From the 4th of February, eBay Buyer Protection will be included on every purchase on eBay UK. eBay buyers will benefit from this brand new protection every time they shop on eBay. And this comes at no extra cost to business sellers or their buyers.
The big benefit is that with Buyer Protection, all buyers and sellers will now get 24/7 customer support where you can connect with a real person by phone whenever you need, or start a chat to get quick answers.
eBay are also going to reserve certain promotional activity exclusively for business sellers as they further differentiate the experience from private sellers.
Benefits for business sellers
Although eBay will never say this quite so bluntly, everyone recognises that buying from a business can be a better experience as items are often picked, packed and shipped faster, and as a business you offer consumers protection with returns and warranty. This is being recognised so you’ll get the new buyer protection at no additional cost, you’ll get paid just as fast, and you’ll retain access to marketing tools to help promote and grow your business. Private sellers will be treated ever more differently in the future.
Buyer Protection (no fee)
As a business seller, Buyer Protection will be included for free for you and your buyers. Your buyers will get the protection, without you incurring the cost.
To give buyers more protection and encourage timely shipment, private sellers will only be paid once the item is delivered. There’s no change for business sellers and you’ll still receive your payouts as quickly as you do today.
We know it’s important to have a fair and equitable marketplace for all business sellers. That’s why we’re monitoring trading activities on eBay to help business sellers using a private account transition over to a business account, or restricting selling activity as necessary.
– eBay
Selling features now restricted to business sellers
eBay are starting to differentiate the experience of being a business seller from private selling, and so from the 20th of January, Coupons, Multi-buy and other Discount Tools will only be available to business sellers. eBay say that as part of the differentiation, you can look forward to more exclusive benefits in the future.
Impact for Private Sellers
eBay recently changed their fee structure, so it’s now free for private sellers to sell. As part of this change, eBay are now launching Buyer Protection to give buyers more confidence and security when shopping.
From the 4th of February, a Buyer Protection Fee will be included in the item price when purchasing from private sellers, but buyers will only ever pay what they see, so there are no surprises at checkout. This fee will help eBay make the investments into these protections.
Buyer Protection fee
When purchasing from private sellers, buyers will pay up to 4% of the item price, plus £0.75 (excluding excludes Vehicles, Classified Ads and Property). The fee is lower on higher-priced items over £300, and there’s a cap on the total amount they’ll pay.
As an example, when buyers see an item for £20, the Buyer Protection Fee of £1.49 will already be part of the price. This is something we wanted to see at ChannelX – no adding on of a fee after you’ve bid or clicked to Buy It Now – the price the buyer sees is the price that they’ll pay:
- For business sellers there will be no buyer fee – eBay won’t double dip as you already pay seller fees
- When buying from a private seller the new Buyer Protection Fee will be included in the displayed price
- Private sellers will receive exactly the price they set or the final auction price, eBay will automatically add Buyer Protection Fee on top
UK-based private sellers will be paid after item delivery, from the 4th of February. Private seller funds will be available in their eBay balance two days after delivery confirmation. (Business sellers will be paid as normal with no waiting for the item to be delivered.)
74 Responses
this is crazy. so ebay removed selling fees from private sellers, now they will be charging it to customers instead under the guise of buyer protection. it also pushes private sellers towards using ebay for shipping and to use global shipping program to speed up payments to sellers.
so private seller will only get paid once delivery made. (or after 14 days when no tracking). so ebay get millions of pounds to hold onto collecting interest. buyers already have protection !!!! if non delivery ebay will force seller to refund already.
in my case i sell lots of small value items averaging say £3 each. i list maybe 100 items as aucttions once a month. some buyers will take 10 or 20 items. so now they will be hit with 20 x 70p plus 4%.
and i sell lot overseas, always tracked / signed , but they can get held up in customs. so i have to wait to get paid up to 2 weeks, yet i have to pay the shipping up front of course.
then there are customers who regularly ask me to hold orders to combine shiiping next auction. well i wont be able to offer that any more or i wont get paid if not shipped !
overall ill lose a lot of business , so will probably just stop selling
a disaster.
Clearly a lack of foresight on their behalf. I feel bad for you. I’ve been ready to sell a lot of small items there but now will go elsewhere.
Seriously, you sell 100 items every month and your not a business?
And to quote you “overall ill lose a lot of business , so will probably just stop selling”
Your basically admitting to being a business seller, yet obviously trading as a private seller.
