I find stuff still sells but more often than not on the maiden bid of if there are more they aren't for much more; I can't recall the last time something took off and surprised me.

As for the BPF I don't think it makes much difference.  In the past if I wanted £5 for something I'd start it at £7 or £8, depending on how much e-Bay's cut of the postage charge would be.  Now I'll start it at £5 so, with the fee, the Buyer will pay around £6 thereby saving a pound or two on what they'd have had to pay in the past.

I do agree that the fee disproportionately effects low-value items but so did the fixed 30p part of the old FVF, though obviously not to the same degree.

As for bogus 'Private' Sellers e-Bay seem to actively encourage them.  It's hard to see how somebody selling personal goods and chattels would require hundreds of free listings every month, especially for very similar items, or how somebody with a job could find time to draft that many listings and (hopefully) pack and post so many parcels.  e-Bay should also stop Private Sellers listing things as New and replace it with something like Good As New, Like New or Un-Used.