eBay "Buyer Protection Fees" (New charges for buyers from private sellers) - Details just recieved

daddyelf

GadgetGuru said:

How will buyers see this fee - is it just added to the cost of the item, so that the item is now listed at a higher price with the fee rolled in - or is the item still at its normal price and the buyer fee shown as a separate addition beside it?

According to the T & C's it quotes this:

"Where can I see how much the Buyer Protection fee is?

When applicable, the Buyer Protection fee will always be included in the item price. At checkout, you'll see it underneath the item name.

At checkout, click on Buyer Protection to see what protection is included and a detailed breakdown of the price"

CrispyPancake

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Out of interest, FVF fees were originally 12.9%, now they are 4% it's not worth selling?

Tracked 48 is 15p more than 2nd class on a small parcel with £150 cover, granted it's a bit extra on large letters, once you move in to medium parcels postage with RM is expensive in general, I don't think the extra for Tracked 48 breaks the bank IMHO.

I'm selling mostly lower priced tems and the new fee is 4% + 75p. The fixed amount makes a bigger difference on lower priced items. Especially when the like of music magpie and similar etc can just keep undercutting you. Actually, now I think about it, it may remove some of the bother if I just walk it down to a specialist shop. It's getting to the point where the difference in what I'd be offered for the bulk is actually negligible.

I've tried doing listings combining items to offset postage whilst presenting more value to the buyer, but the people I sell to in general seem to prefer buying individual items, perhaps to fill out gaps in their own collections.

For the higher value items the additional 4% is something that may put people off, and I have a bit of wiggle room. But I've already cut and cut prices on these and it is getting to the point where I think a speciality site is probably a better option for those things anyway. 

As I say, I'm not forced to sell my stuff off. I appreciate some people are looking at this from a cost/profit perspective because it's a business to them, that's fair. It's not a business for me and I dont approach it like one except in how I handle my transactions with buyers, and the things I'm selling do have some small amount of sentimental value still. To me there's no point doing this when I'm sending off a couple of packages a week for some increasingly tokenistic amount.

soolin

GadgetGuru said:

How will buyers see this fee - is it just added to the cost of the item, so that the item is now listed at a higher price with the fee rolled in - or is the item still at its normal price and the buyer fee shown as a separate addition beside it?

If you scroll back through the thread the breakdown of what buyers see is explained. Basically though from private sellers buyers will see a price that includes the fee.

Debbie9009

I do agree that there are many private sellers that are in fact businesses, and maybe this is why eBay have made this change.  However in my opinion this is the wrong way to deal with this issue, why as a buyer should I pay for eBay’s failure to address this issue, so I still won’t be buying from eBay once this change takes affect.

I’ve also been very disappointed by some business seller’s attitude to private sellers, eBay only exists because of the private sellers that gave eBay a try when it first started, I was one of those sellers, for a couple of years I have been feeling increasingly unwelcome on eBay, despite being a genuine private seller.  I accept that over time ebay has changed and there are now a lot of business sellers on there, I also accept that these sellers bring in more revenue for eBay than private sellers, however I go on eBay to buy from private sellers, and end up buying from business sellers as well because the search brings up a mix of both.

As an example I am currently looking for fabric for a craft project, I carried out a search for this and found most of what I wanted from private sellers, however the search also brought up items from business sellers and whilst their items weren’t what I was looking for, some of the fabrics sparked other craft ideas so I bought items from then as well.  If I hadn’t gone onto eBay to look for items from private sellers, I would never have seen the items from the business sellers and wouldn’t have bought them, so I believe private sellers have their place on eBay.

I’m simply not prepared to pay a buyers premium so won’t be looking on eBay after 4th Feb, this won’t make any difference to eBay in the slightest.   Unless a lot of people feel the same as me, eBay will carry on just as it did, it will be interesting to see what happens after 4th Feb.

GadgetGuru

I will most likely carry on as I am. 
I have pretty much stopped selling on eBay now as Im sick of buyers being able to return items by purposefully damaging them, but as a buyer i will continue to shop around. If eBay prices are cheaper, even with the buyer fees, then other online retail stores (which are always my first port of call regardless) then fair enough - I'll still getting a good deal and paying less. Not saying I like the new setup, but I'm going to continue to look out for myself by getting the lowest price I can find.......

