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😡😡

[papso22]

What prices were your buyers paying when ebay was charging you seller fees?  Were they not happy then?

[sheeramazement]

Got the email this morning and I am currently looking - hard - for alternatives to eBay

right now.

I've been privately selling low cost (vintage) clothing items - with 2nd class UK postage

quite happily for the last year. 

I have a few loyal customers who often buy 10 items or more together,

to avail themselves of reduced postage.

I simply cannot see them forking out an additional £10, nor paying for

tracked delivery (which would now seem to be a necessity, to

protect yourself from fraudulent 'item not received' claims).

I understand that eBay has to turn a profit - and could probably

suck up not being paid for 14 days so they can earn interest -

but fees on top is positively usurious.

Pity. Everybody loses.

[n.uk2014]

Disgraceful decision by eBay: a slap in the face to buyers and private sellers.

[stimpson_jc]

It really makes you wonder what goes on in their minds? Last year eBay was atrocious, I could barely sell a thing and gave up. Then they have a bright idea of the ebay balance combined with scrapping fees so you could list anytime you want without worry of doing it outside of the weekend offers which got everything listed that had been piling up for years. Finally it was worthwhile selling cheap items under a fiver, and everyone was buying things I could never shift before because they all had the money in front of them on the balance because they were all doing well too. Everyone was happy, everything was going well and now ebay want to destroy everything in every way shape & form a few months later.

They've gone from genius to idiots in record speed.

[purrfectcatpurr]

I only listed such small items on 70/80% FVF offer week ends

So an actual sale made in September at £1.90 for patterns plus £2.10 total £4. Incurred fees of 47p. Leaving me after I paid postage the sum of £1.43

So excluding the postal aspect fees would have been about 38p.. leaving me £1.52

Under the new regime  £1.90 for patterns... if buyer pays the 4% plus 75p  that comes to a total of  £2.73 just for the goods. As we do not know what deals ebay have agreed with postal carriers or if any of the "deal" is being passed onto buyers or sellers I can only compare item costs

Under the new regime If the seller absorbs the buyers fees. Goods £1.90 less 4% and 75p is £1.07 for me

Forgive me if the numbers are not 100% exact but you get the gist

[twin--turbo]

Selling bits and bobs since September 2000, 

Finaly seems like nail in the coffin time. 

[twin--turbo]

the sell er does not absorb the fees, but the item is inflated by ebay. Ebay take the fees for "Insurance" and stick them in the christmas bonus fund,

[msrotherham]

It states in thee FAQ if you send the item untracked you will be paid after 14 days. That’s a long time to wait for your money.

[purrfectcatpurr]

Fair point. However I still cannot see a buyer paying, as per my above post, £2.73 for something that was selling at £1.90.

Less sales still the end result, plus me having to leap through more hopes with all the other planned changes too.

I am  only speaking  for myself   but the whole thing has just become an unwanted burden for no enjoyment and very little monetary reward.

I have already donated approx 100 of my old patterns to the local charity knitters group

My collectibles will probably be going to an auction house. 

For those who do stay I wish you well

[twin--turbo]

knowing ebay, they expect the 80/20 hit... but i think the 20% they hit will be a more significant loss than they expect.

myself,  last couple of years its been not worth the effort......

flipside, as a buyer, ,,   not going to be buying as much.

Unfortunatly I think the 80% who remain will quickly fail, and ebay is done for.    

and 

The Mighty Can Fall and this may be a sit back with popcorn time.

[speak2mike]

Understand why this might be bad news for you but from eBay’s point of view generating increased costs hosting more low value transactions on which they make no money was not genius or sustainable. It was just a short term measure to boost seller numbers whilst they transitioned to a new pricing model having seen success of the same model in Germany. 

The reality is that low value transactions have the same or similar costs to eBay/marketplaces as the high value ones but are a lot less profitable (and probably loss making on the previous seller fees model). 

