EBay's BPF - what a load of %#$@! | Buying

ekrabappel · 2026-06-03T00:23:43.906000Z

Well I've just encountered my first instance of EBay's Buyer Protection Fee. What a load of bunkum. Apparently -The Buyer Protection Fee funds specific services to provide buyers with greater security when purchasing from UK-based private sellers on eBay.co.uk. These include: 24/7 customer support via phone (with chat available during business hours and automated options outside those times). Given I only buy from sellers with good feedback and often from sellers I have purchased from before, not likely I will need urgent support regarding a transaction. Chat will do just fine thanks.Risk monitoring and fraud detection, with eBay actively monitoring marketplace activity to identify potential risks and fraud, taking action to protect buyers. This can be reworded as "EBay will utilise a half-baked algorithm that will automatically remove listings and ban sellers. Honest sellers who have been unfairly affected will have no recourse as the same algorithm will be used to assess their claim." And besides, one would have thought EBay has always been pro-active in identifying risk and fraud. Obviously not. Mind you, if they actually did something about the Chinese sellers saying an item is located in Oz but drop-shipping from China that might be a good thing but I'm not holding my breath.Secure transactions, as they are encrypted end-to-end and processed by trusted payment partners.And here I was thinking PayPal was an encrypted and trusted payment partner. Foolish me.eBay Money Back Guarantee (covering cases where an item does not arrive, is faulty or damaged, or does not match the listing description).PayPal and opening a dispute with EBay has always worked for me plus I am often forced to use EBay Global Shipping so I now have to pay double for protection for the seller and myself? Unbelievable. Authenticity Guarantee (expert verification and multi-point inspection for eligible items in categories such as sneakers, watches, handbags, and jewellery) at no extra cost, as separate free services.I have never bought such items off EBay nor do I intend to so why am I paying so this service can be used by others? The only items I do occasionally buy are coins which are not covered. So come on EBay, this is simply a buyers fee to replace the sellers fee so why dress it up as some protection BS. Like the EBay 'priority' shipping that wasn't priority by any stretch.

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EBay's BPF - what a load of %#$@! | Buying | eBay Australia