eBay deliberately driving away private sellers?

WattieHudds

Are eBay trying to get rid of private sellers? It seems a reasonable assumption given recent changes, (withholding funds until delivery 'confirmed', increasingly restrictive postage options, limited feedback options, reduced listing visibility unless 'promotions' are paid for), and now the coup de gras - 'Buyer Protection Fee' + 4%, and finally the removal of the ability to send combined postage invoices, meaning every item must have postage paid for individually by the buyer upfront. Here's just a few threads:
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Option-to-send-invoices-disappeared/td-p/7783548/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Unable-to-send-Invoice-or-Combine-Postage/td-p/7783700/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/PLEASE-GIVE-BACK-THE-ABSOLUTE-RIGHT-OF-SELLERS-TO-INVOICE-BUYERS/td-p/7802991/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/COMBINED-CARRIAGE-STILL-NOT-WORKING/td-p/7796101/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Can-t-send-an-invoice/td-p/7787641/jump-to/first-unread-message
Whilst I know this is eBay so incompetence is a reasonable possibility, given the obvious combined effect of all this on private sellers this must surely be deliberate. Needless to say after 24 years on eBay I've given up and gone elsewhere, as I'm sure many others also already have.

DullGreyGuy

Buyer protection fee applies to all sales not just private sellers? It's just a shift from charging selling fees to having buying ones. If you were to buy from a traditional auction both buyer and seller pays a fee on the hammer price. 


Having seen the comments of various users on here about trying every method to stop eBay recovering funds from them it's not too surprising that they are deciding to hold onto funds until it's cleared. It used to be the standard approach for card companies with small businesses etc too to deal with chargebacks etc but has become less with the likes of Zettle and SumUp who done away with standing fees or retentions but instead charge higher fees. 


As a very occasional seller dont personally have any issues with the changes. I can see the combined postage maybe but it's been so rare that a buyer gets multiple things I doubt it will ever make a difference to me. 

soolin

DullGreyGuy said:

Buyer protection fee applies to all sales not just private sellers? It's just a shift from charging selling fees to having buying ones. If you were to buy from a traditional auction both buyer and seller pays a fee on the hammer price. 


Having seen the comments of various users on here about trying every method to stop eBay recovering funds from them it's not too surprising that they are deciding to hold onto funds until it's cleared. It used to be the standard approach for card companies with small businesses etc too to deal with chargebacks etc but has become less with the likes of Zettle and SumUp who done away with standing fees or retentions but instead charge higher fees. 


As a very occasional seller dont personally have any issues with the changes. I can see the combined postage maybe but it's been so rare that a buyer gets multiple things I doubt it will ever make a difference to me. 

Buyer protection fees only apply to purchases from private sellers, business sellers don’t have this charge applied but still have all their listing and FVFs to pay.

soolin

WattieHudds said:

Are eBay trying to get rid of private sellers? It seems a reasonable assumption given recent changes, (withholding funds until delivery 'confirmed', increasingly restrictive postage options, limited feedback options, reduced listing visibility unless 'promotions' are paid for), and now the coup de gras - 'Buyer Protection Fee' + 4%, and finally the removal of the ability to send combined postage invoices, meaning every item must have postage paid for individually by the buyer upfront. Here's just a few threads:
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Option-to-send-invoices-disappeared/td-p/7783548/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Unable-to-send-Invoice-or-Combine-Postage/td-p/7783700/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/PLEASE-GIVE-BACK-THE-ABSOLUTE-RIGHT-OF-SELLERS-TO-INVOICE-BUYERS/td-p/7802991/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/COMBINED-CARRIAGE-STILL-NOT-WORKING/td-p/7796101/jump-to/first-unread-message
https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Can-t-send-an-invoice/td-p/7787641/jump-to/first-unread-message
Whilst I know this is eBay so incompetence is a reasonable possibility, given the obvious combined effect of all this on private sellers this must surely be deliberate. Needless to say after 24 years on eBay I've given up and gone elsewhere, as I'm sure many others also already have.

