eBay UK Makes Last Minute Buyer Fee Changes, Opts For Phased Rollout To Avoid Disruption

eBay UK is making a last minute change to introduction of Buyer Fees, opting for a phased rollout to "minimise potential disruptions".

The news was tucked into a broader announcement about changes launching in February posted in the eBay UK community, informing users the new Buyer Protection Fee will initially be starting only with listings in Electronics on February 4th and then expanding to other categories "in the following weeks".

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Starting from 4 February, Buyer Protection will be live to give buyers more peace of mind when shopping on ebay.co.uk.

To minimise any potential disruption on our platform, the Buyer Protection fee will be gradually rolled out across items listed by private sellers, starting in Electronics and coming to all eligible categories in the following weeks.

Sellers and investors have all been holding their breath to see out how introducing buyer fees will impact sales on the UK marketplace - and the fact that eBay is pulling back and going with a more cautious phased in approach may indicate they are not themselves confident that the change won't be disruptive to sales on platform.

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The same UK community post also revealed changes to the new policy about when private sellers will get paid, making a small concession for lower value items allowing payments to be released 24 hours after a buyer leaves feedback for untracked items, instead of having to wait the full 14 days from the order date.

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However, that won't go into effect until sometime toward the end of February.

We’ve also heard your feedback and understand that shipping costs are particularly top of mind for low price items.

When you’re selling a single item for £10 or less, and it’s sent untracked, funds will now be available 24 hours after you receive positive buyer feedback. This will be live by the end of February.

Time will tell if eBay makes any other updates to the major UK policy changes expected to launch this quarter, like mandatory Simple Delivery shipping for private sales of eligible items.

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Stay tuned for updates in this developing story!