eBay's rip off new buyer protection fees and delayed payment for sellers

[rowater82]

I first posted on this last night and received dozens (possibly more than 100 in less than 24 hours) of emails and posts on seller centre and eBay community  sharing my objection to eBay's new rip off Buyer Protection fees and delayed payment for sellers. Re: Buyer protection fees. Unilaterally imposed on all listed items including those listed by sellers before the February 4 changes. I wonder if this is illegal? It is almost certainly in breach of UK Trading Standards Laws - to unilaterally increase the price of an item, publicly advertised, days, weeks, months beforehand,  without the seller's consent. I will be seeking pro bono legal advice. And may well move to another platform. eBay's actions are despicable, motivated purely by greed. BUYERS already had protection under the previous system. I have expressed these views to an eBay rep on the phone. If eBay had tidal wave of complaints and an exodus of items - removed from sale on eBay - maybe their powers that be might see sense and abandon this rip off policy.

[papso22]

Any contact you have had with HMRC is irrelevant to the regulations that require ebay to report sales over one of the thresholds to HMRC together with the National Insurance number of the seller.

[rowater82]

Corporate greed of eBay.You are correct.I am about to remove all my few items from eBay.No fun or little financial reward any more.

[specialk1937]

Well, I have got my sales down to one, mainly because I have withdrawn several of my listings and sold them off  elsewhere.  The Buyers Protection Fee crippled things for me, and it just showed the contempt ebay have for Private Sellers.  Now they want my National Insurance Number, and as I have previously said, ebay does not employ me!  So after 21 years of relative calm, it suddenly has become too much!  This will therefore  be my last post here, and I although I might initially miss ebay, on balance it will be a relief to go!

[cilaf73]

Hi,

Ebay had revenue of 2.6 billion dollars in the first quater of 2025,yet they still search for underhand ways to fleece buyers and sellers.

[specialk1937]

Greed rules OK - Sheer unadulterated Greed - As the old saying goes 'The
Love of Money is the Root of all Evil'

[jckl1957]

Repeatedly saying you are leaving and then coming back is just getting a bit old.

03-05-2025 6:34 PM

... Now they want my National Insurance Number, and as I have previously said, ebay does not employ me!  So after 21 years of relative calm, it suddenly has become too much!  This will therefore  be my last post here, and I although I might initially miss ebay, on balance it will be a relief to go!

Bye!

[specialk1937]

Not at all, my last listing sold today and Monday is my 88th Birthday and
that's the day I will be gone!

[1-2sell2u]

Hope you have many and are not gone 😂

[specialk1937]

WHY MAKE LIFE DIFFICULT WHEN WITH A BIT MORE EFFORT YOU CAN MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE!

Goodbye to ebay,

It’s time to call it a day,

You’ve spoilt things completely,

By letting greed get in the way,

The Buyers Protection Fee was one big mistake,

And as for simple delivery

Give me a break!

Asking for NI Numbers was the last straw

Leaving me feel – I want no more!

Selling  used to be plain sailing but now it’s a farce

 It’s all just become a pain in the *bleep*!

17/3/04 – 19/5/25

[gcf888glen]

It is truly a Rip off. The way ebay is trying to make money is pathetic. I am hence in the future going to buy stuff elsewhere like gum tree etc. Just had to pay £11 for a item i just paid £277 and another £7 for postage. So in total it cost me £296 something. I am not a happy. 

[specialk1937]

Corporate Greed Rules OK!

[johnpc23]

Written an eBay staff member. Obvs.

[storage.boutique]

Seems fair to me. A private seller on eBay is in the most risky category and they should be paying a fee.

If they are really a business, and not a private seller, then they should have a business account.

It seems like the people who are complaining are people who have been thinking that they can get away with running a business whilst claiming to be a private seller - and are now complaining about a sudden increase in overheads. If that is the case, then they are in for a far bigger nasty shock coming over the hill and they have not been reading the other post threads.

