eBay offering Escrow services

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 7, 2020

Along with eBay's new authentication method, it looks like they are requiring bank transfer via escrow through Escrow.com for watches at 10k or higher.

"Sell your high value watches with confidence, knowing your sales will be protected by our new escrow payment service. Starting in October 2020, buyers will be required to pay for items that are listed for $10,000 or more in the Wristwatches category and ship within the US through an escrow service provider, Escrow.com. Escrow.com’s logo will be visible for eligible listings throughout the transaction. eBay will cover all payment processing fees."

"Currently, only bank wire transfers are supported for items paid through Escrow.com. The buyer is responsible for any wire transfer fees that may be required from the financial institution."

"Currently, eBay covers any fees charged by Escrow.com for use of their service. However, you are responsible for any wire transfer fees charged by your financial institution."

"Auctions and Best Offers works the same as fixed price items or ‘Buy It Now’. If you won an auction or received an offer acceptance for $10,000 or above, you have commited to pay for the item and will go through checkout. From there, you will be redirected to Escrow.com to create an account or login if an account has already been created."

"7 days after the item has been delivered, funds are automatically disbursed to the seller and the transaction is closed. No returns can be initiated after this window has closed."

If you list an item and state no returns accepted:
"If your item sells for at least $10,000, your return policy is automatically adjusted to provide the buyer with a 7-day inspection period. If the buyer “Accepts” the item on Escrow.com during this period or the 7-day inspection period has expired, funds are released to you and the buyer can no longer return the item."

https://pages.ebay.com/escrow/

It is interesting to see how they are changing their platform, though I wonder why escrow is only offered starting at 10K. Why wouldn't they make this an option across the board?

Dan S · Oct 7, 2020

Scarecrow Boat
It is interesting to see how they are changing their platform, though I wonder why escrow is only offered starting at 10K. Why wouldn't they make this an option across the board?

Because eBay is paying the fees, as they are for the authentication service ... at least for now. They probably did market research, and determined that the authentication process gave most buyers a sufficient sense of security for watches in the $2k-$10k range, and the marginal benefit for requiring the escrow service wasn't worth it.

I'm not exactly sure how this fits into the picture, but since eBay's fee maxes out at $750 in the US, there are diminishing returns for eBay for high value sales. They make no more money from a $20k sale than a $7,500 sale, but they do carry more risk on the more expensive sale.

It's interesting that watches are serving as the pilot program for these new policies. Combined, it is really a dramatic change to the way eBay has always operated, which was basically as a neutral marketplace.

JwRosenthal · Oct 7, 2020

This is either about profit or indemnification- it's never about offering a "service" to their clients. The fact that both the authentication and escrow are mandatory speaks to that. The luxury watch market has changed in the last 5 years- they are changing with it.

Vercingetorix · Oct 7, 2020

I have been pushing escrow.com instead of PayPal for years now. I wonder if bay will still collect a sales fee on returned items.

sgrossma · Oct 8, 2020

Just saw this on eBay. This just continues to get more complicated and murky for me...

It takes years to fully understand the intricacies of selling high value items on eBay/PayPal. What is covered, what is not. What you can do, what you can't.

Changing the game makes me very uncomfortable.

Marsimaxam · Oct 8, 2020

Regardless of how this decision makes some of us feel, eBay is definitely trying to meet the safety concerns of its users especially pertaining to high end items. We have all heard the complaints of fraud and scams on eBay, well, they are trying to do something about it and I see it as a move in the right direction and not a step backwards.

The game needed changing...

Dan S · Oct 8, 2020

Marsimaxam
Regardless of how this decision makes some of us feel, eBay is definitely trying to meet the safety concerns of its buyers especially pertaining to high end items. We have all heard the complaints of fraud and scams on eBay, well, they are trying to do something about it and I see it as a move in the right direction and not a step backwards.

The game needed changing...

FIFY

Marsimaxam · Oct 8, 2020

Dan S
FIFY

Thanks Dan S... definitely what I meant and I appreciate the fix.

Dan S · Oct 8, 2020

Marsimaxam
Thanks Dan S... definitely what I meant and I appreciate the fix.

The continuous tweaking of eBay rules and policies often balances the interests of sellers vs. buyers, so different people view these changes differently. Many people feel that the balance has swung too far towards the buyer. The fact that sellers can't even leave negative feedback tells you almost all you need to know.

wristpirate · Oct 8, 2020

For a number of years eBay and PayPal are no longer owned by the same group, so eBay is now finally shifting its payment options. Escrow is interesting and feels like they may be stepping on Chrono24s toes

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 8, 2020

Dan S
It's interesting that watches are serving as the pilot program for these new policies. Combined, it is really a dramatic change to the way eBay has always operated, which was basically as a neutral marketplace.

This has me wondering how much of a dent eBay has suffered from the endless fraudulent watch listings. Ebay has long used escrow for the entirety of their auto section and it does make sense that they would incorporate it into high ticket items such as watches. I would be very curious to see if/how authentication could spread into other heavily counterfeited categories, but I imagine that would be very overwhelming to implement (the sea of designer bags/accessories being shipped).

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 8, 2020

Marsimaxam
We have all heard the complaints of fraud and scams on eBay, well, they are trying to do something about it and I see it as a move in the right direction and not a step backwards.

The game needed changing...

Strongly agree with this. While it's still debated, I feel the authentication service has its merits; albeit, largely for people that aren't fortunate enough to belong to this forum... that is a huge audience though. As Dan said

Dan S
Many people feel that the balance has swung too far towards the buyer. The fact that sellers can't even leave negative feedback tells you almost all you need to know.

