Stop hiding locations on collection-only items!
Summary: disco1192 expressed frustration with the way collection-only listings on a platform now display location information, finding it misleading and impractical. They criticized the switch from specifying the exact location to a vague "60 mi from" format, citing an incident where it led to unnecessary driving. They argued that showing the town or city would not violate privacy regulations and contended that the platform's programmers and decision-makers seem disconnected from the practical issues users face.
Collection-only listings used to state e.g.
"Free collection from Accrington, Lancashire".
This made it easy to work out whether or not it was worth bidding on or not.
Now they state
"Free collection: 60 mi from (insert your postcode here) - click on map".
Clicking on the map gives false or useless results. "60 miles from..." my location could mean Sheffield, Exeter or Inverness. It's ridiculous, and meaningless.
The last time I bid on a collection-only item, the map gave a location which was incorrect, and resulted in an extra 24 miles of driving.
It's bad enough that you use "as the crow flies" for distances, when it would be just as easy to use e.g. Google Maps to provide an actual distance by road, but hiding the town/city a seller lives in is ridiculuous. No, it does NOT breach GDPR rules to state that a seller lives in a town of 50 000 people! Do you really think someone is going to go and burgle all the houses in that town, just to steal some used junk worth £20?
Yet more evidence that Ebay's programmers do not actually use Ebay to buy or sell, and that Ebay haven't got a clue about the ridiculous fuel costs in this country.
nochain-nogain
·Aug 15, 2026 at 2:53 PMSurprised you've had no other comments.
I completely agree I'm getting sick of potential buyers messaging me (wasting my time in the process) asking for the location.
So as it seems ebay is actively making it's website worse, now I have to add my location to all my listings. "Bulk edit" I hear you all say... that's not the issue. The issue is the more extra bits of information added to the listing description, the more likely the reader is going to skim or not read it.
Another instance of 'it was fine the way it was!'