I've had to upgrade to Business just to get Royal Mail Special Delivery back, and now want to revert
Summary: glas-guy expressed frustration after upgrading their account to Business to regain access to Royal Mail Special Delivery for secure shipping of high-value items, only to find increased fees for Business accounts. They wish to revert to a Private account but have discovered this is not possible. They are considering alternatives like Vinted and Gumtree for selling, as Simple Delivery does not offer the secure options they need. jonatjonatjonat confirmed the impossibility of reverting account types and noted similar limitations on Vinted's delivery services. glas-guy decided to use the account solely for purchases and transition selling activities to other platforms.
I've had to upgrade to Business just to get Royal Mail Special Delivery back, and now want to revert
As a private seller, I don't trust Simple Delivery for higher-value items like a £350 Garmin watch. There's no option to use Royal Mail Special Delivery through it, so in practice I end up paying eBay's Simple Delivery postage fee, not using it, buying a second label directly from Royal Mail for Special Delivery instead, and then forwarding the new tracking number to the buyer. That's not a workable long-term solution.
Because Special Delivery isn't available through Simple Delivery for private sellers, I looked into it and found that Business accounts have more delivery options , so I upgraded purely to get back a postage feature that used to be available before Simple Delivery was introduced. I'm not actually running a business; I only sell my own used personal items occasionally.
What I didn't realise at the time is just how high the fees are for Business sellers compared to private sellers. Now that I've seen the actual cost, I want to revert my account back to Private , I only made the change to keep access to a proper insured delivery option, not to take on business-level fees.
I've also seen the other side of this as a buyer: several times I've bought items shipped via Simple Delivery from private sellers and found them just left on my doorstep by the courier. For an item worth a few hundred pounds, I don't want that risk as buyer or as seller.
My account is nearly 20 years old and my selling activity is clearly in keeping with a private seller, not a business. Losing access to a proper insured, tracked service like Special Delivery for higher-value items is pushing me to stop selling on eBay altogether and list on Vinted or Gumtree instead.
Would appreciate the Community Bay Team's input on whether Special Delivery (or an equivalent fully insured/tracked option) could be made available to private sellers within Simple Delivery, and help reverting my account to Private.
jonatjonatjonat
·1 month agoUnfortunately - you cannot revert your account back from Business to Private. Simply a no go that.
Doubt Special Delivery would be included because ebay would argue they cover you in the event of loss or damage anyway.
You also mention selling on Vinted. Vinted do exactly the same - they run a version of Simple Delivery. You can offer more options- though Special Delivery is not one of them.
glas-guy
OP1 month ago · EditedThanks for the reply. I understand the point about Special Delivery, eBay's cover for loss/damage on Simple Delivery makes sense as the reasoning there, even if it doesn't fully replace the reassurance of a Special Delivery tracking number for me personally.
On Vinted, you're right, I'm aware they run their own version of Simple Delivery with the same restriction. My plan going forward is to list lower-value items on Vinted where that's less of a concern, and list higher-value items on Gumtree for local collection instead, where I can hand items over in person.
I do find it frustrating that there's no way to assess this on an individual basis. I understand the concern historically was sellers switching back and forth between
Business and Private to dodge obligations, and I get why eBay would want a blanket policy to prevent that being exploited.
But it does mean genuine private sellers like myself, who made one mistaken switch, have no route back, even with a long-standing account history that clearly shows private, occasional selling rather than business activity.
Given that, I'll keep this account purely for purchases going forward. Opening a second eBay account just to sell as Private isn't something I'm willing to do, so as a matter of principle I'll simply list on Vinted instead and won't be selling on eBay again.