If you are a business - change to a business account. If you are a private seller, don't sit there with a big feedback rating and try to pretend - nobody, including HMRC, is wearing it! If you have been selling on eBay as a private seller and claiming benefits or not paying taxes, best to get your professional advisors in place. Dont think you can say "i inherited this stuff" or "I have built up a huge collection and now I am selling it" - these are taxable activities and should be declared. If you have been doing it for years..... well.... good luck!

[edwardian-dreams]

Did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning? 
what a load of claptrap 

[storage.boutique]

To clarify - a private seller is someone who sells a few things per month of their own private items such as clothing they no longer wear or unwanted gifts. When you buy from these sellers, there is a far higher likelihood of something going wrong in the transaction. If something does go wrong with the transaction, the eBay brand is damaged, not the private seller. When the eBay brand is damaged, the business sellers who are genuinely trying to make things work are damaged. So it is perfectly natural that the riskier sellers, the private sellers, should pay a fee. In the same way, when you are under 24 and try to insure a car, you pay a much higher premium.

A person who is selling as a business, but is claiming to be a private seller, should of course also be penalised. They are not paying the same overheads as everyone else as business sellers pay (in my case) VAT, PAYE, NI and Corporation Tax.  Such people who are dodging the law (such as those who are obviously trying to evade giving their NI number to eBay), also give the eBay brand a terrible reputation which affects us all. 

There are also some genuine private sellers who may have real trust issues and appear on this platform from time to time - big brother is watching me, big companies /globalisation is bad, the government is trying to control me etc. Its really not. In my humble opinion, its a simple, sensible commercial decision to clean up the platform and strengthen the brand reputation.

Just my opinion, and an attempt to provide an alternative business seller viewpoint.  I know I can't possible ever hope to express it as eloquently as "what a load of claptrap " but I do try to bring an alternative balanced discourse to the community to offset the knee jerk reactions such as "change is not our friend", or if "he doesn't agree with me I better insult him" level of respectful dialogue that we enjoy so much on the social media platforms. 

[rowater82]

Claptrap it is. 

Now from a small time private seller, here is the latest greedy money-grabbing policy change from eBay. When you promote a listing. Until now if an item sold without the promotion, just by a person who found the item "organically" by their own search and not by clicking on the promotion, that promotion percentage, say 10%, was not charged to the seller. Well folks. eBay has just declared that if an item has been promoted, and even if the buyer did not click on promoted, but found the item organically, the seller would still be charged the promotion fee.  I think I'll just give up with eBay and find another outlet. Definitely no fun - or financial reward - any more

[storage.boutique]

Claptrap? Insulting me is fine. But then you go way off topic. This thread is about "buyer protection fees". 

I never mentioned promotion fees. 

Please do try to stay on topic if you answer. 

happily clapping in my trap though

[rowater82]

I was not intending to insult you!

I was referring to the previous post, agreeing with the previous message.

I was trying to add information  for sellers about the latest greedy money-grabbing policy change by eBay.

Sorry if I was not clear.

[gjalp]

But private sellers are not paying the fee. The buyer protection fee is paid by the buyer. Many private sellers would prefer they themselves pay a fee. It is free to sell but not free to buy and therein is the problem. Buyers are being penalised when they buy from a private seller.

[specialk1937]

I resent the generalisation of private sellers only being people who sell
old clothes and tat. In my case I have been collecting LP records since
1960, buying on average one album a week. You don't have to be a
mathematician to work out that after 65 years of collecting you start to
run out of space, so at the age of 88 I have had to either stop collecting
or prune around the edges, hence my decision to sell some some of my
collection in dribs and drabs on eBay. That is, until recently when I
became fed up to the back teeth with Buyers Protection Fees, changes in
postal arrangements and being asked for my NI Number!
It is important therefore, to understand that private sellers come in all
shapes and sizes and to stereotype them is therefore stupid. Moreover,
even if there are Business Sellers masquerading as Private Sellers, that
does not mean that the vast amount of private sellers who are genuine, have
to be viewed with suspicion or penalised!