Zero sympathy for you as you are quite clearly gaming the system.
Why should you and others like you get zero fees, whereas all the business sellers have to pay for you?
nothings free on ebay
You can be selling maybe 50 items but relist them more than twice in a month then you go over 100, so its not lots of items!
You are greatly mistaken. Every self-employed seller in the UK is considered a private seller under the law, and eBay treats such individuals as private sellers. Only companies like Ltd and similar entities are classified as business operations. Unfortunately, people think with their wallets rather than their heads.
Platforms like eBay and Amazon are starting to exploit sellers. If buyers realized how much these platforms actually charge in fees, they would likely stop purchasing altogether, as it amounts to an average of 40% (including fees, shipping, etc.) of the price you pay to the seller.
if you business, register as business and stop cry here.
Sounds like you are a BUSINESS so need to be on a BUSINESS account!
SURELY YOURE A BUSINESS
eBUYgumm the UK free market place is looking better every day ! The UK need to get behind it !
So now, the Private Seller gets clobbered again! The worrying thing is waiting for a buyer to say they’ve received the item! We don’t get paid until the buyer confirms! Ebay say send the item ‘Signed For’, or ‘Tracked’. I sell items from £3.95 upwards. How can I send them ‘Signed For’? I think it’s only a matter of time before I leave Ebay. I have over 10,000 stars!
Not sure how a private seller is being clobbered when they can list for free, pay no final value fees. Not many businesses give you that good a deal for the package you get on ebay.
Sounds very much like you are running a business if you are selling that much regularly. Good luck if HMRC choose you for a check and explaining you are just clearing out your garage with 100 sales a month every month.
Oh dear eBay. I thought eBay did a great thing making it free to sell for private sellers and putting their funds into an account they could spend on eBay. This would generate growth and usage for sellers and buyers. Now private sellers dont get paid until 2 days after delivery or have to wait 14 days if an item isn’t scanned by royal mail which does happen quite often. This will not encourage private sellers to use eBay and in turn they won’t spend money on eBay either. Making buyers pay a fee of 4% plus 75p will also discourage them from using eBay, even if the price fee is hidden into the items price. This just makes items on eBay look more expensive and less competitive. Just when I though eBay had nailed it to bring more users to the platform, they go and destroy any potential growth of the site with these ridiculousc hanges. Very disappointing.
“Private sellers will receive the sale price less the Buyer Protection Fee”
It is the seller who will pay the BP fee. This is just sellers fees rebadged. honestly it feels like they are being sneaky with this.
I’m a private seller of low-value items. This basically ends my 20 year+ use of eBay. Most items can’t be sent tracked and the 4% +75p makes them poor value for money.
I am in exactly the same situation. Unless eBay rethinks this insane move, I am finished with it after a 15-year run.
I have sold low value items on Vinted for £3 and buyers have paid the postage and fees Vinted charge.
As a collector, I buy a lot of small value items (£1/£2) from private sellers, and this (especially if the 75p applies per item) is going to drive me to Etsy and Delcampe after 24 years on eBay.
I don’t see what real advantage the “Buyer Protection” brings. Payment being taken on delivery doesn’t help with damaged or incorrectly described items. And as to the contact with a human – I’m currently in online chat with an eBay representative, having been passed across from another, being treated as if I had half a brain, trying to register my objections to the policy and failing to get my point across ….
Attempting to argue a point with the anonomous, global entity that is ebay, well, that really is like fighting City Hall and an exercise in futility. But I congratulate you for attempting it.
Of course the ‘Buyer Protection’ brings nothing to the pockets of the sellers, or the buyers, nor does it offer any ‘protection’, to anybody. It goes straight into the ebay coffers and thank you very much.
The slow death of ebay as the sellers of cheaper ticket items move shop.
Absolute disaster for the private seller – ebay obviously don’t want us any more. As a seller of small craft items worth maybe £2 – £3 per item this is really going to impact my sales – my regular customers will think I have raised my prices exorbitantly while in actual fact it’s ebay making all the profit. I don’t think I’ll be selling any more, which is a shame as I’ve taken many years to build up what I do. Shame on you, ebay.
You could always go legit and register as the business seller you clearly are.
Me too, most of mine are the same price as yours, I swallow the 85p postage so make very little but it means I can clear out cutting dies I no longer use. I can’t see me being able to use ebay any more either.