I always have to ask, but where have you gone for private sales that has a successful history of sales? Like many regulars I am always looking for other markets, I won’t be leaving eBay either for my business or my private sales, but it never hurts to have multiple channels available. 

Newbie_John

I don't see an issue with eBay withholding funds until delivered? Item delivered, no complaints , everyone happy.

I probably do buy more then sell (yearly house clean up and kept on eBay until sold) and from buyer point of view it's really needed - prevents all sorts of issues like fake items, faulty items, clearly used.. 

So from this point of view I'm more attracted to eBay now.

prowla

eBay are driving away buyers.

Buyers fees? No thanks, I'll just go elsewhere.

Buyer protection? eBay refuse to take down counterfeit listings.

My eBay score is over 1500, but I've only bought 1 item this year.

I used to automatically open a browser with several eBay searches when I started my PC; now I don't.

ButterCheese

They're charging as much as they can until people start to revolt, then they'll cut the prices and say "we listened to you, and now you're paying less", even though you are still paying more than 5 years ago.  Standard practice for big business. 

soolin

ButterCheese said:

They're charging as much as they can until people start to revolt, then they'll cut the prices and say "we listened to you, and now you're paying less", even though you are still paying more than 5 years ago.  Standard practice for big business. 

Actually we are paying less fees if we include/accept the buyer premium as a seller fee on anything other than the ultra cheap sub £5 items . In the old days people moaned incessantly about private sellers having to pay excessive FVFs and many, even those on this sort of thread, admit they only ever sold on a discounted FVF weekend. 

WattieHudds

Re. the BPF being welcome as a protection for buyers, this was already in place with the eBay Money Back Guarantee, so are buyers now happy to be paying twice for the same cover? Also, the BPF is invisible to buyers, nowhere is it mentioned on an auction page, eBay add that 75p + 4% to the price the seller has chosen and there is no statement saying the price shown includes this mark-up, so the buyer is unaware they are paying for this extra 'protection'. How does that differ from mis-selling of PPI or car finance hidden charges?

Re. having no way to combine postage being a non-issue, that's nonsense. For someone like me, selling off my huge record collection amassed over 50 years due to a change in circumstances, I could send 5 or 6 LPs for the same price as sending one, so I got many people buying multiple records. And it's similar for anyone selling postcards, stamps, coins, books etc etc.

Re. holding on to funds until confirmed delivery, this was also covered by the Money Back Guarantee, so again neither buyers nor sellers are getting anything extra from this change. eBay of course will be making a nice little chunk banking all that cash for potentially up to two weeks.

So no these new raft of changes are not beneficial to anyone except eBay, and from a multitude of reports it appears to be seriously impacting sales volumes, so not sure it's even beneficial for them, unless as I say the goal is to put private sellers off even bothering anymore, in which case it's job done. For me I'm going back to Discogs, and for anything I can't sell on there I'm giving eBid and Facebook Marketplace a go.

Spoonie_Turtle

WattieHudds said:

Re. the BPF being welcome as a protection for buyers, this was already in place with the eBay Money Back Guarantee, so are buyers now happy to be paying twice for the same cover? Also, the BPF is invisible to buyers, nowhere is it mentioned on an auction page, eBay add that 75p + 4% to the price the seller has chosen and there is no statement saying the price shown includes this mark-up, so the buyer is unaware they are paying for this extra 'protection'. How does that differ from mis-selling of PPI or car finance hidden charges?

Are you sure about that?

Re. holding on to funds until confirmed delivery, this was also covered by the Money Back Guarantee, so again neither buyers nor sellers are getting anything extra from this change. eBay of course will be making a nice little chunk banking all that cash for potentially up to two weeks.

No it wasn't, not the default.  In some instances they did hold the money, such as if sellers hit a certain threshold or they were new, but for the vast majority funds were available to sellers when the buyer paid.  This meant scammers could abscond with the money before the buyer found out they'd been scammed, so when eBay refunded the buyer they couldn't recoup that money from the seller.

Sarahspangles

eBay is trying to be Vinted. As a buyer, I find Vinted a much better experience.