eBay is one of the most popular online auctioning sites, with countless sellers and buyers signed up, but new non-optional fees are coming.
Martin Lewis has highlighted a financial change to eBay which is coming very soon, affecting buyers. New charges are set to be introduced for people purchasing products from private sellers from February 4, the money guru’s MoneySavingExpert website said. It comes in the form of a new buyer protection fee, something already in place on like-minded selling platform, Vinted.
When buying an item from a listing, a flat fee of 75p will be added to items listed above 99p, or 4% of the first £300 of an item’s cost. A total of 2% of the item’s cost will be applied between £300 and £4,000. It appears that £4,000 is where the fees stop, with MSE saying there will be an essential cap at £86.75. MSE said while the new fees are coming, the difference it will make to the process “seem like no great shakes to us”.
It continued: “Private sellers will soon get paid after delivery and customer support will be available 24/7 (previously just working hours). It already has a Money Back Guarantee scheme, which covers you if you don’t receive something or it doesn’t match the listing. This is staying the same.” The BPF is set to be added to the overall cost of the item and won’t be applied to shipping.
The buyer will foot the cost directly to eBay and is only excluded for the sale of cars, motorcycles, vehicles, classified ads and property. A statement from eBay said: “We’re committed to making it easier for buyers to shop, and recently changed our fee structure so it’s free to sell for private sellers. As part of this commitment, we’re launching Buyer Protection to give you even more confidence and security when shopping on eBay. From Feb 4, a Buyer Protection fee will be included in the item price when you buy from private sellers, to enable our investment in these extra protections. But you’ll only ever pay what you see, so there are no surprises at checkout. Buyer Protection is included at no extra cost when buying from business sellers.”
Can I avoid these fees at all?
“It’s not an optional fee, as we want everyone to be able to benefit from these new protections.” Buyers querying how the new BPF will work have asked about what happens if an item is refunded. eBay has confirmed that the fee will be included, likewise if a partial refund is granted, this will include BPF at a prorated rate.
While you can’t avoid the new fees, MSE made a valuable recommendation. It said: “Had your eye on something specific from a private seller? It could be worth buying before 4 Feb, when eBay will automatically add its cut to the price.”