Me too, most of my items are £2 – £4, the same price as yours, I swallow the 85p postage so make very little but it means I can clear out cutting dies I no longer use. I can’t see me being able to use ebay any more either so I don’t know what I’ll do with unwanted craft dies.
And another one. You are NOT a private seller, you are a BUSINESS!
You should not be selling privately.
If you where a private seller, you wouldn’t be building up a business or even have regular customers!
This is farsical!
Clearly you don’t understand the disadvantages re tax and vat when you become a business seller
Yes they are a private seller, there is an allowance for 300 listings, also many people work up from private seller to the level of business seller, there is nothing wrong with building a business this way, that’s how a lot of businesses start. even if they do not wish to be a “business” there is still a 300 listing allowance. nothing wrong with that, very short sighted comment on your part!!
Am assuming your selling to make a profit then…………. Selling to make a profit is a business
I guessed when eBay came out with their ‘NO SELLER FEE’ that it would only be a matter of time before they came up with some other hairbrained scheme get their fees. Touche. GOOD BY EBAY, you will soon be a dinosaur.
Just before Christmas I had already had the scammers. A couple of them complaining that they hadn’t received parcel when they hadn’t even given the normal 3-4 days delivery, and one claiming a refund when they had already given me good feedback. They certainly forgot they’d done that. ha ha. So the scammers are going to be rubbing their hands in anticipation. Looks like I will be leaving ebay for both selling and buying. They’ve really messed up this time.
This is a stealth reversal of seller fees in all but name, the guise being that buyers are paying the fee upfront, technically true but that fee has to be included in the final sale price and diminishes the return for the seller.
Given Ebays reach globally, I can’t see a alternative, but the duality of the fee is the hardest part. Had they opted for a flat 75p per item or 4%, then it would not be as bad. I can’t help but wonder, just how many packages go missing or are damaged and require refunds?
Absolutely terrible news for private sellers on eBay like myself. Delivered to me via an email with glossy and glib language such as highlighting ‘what’s great’ for me about these planned changes. It turns out that there’s nothing ‘great’ for me about it at all. And the no selling fee was just red herring and shady revenue-push, intentionally planned to further hamstring and profit from private sellers. All respectable private sellers on eBay know that the more stress-inducing side to any transaction is obviously already with the seller. To only grant funds available for sellers once an item is delivered is ridiculously impractical, because many sellers won’t be able to afford the cost of delivery for the item that was purchased – let alone to send it via tracked delivery, especially for smaller and less costly items. And further, is an open invitation and incentive to even more corrupt and disingenuous behaviour from ill-willed buyers who’s reputation in buying is as important or subject to the same scrutiny or feedback system as is the case for private sellers. I think it’s time for private sellers to choose an alternative option to eBay.
Does the private sellers technical annual income now include the buyer fees that ebay get, as this will reduce their £1000 tax free selling limit which ebay will be getting instead.
Buyer protection already existed. Now ebay are charging buyers for something they already had
I am a business seller and have been for over 20 years. I see “private” sellers who clearly are buying to sell but are avoiding paying eBay seller fees, evading online business selling regulations (including not having to accept returns!) and tax.
This makes selling on eBay (with average of 22% fees) a very uneven playing field with business sellers trying to compete on price with sellers who have no fees to pay.
I have no problem at all with people having a clear out and selling their unwanted things on eBay – its a massive global marketplace and also encourages them to accumulate funds to buy the things that they do want or need on eBay.
4% is still a very low fee compared with 22%. If you are actually buying to sell at a profit that makes you a business seller and eBay are now obliged by law to ‘help you transition’, quoting eBay…”We know it’s important to have a fair and equitable marketplace for all business sellers. That’s why we’re monitoring trading activities on eBay to help business sellers using a private account transition over to a business account, or restricting selling activity as necessary.”
They are also obliged to pass details of your eBay activity onto the inland revenue.
The bots have arrived.
Hahaha – you’ve rumbled me – I’m a bot. Presumably like anyone else who posts something that you don’t like or agree with.
As for those saying that they are registered as self employed with HMRC yet don’t consider themselves as running a business because they are nowhere near the VAT threshold….??!
I’ve never been anywhere near the VAT threshold but I buy to sell on for a profit therefore I am a business seller. I would love to be legally entitled to sell privately for 4% fees!
What I do find unfair to genuine private sellers is that eBay are going to hold onto your funds for up to 14 days. That is just unjustifiable – buyer protection has been in place for a long time and works well so this is completely unnecessary.
