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

caprikid1

"I'd guess they've been working on this for a while and it's a result of a lot of market research. "

Feels a bit of a panic reaction to the competition by Vinted and Market place.

If they had be working on this for some while with lots of market research etc I doubt they would back track.

Unless they wanted the FAN FARE of NO FEE's FOR PRIVATE SELLERS. Then introduce them through another means a few months later.

prowla

Spoonie_Turtle said:

prowla said:

So, it's really an eBay buyer's tax.

Not really, we still pay the price we see, and we still get to choose the maximum we're prepared to pay for an item.

That's a bit like saying VAT isn't a tax because we pay the price we see when we go to the shops.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

prowla said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

prowla said:

So, it's really an eBay buyer's tax.

Not really, we still pay the price we see, and we still get to choose the maximum we're prepared to pay for an item.

That's a bit like saying VAT isn't a tax because we pay the price we see when we go to the shops.

But has VAT stopped anyone buying stuff? 

OnlyWhenILaugh

soolin said:

The difference on eBay though is that there is no change at all for business sellers who form the majority of sales on eBay. I’m surprised at how many people there are who either still think this is applied across the board, or that selling on eBay for private sellers has always been completely free. Private sellers have of course only had free selling for 3 months after all. 

I suspect after the initial panic and doom mongering, a few private sellers will disappear as their items won’t sell, and a few ‘private’ sellers who are actually businesses will either upgrade to a business account or have to drop their prices to be competitive against properly registered businesses. 

It isn’t a popular move among private sellers, but it’s good news for businesses. 

It might be different if in the future they roll out buyers fees across ‘all’ sellers, then I think eBay may face real issues. 

The business sellers on the ebay forums are loving the change, and I can see why. Because, as you rightly say, it's going to affect all those businesses using private accounts, getting away without paying the fees and undercutting those who are correctly registered on business accounts.

I've been on ebay for 24 years and I've seen the changes come and go - changes to the logo, removing negative feedback for buyers, constant changes to the website, £1 listing days, 80% off fees listing days, Detailed Seller Ratings (now those *were* scary) - you roll with it and adapt. I'm so old I can remember the year when ebay sent its sellers a Christmas gift, a little box of USB lights (which I've still got and still work).

This, though, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, might be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me. Low value items will have to be bundled - every postcard, for example, sold at £1 as individual lots will incur the 75p + 4%. Do I want to buy bundles? Not necessarily if there's only one I want. As a seller, will I be seeing the low, low offers that roll in on other sites that want the buyers to pay a fee? No offer I've ever had on those sites has only knocked off the buyer's fee, but extra pounds as well.

I foresee (and I hope I'm wrong) a race to the bottom in terms of prices, good for me as buyer, not so good for me as seller, because my spending power will be reduced, which then means I make lower offers and so on in ever decreasing circles. That is assuming I can actually sell anything, given that I currently have 3 watchers over 60 listed items and a grand total of 11 views. 

martindow

I think the odd decision was made a few months ago when they removed all fees for private sellers.  That really didn't make sense and clearly they have to cover their costs.  If they had gone straight from the old system to this new one we would be celebrating the reduction in fees that we will have.  From the buyers' point of view nothing really will change as they will pay the price shown on the site and sellers will set their prices being aware of the fees as they always used to.

There are some massive over-reactions around!

OnlyWhenILaugh

martindow said:

I think the odd decision was made a few months ago when they removed all fees for private sellers.  That really didn't make sense and clearly they have to cover their costs.  If they had gone straight from the old system to this new one we would be celebrating the reduction in fees that we will have.  From the buyers' point of view nothing really will change as they will pay the price shown on the site and sellers will set their prices being aware of the fees as they always used to.

There are some massive over-reactions around!

Agreed. It used to be the case that whenever a change on ebay came along, there would be sellers saying it was the end of the world and they were off elsewhere. Personally, I'm adopting the 'wait and see' approach. Ultimately, it's the lack of views/sales that will make me throw in the towel.

Give a year or so, and everyone will be used to a buyer's fee. It's worked for B&M auction houses for years, and at higher percentages for buyer's commission.

I know though, as a buyer, my spending habits on ebay will change. Private sellers tend to have those rarer items I want for my collection. Any offer I make will be lower to get that 4% down.  

GadgetGuru

My main issue is with the payment 2 days after successful delivery. I've whittled my items down to a few now (private seller) and have listed those on FaceBook/Gumtree and any relevant online forums instead in the hope they sell there rather then eBay. Ive just had a case of a buyer damaging and returning an item for a full refund, any eBay done nothing other then force me to refund - considering buyers are now paying their fee's rather then the sellers, I can see buyer's being favoured even more going forward. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

martindow said:

If they had gone straight from the old system to this new one we would be celebrating the reduction in fees that we will have.  

Whilst it may be double speak, the way they've done it means they can advertise seller fees as free which is probably worth more to them than the private sellers who will never sell again because of the way the change was handled, being able to say something is free is a pretty good marketing gambit. 

prowla

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

prowla said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

prowla said:

So, it's really an eBay buyer's tax.

Not really, we still pay the price we see, and we still get to choose the maximum we're prepared to pay for an item.

That's a bit like saying VAT isn't a tax because we pay the price we see when we go to the shops.

But has VAT stopped anyone buying stuff? 

I doubt it, but there are (legal) ways of avoiding VAT, including duty free, company purchases, going elsewhere.

With eBay the option will be the last of those.

Olinda99

not sure why! 

The buyer pays a price for the item. In the past, 'sellers fees' were then deducted but now 'buyers fees' are deducted

What is the difference? Why did they not just increase seller's fees to 75p plus 4%?