It's definitely not a level playing field. eBay adheres to the cliche saying "the customer is always right" as they quickly favor the "buyer." What they seem to not realize is the "seller" is also a "customer" (to eBay) as we are paying to use their services.

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 8, 2020

JwRosenthal
This is either about profit or indemnification- it's never about offering a "service" to their clients. The fact that both the authentication and escrow are mandatory speaks to that.

While eBay is footing the bill for both services (for now), I am very curious to see how much it will cost the seller in fees when they decide to shrug it off on them. It will be easy profit as these services are mandatory.

Dan S · Oct 8, 2020

Scarecrow Boat
While eBay is footing the bill for both services (for now), I am very curious to see how much it will cost the seller in fees when they decide to shrug it off on them. It will be easy profit as these services are mandatory.

You seem knowledgeable about eBay auto sales. What are the seller fees like there?

pdxleaf · Oct 8, 2020

Vercingetorix
I have been pushing escrow.com instead of PayPal for years now. I wonder if bay will still collect a sales fee on returned items.

I am currently using escrow.com for a vehicle sale. If the buyer decides to return the truck the buyer pays the escrow fees. Since ebay would pay it this doesn't help or answer your question if the buyer uses PayPal.

I first heard of escrow.com from the thread on wire transfers where people suggested this and transferwise.

My experience as a first time user of escrow.com is that it is a user friendly setup (easy to figure out for an old guy) and inexpensive relative to the risk. You can put in different dollar amounts to find out the fees. Cost is 200 for 20k with the option to split the fee. That is alot of peace of mind.

There is a return period, which seems a requirement. The buyer must approve the item before release of the money. For some people, this means no more "see the pictures no refund" policy. But for my purposes, i like the service, at least for high price items.

I was actually going to check if escrow.com is a publicly traded company.

JwRosenthal · Oct 8, 2020

Scarecrow Boat
eBay adheres to the cliche saying "the customer is always right" as they quickly favor the "buyer." What they seem to not realize is the "seller" is also a "customer" (to eBay) as we are paying to use their services.

They favor high volume sellers with an eBay store. Those of us who sold personal goods or occasional items are not of concern. We were once their bread and butter- but like many other billion dollar corps- we aren't important enough anymore. We can bemoan the changes all we want, but they have found a model that is working for them and returning greater profits. At some point another platform that resembles eBay of 2002 will emerge- who knows, maybe PayPal will team up with them.

pdxleaf · Oct 8, 2020

For what it's worth, I don't mind a buyer bias. I am not a dealer or big buyer/seller so my perspective is limited.

Even if you mostly only buy, at some point you will likely sell. It might be that you want to make room for a new watch. It might be you simply got bored with a watch. If you have nervous buyers it won't help you sell. Having a system that protects the buyer benefits both.

The negative is there are a-hole buyers, who incidentally seem to be resellers or people looking for a steal. This paypal thing where they charge a fee even if an item is returned has made me not want to use PayPal for selling ever again. No matter how honest and transparent you are, a buyer could be a turd and cost you hundreds.

But this escrow.com is not the same as paypal. It adds a layer of complexity and a bit more time, but if something is thousands of dollars and you can't meet someone, it's not smart to just trust and cross your fingers.

I am not as sophisticated as many people I have learned. I appreciate this forum as you have many intelligent observations that hadn't occurred to me. For what it's worth, escrow.com seems to be a positive move.

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 8, 2020

Dan S
You seem knowledgeable about eBay auto sales. What are the seller fees like there?

I have actually never bought or sold a vehicle on eBay, however, I did a little research before creating this thread so I could be at least somewhat knowledgable haha. I did a little more research to hopefully get answers to your question.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/motors-fees?id=4127

At that link you will find the structuring for selling. It states "low volume sellers" will incur "successful listing fees" while "high volume sellers" will not, without stating what those fees are. It just says
"We charge an insertion fee when you list a vehicle. We also charge a successful listing fee when the vehicle sells, if the sale meets one of these criteria:

You receive a bid on your auction-style listing (if you have a reserve price, the bid must meet that reserve)
A buyer selects Buy It Now in your fixed price listing
You accept a Best Offer

The amount we charge depends on whether the listing category and the vehicle's price, which is the final bid amount, Buy It Now price, or your accepted Best Offer."

I did dive through the Ebay message boards and found someone answering what the "successful listing fees" are for "low volume sellers" and found this from 2017
"The Successful Listing Fee has to be paid whether or not the vehicle sells. For low volume sellers, that's $60 for vehicles that sell for less than $2000 and $125 for vehicles that sell for $2000 or more."

I found at (the bottom of) this link that when paying through escrow:
"Escrow charges a 0.89-3.25% of vehicle purchase price as fee for the transaction."
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/getting-started-ebay/buying-vehicles-parts-accessories?id=4639

Scarecrow Boat · Oct 8, 2020

pdxleaf
Having a system that protects the buyer benefits both.

What I meant above is- I have seen countless fraudulent claims made by the buyer stating they never received their goods when they actually have. The buyer then makes away with the goods and the money while the seller is out both. There are threads on exactly this, on this forum. Luckily I have never experienced this but with how easily eBay favors the buyer, it makes me want to use them less. Fortunately I don't have a lot to sell haha.

eBay offering Escrow services

Scarecrow Boat

Dan S

JwRosenthal

Vercingetorix

sgrossma

Marsimaxam

Dan S

Marsimaxam

Dan S

wristpirate

Scarecrow Boat

Scarecrow Boat

Scarecrow Boat

Dan S

pdxleaf

JwRosenthal

pdxleaf

Scarecrow Boat

Scarecrow Boat

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