Sorry, have to go and oil my AI hard drive….
the law protects buyers already
How does this work for auctions?
people on here are saying that it is the buyer who will pay the fee, that is incorrect Ebay have stated quite clearly that the buyer protection fee will be paid by the seller. on cheap items of a couple of pounds the £0.75 plus 4% will mean that the seller will lose more money than previously, add to this having to waiting to be paid dependent on buyer confirming receipt selling inexpensive items is now unviable
EBay have not been at all clear about who will be expected to pay the “Buyer Protection Fee”. I have just spoken to an eBay representative by phone and he confirmed that it is the buyer who will pay this fee.
I quite agree with your second point that waiting to be paid until a buyer confirms receipt will make selling inexpensive items a waste of time.
Who pays the Buyer Protection fee?
The buyer pays the fee to eBay when purchasing on eBay.co.uk from UK private sellers
Well, eBay treated sellers (business and private – I’ve been both, off and on, since 2005!) like dirt for decades. And as a buyer, it was also normal to be scammed by sellers and have no redress before about 2010, which used to be fun.
Anyway, maybe it’s a good thing because the sooner eBay dies as a platform, the better. It’s just investor-led greed now.
I still occasionally use it to sell (err… *try* to sell, as nothing seems to shift lately) but it’s hard work with too much stress (chargeback scams, rude buyers, etc) now.
So, the only reasonable choices:
A. Push up prices to compensate (and expect your competition to do so – they will eventually – creating a healthier bottom line for everyone and resetting price perceptions for customers). Yes, this would show up Chinese goods as being cheaper, but if people want that trash, they will migrate to Temu (and all the better for the UK market).
B. Get rid of all low value items (either if you’re a business or private seller), via a bulk clearance company, local car boot, or donate them to charity. A good thing, as small low value items were a waste of time for business growth unless you’re massive like Amazon. E-commerce in our way no longer supports such products.
C. The sane option. Quit eBay altogether as buyer and seller, move on to something more fulfilling and exciting.
Happy new year everyone!
Absolute rubbish. Not free at all. So help pleased. Where do we go now because it’s not worth my time to sell on ebay any more?
Ideas?
EBay were already on their knees but now they are spiralling the drain with their new smoke and mirrors stunt which is clearly fooling no one.
RIP eBay.
I would rather they kept seller fees. As someone who sells trading cards, the vast majority of my items sold ranged from £1 to £2.50. If someone wants a £1 card, they will now have to pay an extra 79p plus £2.80 tracked postage just to ensure I get paid. No way will people pay £4.59 for a £1 item. It will absolutely kill off tens of thousands of similar sellers, as there just isn’t any point trying to sell smaller items.
ALL LETTERS OVER 100G GET TRACKING NUMBER YOU DONT HAVE TO PAY 2.80
I’ve been buying and selling on ebay since 2001, both as a private and business.
Sales had been slack, and I have noticed an uptick in sales since the no private seller fees in October, it has been grossly unfair that the business fees have continued to increase such as the regulatory fee.
if I am reading this right….private sellers will now have to pay the buyer protection fee (deducted from sale price)…so much for sell for free wot a joke. Then to top it off wait until item is delivered to get paid.
what ebay should have done in the first place Is to stop being so greedy and reduce fees for both private or business. it’s grossly unfair that businesses like mine are footing the bill. I had a couple of private listing’s recently…and I noticed ebay offering a 5 percent discount on those items. I sold them and sure enough paid no fees on those personal items…but it was my business account that was paying for that discount in ridiculous fees.
Who pays the Buyer Protection fee? – The buyer pays the fee to eBay when purchasing on eBay.co.uk from UK private sellers
I sell as a private seller, for profit, obviously, but I don’t consider myself a business seller.
I make nowhere near the VAT threshold. I am not VAT registered, all Ebays fees for businesses have VAT added to them, I wouldn’t be able to claim any of it back, because I am not a proper business. I may not be paying the same fees as a business seller, but I also don’t have any of the tax benefits a proper business has, and there are many of those!
I sell individual items, never multiple-item listings.
It is just a little sideline and yes, I do declare it all to HMRC !
I do offer excellent customer service and send the items the same or next day.
As long as Royal Mail cooperates I don’t have a massive issue with the delayed payment, 99 % does get scanned and delivered.