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

CrispyPancake said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Out of interest, FVF fees were originally 12.9%, now they are 4% it's not worth selling?

Tracked 48 is 15p more than 2nd class on a small parcel with £150 cover, granted it's a bit extra on large letters, once you move in to medium parcels postage with RM is expensive in general, I don't think the extra for Tracked 48 breaks the bank IMHO.

I'm selling mostly lower priced tems and the new fee is 4% + 75p. The fixed amount makes a bigger difference on lower priced items. Especially when the like of music magpie and similar etc can just keep undercutting you. Actually, now I think about it, it may remove some of the bother if I just walk it down to a specialist shop. It's getting to the point where the difference in what I'd be offered for the bulk is actually negligible.

I've tried doing listings combining items to offset postage whilst presenting more value to the buyer, but the people I sell to in general seem to prefer buying individual items, perhaps to fill out gaps in their own collections.

For the higher value items the additional 4% is something that may put people off, and I have a bit of wiggle room. But I've already cut and cut prices on these and it is getting to the point where I think a speciality site is probably a better option for those things anyway. 

As I say, I'm not forced to sell my stuff off. I appreciate some people are looking at this from a cost/profit perspective because it's a business to them, that's fair. It's not a business for me and I dont approach it like one except in how I handle my transactions with buyers, and the things I'm selling do have some small amount of sentimental value still. To me there's no point doing this when I'm sending off a couple of packages a week for some increasingly tokenistic amount.

Yes I do agree on the lower price end it is a disproportionate fee, I've taken advance of the free fees to sell a couple of lower priced items which previously, even at 70% off + 30p, wouldn't really have been worth the time and will be checking through the house to see if there's any more cheap bits to get rid of to list asap and hopefully sell by Feb.

After that it'll probably be £5+ postage or more to be worth the time to sell on eBay, otherwise will be taken to the charity shop.

CrispyPancake

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Yes I do agree on the lower price end it is a disproportionate fee, I've taken advance of the free fees to sell a couple of lower priced items which previously, even at 70% off + 30p, wouldn't really have been worth the time and will be checking through the house to see if there's any more cheap bits to get rid of to list asap and hopefully sell by Feb.

After that it'll probably be £5+ postage or more to be worth the time to sell on eBay, otherwise will be taken to the charity shop.

Yes, I've taken the time over Christmas to set vacation time to avoid the inevitable postal backlogs, and tried to get as many listings of lesser value items up as possible for the next month in the hope I can get as much stuff sold as possible, with the earlier news of this in mind. The mooted change to the simple postage method is another bugbear, and in the scheme of things just makes me even less inclined to use the platform. I quite like going to the post office now, and if it contributes to keeping a local post office open, all the better. They even give my daughter some sweets when she usually accompanies me on weekends.

FFHillbilly

winkowinko said:

So presumably a listing that currently has a £100 buy-it-now price, will automatically increase to £104.75 from the 4th of Feb, or does it only apply to listings created after the 4th of Feb?

this is what I'd also like to know.

Is there going to be some sort of choice between the new system and "simple delivery"?

soolin

FFHillbilly said:

winkowinko said:

So presumably a listing that currently has a £100 buy-it-now price, will automatically increase to £104.75 from the 4th of Feb, or does it only apply to listings created after the 4th of Feb?

this is what I'd also like to know.

Is there going to be some sort of choice between the new system and "simple delivery"?

The simple postage has nothing to do with the fees. The fees will be added to all private seller listings ,  whether that will be on all listings from Feb is unclear but it would seem likely as it is a simple update to make for eBay. Simple postage is currently on trial but is expected to be rolled out at some point, possibly in 2025. 

Olinda99

does that mean if after 4 Feb I create a BIN listing, put £20 as the price, hit the 'list' button then it will show the price as £20 +.75+.80 and not £20?

How will auctions work where the bid price keeps increasing as people make bids ?