So for private sellers of low cost items, the reality is that low price transactions are not appealing to eBay (or other marketplaces) so either the buyer is willing to pay the “protection” fee to cover the costs or eBay is financially better off having less of these transactions anyway. 

eBay is probably one of last/later marketplaces to make this kind of change to address the low value transaction profitability issue and probably has a higher proportion of lower value sellers as a result.   Hence many low price eBay private sellers now being in a tough situation with limited options.

Sorry none of this helps you other than to perhaps better understand why eBay would not have been able to sustain a no seller or no buyer fees model and why they chose to have a higher fixed fee in the new structure. 

[burniebanter]

However, the lower value private sellers will also sell higher value items.

eBay risk losing the higher value business if the seller walks from the platform entirely.

[sheeramazement]

Yeah, I do absolutely appreciate the need to turn a profit - no-one expects

anyone to operate for free. 

But there does seem to be an element of foot-shooting here.

Any fool can see that a flat rate fee is going to adversely affect 

low-valued item sales. And since eBay - hopefully - aren't fools 

then one has to assume they have done their sums and this the best 

they could come up with (for themselves, obs).

The conclusion has to be that - as you rightly suggest - 

they aren't interested in us 'bottom-feeders'.  (If they were, they'd

have tiered the costs). I'd love to know the algorithm, either way.

Some accountant will have done the maths. Maybe they  

offset the cost of a listing (electricity, physical storage, etc) against 

the profit to be made from an item and came up with a break point of

75p. 

Can't help thinking it's probably a bit of a mistake to alienate a loyal 

fanbase tho (at least in my case).

Time will tell. But what do I know - I'm not an accountant 😬

What I *do* know is that after 20+ years on the Bay I'm going to 

be spending a hell of a lot less time on there.  That's not just bile - simple 

statement of fact.  Business is business. Someone other site

will pick up the slack - hopefully - and I for one will be

happy to let them.

[stimpson_jc]

---

@speak2mike wrote:

Understand why this might be bad news for you but from eBay’s point of view generating increased costs hosting more low value transactions on which they make no money was not genius or sustainable.

---

Correct. ebay must be completely stupid if the plan was to finally make it worth me selling items for under £5 only to make it an absolute waste of time a few months later! I could sell hundreds of things if not thousands of low value collectables for under £5 for free, it all adds up, then they hold on to that money and then I spend it on here again on something higher that could make money for them.

You could individually list thousands of all your trading cards, postcards or stamps on here and list them as new, and that wouldn't make you a business seller either as some idiots claim. But not much point now if it all needs tracking + 75p. 

[stimpson_jc]

I think I've got a solution to solve everything... although someone will always disagree.

If you want to sell an item and want to withdraw the cash -then you pay the fees for all the sales.

But if you want to sell for free ebay holds on to everyone's money (which makes them interest) and you can spend it till its all gone -which just keeps the money in their hands until such time as someone else withdraws.

I'm half asleep at the moment but that seems to work, doesn't it? -they either get money for fees or money from interest and hold on to everything.

[trevdbowler]

Great post, I concur with you totally, I'm private seller in my 80's.

[trevdbowler]

Iit was a lovely selling time for us Oct'24-Feb'25. But that was never going to last, Ebay can't be expected to provide totally free sales on their auction site, they are 'a business'.
I for one never had those 'week-end offers' that many sellers had before.
Now they are effectively applying a 'Buyers Premium' just like all other auction houses.
But the 75p fee is a killer, we could just about handle the 35p before.

[she68721]

Yes, this is awful.

Instead of buying small items for £1 each plus 2nd class letter postage, it's going to have to be £1.80 each plus tracked postage. 

[colin_colyton]

Correct me if I am wrong.

I can continue to send low value items by Royal Mail Second class untracked. I just have to wait 14 days before I receive payment. Any non-deliveries I can continue to claim back from Royal mail providing I have a certificate of postage. Nothing has changed other than the buyer has to pay a surcharge for buyer protection?

[sheeramazement]

🤣 Made me chuckle. Completely galling reading all the 

'you're a business seller' posts. Good luck to anyone finding 

what I sold elsewhere 🤣