It was only a matter for time, but i didn’t think it would last but didn’t expect it to be this fast 🙂
No selling fees wasn’t gonna last, was it ? How else do they make their vast amounts of money?
This new buyers fee is just a sellers fee, it’s the seller paying it to Ebay anyway! It will get absorbed by the seller, not the buyer.
But it is ridiculous, there was Buyer Protection all along, and if there was ever an issue, Ebay would take the money out of your sellers account anyway, nothing new there!
Just remember that none of these platforms (or any other big companies or government for that matter) ever have your best interests at heart, they are not in it for you! Just cast your plans accordingly, if you can benefit from them stick with it, if not: find an alternative that works better for you! Don’t be the victim, take responsibility for your own life.
I agree entirely. I match your selling profile as well! (Private seller, declare to HMRC, I’m not scamming or hiding).
I will stick with ebay because there is no credible alternative for me but I’m confident that if the changes ebay introduce don’t benefit ebay (i.e. revenue) then they will change it and that pretty much means if our sales drop ebay won’t stick with it, so just have faith and carry on, nothing stays the same on ebay for long. At least this fee is only applied when an item sells which is a good thing so we only need to factor in the costs with our pricing.
I just wish they would call things what they were – “buyer protection fee” that “the buyer pays” is actually just a fee taken from the seller, it’s a seller fee.
What I’m less happy about is that all private sellers, irrespective of proven reliability on ebay, are now dependent on the buyer (being home) and the postal service being reliable, to get paid in a good time.
If you’re making the items or buying them in to resell, then you’re considered a business under the eBay account guidelines.
I’m not saying this necessarily applies to you, but it highlights a problem with the way the business registration works and how it’s interpreted by each individual. I wonder if a lot of people start off just selling a few unique items here and there, then find success after a while and grow into an obvious business. In this scenario, unless there’s financial incentive to switch to a business account, why would anyone bother?
Meanwhile muggins here follows the guidelines from the get-go, registers a business account with the intention of reselling and making a profit, and comes up against swatches of private sellers who are making far more money than I am, who are able to undercut me and who are taking the market share of sales.
I see your logic, but I interpreted the guidelines differently and registered as a business seller regardless of not meeting the VAT threshold. More fool me perhaps, but the intention was always to grow the business and I’ve found I’ve been unable to on eBay because I can’t compete with private sellers who are selling similar items.
In addition to previous and in general:
Selling very cheap items has never been very lucrative on eBay if you account for all your time and effort.
It takes just as long to photograph, list, sell, pack and post an £1 item as a £100 or £500 item.
Just add 5% to the Buy It Now and focus more on higher-priced items from now on !
The fee structure will probably soon change again anyway ….
The only people who have a problem with this latest update from eBay are people who are running side line businesses under the guise of a private account.
The problem so called “private” sellers will find if they focus on higher value items is that they’re more likely to get flagged up for what they are, which is actually a business seller.
I am registered as self-employed, declare ALL my earnings and provide excellent customer service.
As a stay-at-home parent, I probably have about 1 to 2 hours free per day to try and make a few quid. You can hardly call that a business !
And, as long as eBay has set my selling limit to 10,000 items or £ 100,000 per MONTH ! I don’t believe that Ebay as platform is particularly bothered about my activities as a private seller or is considering me a business seller neither.
You are a business as you are buying stock to sell for a profit. Clear and simple you should be registered as a business and display your business details.
DISASTER for private sellers , offer free listing’s then a couple of months down the line throw the new buyer protection at you, not the first time ebay done something like this, Ebay is now a buyers paradise for deceitful buyers who can now buy items and not pay until they decide if they want to confirm it’s been delivered, this will have a massive effect on low value items say under £5 which have to be sent cheapest option I.e 2nd class as tracked is too expensive, EBAY only EXISTS because of SELLERS ,without your sellers ebay is nothing, come on ebay sort it out and look after your private sellers who pay your wages
4% and less than a quid to sell
We and most every business in the planet would grab that in a heartbeat .
Indeed thousands will they call themselves private sellers,
Their sense of entitlement beggars belief
I am registered as self-employed, declare ALL my earnings and provide excellent customer service. As a stay-at-home parent, I probably have about 1 to 2 hours free per day to try and make a few quid. You can hardly call that a business ! And, as long as eBay has set my selling limit to 10,000 items or £ 100,000 per MONTH ! I don’t believe that Ebay as platform is particularly bothered about my activities as a private seller or is considering me a business seller neither.
