EU, don't sell overseas or to NI then it does not apply.

[stripyzebras]

I've left ebay because I'm fed up with the pretend private sellers shafting legit business sellers

Completely understand how you feel; Sellers sending hundreds of identical new items under the guise of 'private' seller must be irritating but they are not shafting you (just ebay and the taxman). Definitely unfair but if they operated as business sellers they would still just be competing. Ebay should have dealt with this years ago (Why haven't they?) and then genuine private sellers could get on and sell their few bits and pieces. Personally, I'm fed up with the huge number of business sellers that have taken ebay over (there are just too many) making searching for an item near impossible with thousands of identical items to sift through.  Ebay is now driving away its genuine private sellers which is a pity as most are buyers as well; often buying from their selling 'fund'. Some will now shop elsewhere.

[leadhills_scot]

I stopped buying when proceeds were no longer going into paypal. When looking for new items I removed all private sellers from the search using the more filters option at the side. If you want you could do the same to remove business sellers from your search.

Competition is one thing however, constantly being able to sell the same items from the same wholesalers cheaper as they have no fees to pay is what has caused me to leave. To put it in perspective December 2023 I had 126 transactions, December just gone I had only 19.

[papso22]

At least if the fake private sellers were registered as businesses they would be competing on a level playing field!

[game_raid]

I was searching for vitamins the other day, on the first page there was 1 business seller the rest were private accounts and a lot of the listings were exactly the same so were obviously from the same seller using multiple accounts.

Out of all the options I purchased from the business because they were up against it with these other listings/sellers taking their sales who were literally pence lower than them

The abuse of private accounts is out of control, on record there is more private accounts than business.  

You will find it is the Chinese sellers that are flooding eBay with their cheap generic items that are mass produced and pretty much given away and not the genuine small businesses trying to make a living on here.

[theelench]

Yes, NINOs, insulting compulsory payment holds and 'Simple' Delivery, I've never seen the ebid boards so busy with returning and new sellers.   Not even when ebay introduced MP.

Soon ebay will just be business sellers of both sorts and fewer buyers to share between them.

Hope the shareholders and their board will be happy.  You can fool all sellers for some time and some sellers most of the time.  But private sellers have other options now and don't have to be treated like fools or fraudsters to line other's pockets.  Interesting times ahead, it would be so interesting to see the next couple of quarter's results for ebay.uk.  My guess is the dent will even be visible on the ebay inc. figures we do see. 

[akemp1]

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@game_raid wrote:

The abuse of private accounts is out of control, on record there is more private accounts than business.  

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The simple answer is for ebay to just treat all sellers the same and require them all to pay the same fees and meet the return etc requirements via the account T&Cs then all items are being sold on the same basis and the market is fair for everyone. Buyers can INAD to return what they want anyway. Let people deal with HMRC for any tax they might need to pay - ebay doesn't need to get involved in policing this.

[game_raid]

I totally agree we should be on the same fee structure so it's isn't beneficial to be a private seller

eBay isn't policing who should be paying tax, they personally don't care about a sellers tax returns unless the seller is over the VAT threshold without an active VAT number

The UK digital sales reporting legislation requires eBay, and other UK digital marketplaces, to report a user's sales and they have no choice to do this, I am pretty sure they wouldn't want to do this if they had a choice because without doubt it has scared a lot of sellers away.

The returns are always an issue, when I sell privately I don't want my second hand clothes returned because they bought the wrong size, of course people do open false returns but a majority don't.

[stimpson_jc]

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@leadhills_scot wrote:

I've left ebay because I'm fed up with the pretend private sellers shafting legit business sellers. I can fully understand the anger against those that float the law. As for the EU, don't sell overseas or to NI then it does not apply.

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Incorrect. All business sellers on eBay must comply with all EU laws and regulations, you can see it on all their listing pages even if they're set to UK postage only. I doubt any could even tell you what 1 EU regulation was, let alone every single EU law.

Now we see a few of these wardens coming back to snoop with the same old shtick -they don't like it up em!

Only now their business seller accusation level has merely been turned up higher to more extreme things like vitamin pills.

Before it was a witch hunt for someone making something like several hundred pounds out of handmade jewellery.

Tell me, is that so wrong?

[papso22]

Yes it's wrong for someone selling handmade jewellery to do that from a private ebay account.

Ebay's catch all statement on listings about legislation clearly only apples where the legislation itself  applies, for example if you sell into the EU as a business.

What's your view on the obvious business trading on a private account whose listings say the legislation doesn't apply, when clearly the application of the legislation is not dependant on the ebay account but the seller's actual business status?  Those sellers who sell into the EU are actually bound by any relevant legislation even though their listings say they are not.

Both statements are just that, ebay statements, they do not dictate whether the legislation applies or not, and I really don't think any business seller would back down from posts just because someone points out a statement on their listings to them.

You have clearly found another axe to grind.

[game_raid]

It was an observation of how private business sellers are swamping the categories and my experience of trying buy vitamin pills, am I not allowed to share this because i'm in fear of upsetting a private business seller denying buyers of their consumer rights.

For whatever reason you have an issue with business sellers those that actually do this for a living and some often earn less than minimum wage but love the freedom of working for themselves but are having their business and earnings decimated by those abusing the system.

[stimpson_jc]

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@papso22 wrote:

Yes it's wrong for someone selling handmade jewellery to do that from a private ebay account.

Ebay's catch all statement on listings about legislation clearly only apples where the legislation itself  applies, for example if you sell into the EU as a business.

What's your view on the obvious business trading on a private account whose listings say the legislation doesn't apply, when clearly the application of the legislation is not dependant on the ebay account but the seller's actual business status?  Those sellers who sell into the EU are actually bound by any relevant legislation even though their listings say they are not.

Both statements are just that, ebay statements, they do not dictate whether the legislation applies or not, and I really don't think any business seller would back down from posts just because someone points out a statement on their listings to them.

You have clearly found another axe to grind.

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Well, well, well, you're back to troll the private sellers again. The witch hunts jump back & forth from petty to extreme examples as it suits some of you.

Strange then isn't it when I read on moneyquids that when someone's using their trading allowance to profit £1000 it doesn't matter, they do not have to register for self assessment or have to report it to HMRC.

But then again, you disputed other guideline examples even quoted by eBay themselves that I showed you.

Now then, you tell me why you think you're such an expert in these matters?

Are you from MSE? One of those self confessed "expert" failed taxman wannabes who I notice even forgot they were quoting or were agreeing with the wrong tax thresholds after April the 1st?