EBAY IS BEEN FOR THE BUYER FOR ABOUT 5 YEARS NOW, IN EBAYS EYES WHATEVER THE BUYER SAYS IS RIGHT, EBAY IS FULL OF CR@PPY BUYERS WHO MOAN ABOUT EVERYTHING, SOMETHING IS A DAY LATE AND ITS THE SELLRES FAULT, NOT ROYAL CR@PPY MAIL, I FOR ONE ARE WINDING DOWN MY SHOP, EBAY CAN KISS MY @RSE!
EBay already has Buyer Protection. If an item is damaged, lost or has anything else wring, buyers just open a case – it can rake a week but you get your money back. What’s new?
I cant get my head around this from ebay. I don’t think they realise what they have typed!
“For untracked deliveries, or tracked deliveries when there is no delivery confirmation, funds will become available 14 calendar days from the order date”
Does the above statement mean that the seller will get paid for the item regardless of whether the buyer has received it ot not?
If that is the case could I send something untracked, or a large letter item just using Royal Mail postage stamps where no delivery confirmation is needed ( or available regarding letters ) I don’t need to bother posting it and still get paid!!
Laughable!
Putting £s into Buying stock to sell on eBay and take part in UK ecommerce
………. What a terrible investment and waste of time and resources.
Everything else doesnt really even matter. Min wage will be £12.21 from April 2025 plus other working benefits !
What a load of bull! This new policy is really unpopular as the issues are obvious. Personally I find that buying from private sellers on eBay gives me far better quality service than I ever get from a Business Seller. Private Sellers tend to be more honest and open about what they are selling and post faster and pack better too. Whereas business sellers tend to be slow, pack [oorly, often misrepresent their products and have awful customer service! Is it also legal for eBay to hold onto your money for this long, remember that a seller cannot post an item until they been paid, so the policy is simply unworkable.
New Policy 4th Feb 2025
I am contacting you to object to the new policy which eBay plan to introduce on 4-2-25 whereby they intend to hold onto private sellers funds from sales until the item is showing as having been delivered.
I have to question if this new policy is even legal? Holding on to sellers money until the item shows as having been delivered is morally corrupt and it’s blatantly clear that this has nothing to do with safety or security at all, but more to do with increasing eBay’s profits!
Everyone knows that the longer a company hold onto customers money, the more they earn in interest, it’s standard knowledge and eBay doing this is morally corrupt and potentially illegal!
Sellers simply cannot be expected to post items until they have received the money for it, in the real world a seller would never post an item until cleared payment had been received, simply because to do so increases the chances of false and fraudulent claims being made by the buyers! Also sellers need that money to pay for the cost of postage and packaging, as these fees form a part of the sale price.
I can see this new policy losing you yet even more customers (as in sellers), in a competative market where there are now safer sites for people to sell on, is this really a productive move for eBay, penalising sellers like this, I think not!
Also this leaves sellers open financially to the behaviours of the postal companies, sellers are not legally responsible for any actions committed by the postal company (including damage, loss or delay), yet you eBay under this new policy are holding sellers responsible for how the delivery company behaves, which again is illegal and morally wrong.
Once again eBay are placing all the onus upon the seller, whilst profiteering from it, I note that eBay get their money at point of sale, whilst making sellers wait up to who knows how long, Thinking about this if an item never shows as having been delivered on your system, even though it has, theoretically the seller could never get their money back from you and the courier will refuse to get involved as they have proof of delivery. I already have items sent via Royal Mail Tacked that show as having been delivered on their system, but not on yours, which buyers have left positive feedback for, yet your system still shows them as not having been delivered. In this case you would refuse to release the funds under your new system, even though the seller can prove delivery via the couriers own system, so you’re punishing the seller yet again for the actions of others or a simply fault on your system!
In fact what’s to stop eBay abusing this system and doing this intentionally, nothing so it would appear!
Sometimes items do not show as having been delivered on your system even when they have due to faults on your system, although the item is showing as having been delivered on the couriers website, so again this enables you to steal sellers money in a fashion, which is plain illegal and morally corrupt!
I also feel that your new policy is potentially discriminatory, because customers who live further away from the point of posting will usually have to wait longer for delivery, however there are some spots within the UK, the Highlands & Islands for example, where delivery can take much longer due to difficulty in accessing these areas. Therefore again it appears that eBay may be attempting to profiteer from the times it can take to deliver to such areas!
I object in the strongest terms to the introduction of this new policy on Feb 4th 2025, for the reasons as stated above, the current system works perfectly fine so why change it?
Sellers must receive their funds from sales as soon as possible in order to enable them to post the item. Currently it takes a day for eBay to clear funds and I cannot post the item until these funds have been cleared to protect myself from fraud but also because I need to use that money to pay for postage and packaging costs. This new policy appears to be designed in part to force sellers to accrue funds in their eBay account, but also appears to have nothing at all to do with security or buyer & seller protection, but everything to do with eBay increasing their profits by holding on to or stealing sellers funds!
Which does make me seriously question the legality and morality of such a policy here in the UK?
Thank you
It is basically escrow, which is legal.
If you need the money from a sale to pay for the postage of the item you sold on ebay before you send it, then you probably need financial help.
Channel X used to be an impartial site, supporting all sellers, it is now a poodle of ebay amongst others. The Buyer protection changes offer nothing more to buyer, they currently enjoy a full refund by simple saying “not as described”, whether that be true or not. The 75p and 4% charges are pure;y a way of recouping the loss in final value fees ebay has taken since going “sell for free”. but instead of admitting they were wring they bring in an overly complicated system to drive out sellers in the small collectibles market.
This coupled with the changes to post, forcing sellers to use ebay systems and letting buyers choose the postal service is just a recipe for disaster. The supposed preferential rates offer by packlink / simple deliver will soon rise once ebay has forced everyone on to it.
It is unreal that so many sellers feel they are entitled to sell as a private sellers when they are NOT!! Buying and selling to make profit is a business and you need to register as a business to continue. This is brilliant news for me and has been a long time coming (competing with people that are not paying their taxes and fees). Well done ebay!!
HMRC don’t care whether people are business sellers on ebay or private sellers on ebay. HMRC only care about income being declared. I believe it is only ebay’s choice to differentiate between private and business sellers and operate a different tariff system accordingly. I don’t know any other venue where people pay different fees for the same product based upon their own status? Furthermore, it would make more sense for ebay to develop a beneficial reason to upgrade from private to business; scaling up sales should reduce costs not increase them as seems to be the case. Business sellers should find themselves in selling heaven but they clearly aren’t because they are always moaning! But I don’t blame business sellers for their predicament – I’ve read ebay’s version of the promised land and it sounds very appealing but the amount of business seller’s moaning suggests the reality is different.
Until ebay make the transition from private to business less costly I don’t think this will change.
I declare all my income to HMRC. Much I also spend on ebay, but I usually buy from private sellers because I can rely better on a fellow enthusiast than someone who just has stock to shift.
It is not only HMRC you have to please. If you are on a private account running a business then you could be liable for returns up to 12 months after the date you sold a item. HMRC might not come knocking, Trading Standards could issue you a fine for none compliance.
25 years selling on ebay and there has never been a scenario where this could conceivably apply. I don’t sell anything “new”, just stamps, books, small collectables, that sort of thing. Nothing which would traditionally attract a guarantee. I’m not Currys. I shall await the knock on the door and sleep soundly.
I would like to add that this move was announced months ago but we did not know what the size of the fee would be. Increase it soon ebay and keep us businesses happy!!
This just means that those of us who are honest business sellers will likely see an increase in sales. If you’re a private seller with multiple units of the same item, you’re essentially running a business and should not be listing on the private sellers’ side.
I have been selling stamps, coins and postcards on Ebay for a few years now and was happy paying the fees even though most items were between £2 and £5. Even absorbing postage in most cases made it profitable. With the new rules, a £2.00 item becomes £2.83 which will put a lot of buyers off. I spoke to Ebay and the guy actually agreed Business sellers will definitely have an advantage over private sellers. I thought it was too good to be true when in October they dropped the private seller fees. It feels very discriminatory to me that there is a very obvious advantage to business sellers but I guess Ebay lawyers have checked out the legalities thoroughly and satisfied themselves it is in order. Perhaps somebody will challenge Ebay on the legality, meanwhile a lot of private sellers/buyers will jump ship and go elsewhere.
I’m happy to hear that they’re removing coupons and multibuy options for private sellers. It’s no wonder that a lot of people blatantly running businesses have been masquerading as ‘private’ sellers for so long, they’ve had most of the business account tools at their disposal without having to pay for it.