Weekly Chat with the eBay Community Team- 09.04.25 @2pm

[community-team@ebay]

Hi everybody!

The Community Chat will open at 2pm and will remain open until 3pm on Wednesday. After that it will be closed for further questions. Of course, we will continue to take care of answering any questions that may still be unanswered—We’ll get to everything as quickly as possible.

Please ask your questions in the thread below. In order to be able to answer your questions as quickly as possible, we ask you to have one question per post. Of course, you can make as many posts as you like in the Chat- the more the merrier!

Our eBay Community Team is made up of kat@ebay , dave@ebay and marco@ebay . Between us, we have knowledge in Buying, Selling, Fulfilment, Payments, and the Community itself. Anything we aren’t sure on we’ll know the people who will be! Please ask us any questions you may have and we’ll do all we can to support. We understand that certain topics, such as concerns about businesses possibly using private accounts, can be frustrating and important to you. Please refrain from asking the same question repeatedly in our weekly live chats. We assure you that we carefully review all posts in the forum and ensure that your concerns are communicated to the relevant teams for appropriate action.
To maintain a constructive and community environment, posts that repeatedly breach this guideline may be removed. Continued violations could result in further action against your community account. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in helping us keep our community focused and respectful.

To ask your question, click Reply in the lower-right corner of this post, type your question, and click Reply between 2pm and 3pm. The community team will answer each incoming question in chronological order and will quote the original question in each answer.

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If you missed the weekly chat time, please ask your question in the community boards and tag us or we will be back next week with another chat!

Many thanks,

Your eBay Community Team

[jjambadger27]

Is it possible to have a simple explanation for Simple Delivery from a seller's perspective? I did a test listing a few days ago having specified that I didn't want to use Evri as a carrier, and two options came up for delivery - Standard and Express. Is this Royal Mail Tracked 48 and 24, or a case of eBay overriding my choice and displaying Evri as Standard and Royal Mail as Express?

I was told last week in the chat that my choice of carrier would be overriden in "very specific situations". What exactly are all of these situations, seeing as Royal Mail appears to have more national coverage than Evri? It's only fair as sellers that we are told this.

[green_apple_55]

The Royal Mail online postage site allows sellers to choose not to display their address on the delivery label when sending out items to buyers.

Under Simple Delivery (Royal Mail postage), sellers do not appear to have this option as seller's addresses are shown as standard on the label with no apparent way to change that.

Please can you ask ebay to fix this small discrepancy so that seller's can choose not to display their address on the Simple Delivery Royal Mail label?

Obviously I don't mind ebay giving my address details to Royal Mail electronically if necessary for any returns (like I give Royal Mail my address details when buying online postage directly so that a return address is electronically linked to the tracking number), it just doesn't need to be printed on the label - that is a concern that puts me off selling.

[fatbobfan]

Some feedback and a question

I carry out Ebays best practices (pricing), below is not every search result but not uncommon, not all have all the issues, its normally a combination of the 4 but I do come across sellers who have all 4 of the breaches of policy/tech issues I list below

1. Private Sellers who are Businesses, (I have reported them)

2. Private Sellers who are restricted to sell the product under Ebays guidelines (Baby Products), but are allowed to? (The number is increasing)

3. Lower visibility in the search results because of a glitch thats been over a month (P&P lowest)

4. Being allowed to sell to Northern Ireland, GPSR. This maybe fluid, the last I read the legislation had not changed, apologies if this is wrong

The new 'Feedback' process – The new system is failing its sellers, its says its not all AI and there is a human review team however the humans review team members I speak to say yes, it will be removed, however the reality is it does'nt get changed and no one can explain why, just that is doesnt meet the requirements seems to be the 'go to phrase'. No explanation, nothing can be done. Will note I have seen posts on the forums to the same outcome, not just my whinge, Feedback I understand is being monitored as a process so please pass Forum feedback to the relevant depts accordingly

On a slightly positive, have noted a success rate of about 25% on reporting private sellers who are businesses and are now 'businesses' but that still leave 70+%.

Question below

Lowest price Glitch - Yesterday I was priced at the cheapest on a line of inventory but had other sellers 10% more expensive getting the prized (P&P lowest) result, plus I was running an additional 10% coupon, (so the buyer could get it even cheaper) its crazy and is is a real problem. So despite being the cheapest and offering 10% on top of being the cheapest I'm still fourth in the results

Is there a known understanding/formulae on this issue, so that sellers can use to at least try and get back on a level playing field/compete. Something is causing the results, i'm hoping tech are aware of whats causing the issue, can they provide a work around?

On price competitive inventory this is really hurting, please ask

This issue with the SD fallout or whatever else is going on has created my worst selling period in 20 years. Its a stinker. Considering the new policies gave me an advantage by removing Private sellers as competitors from some of my selling categories, plus our adding of 20% new inventory and weekly practice of 'Best Practices' I fail to see why the performance has dropped, the Glitches are not helping

[akemp1]

Why are SD labels for RM more expensive than buying directly from RM - are ebay trying to apply a penalty for not choosing Evri?

[wellingnorth]

From reading the forums it seems like people are still having problems with local Post Offices accepting mislabelled parcels.

After last weeks chat user Warmyn-81 reported in message 39 of the below thread that Post Offices had been notified that they should accept all parcels with 'Marketplace Seller' on the label regardless of actual size / weight. https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Post-Office-and-Simple-Delivery/td-p/7817702/page/2

Yesterday I asked the generally switched on staff in my two local London Post Offices if they knew about this and they didn't.

This may be a Post Office communication issue, but it is affecting ebay sellers, so could ebay push them to resolve this issue please? One of the clerks I spoke to yesterday explained that last year they had accepted some overweight parcels and had been fined by Royal Mail for doing so, so you can imagine why being told that ebay have said it's okay may not be persuasive.

One thing that might help would be a public facing page on postoffice.co.uk explaining the policy that a customer could show to reluctant branch staff.

It would also help if there was clear advice on ebay.co.uk explaining what sellers should do in this situation. For example an alternative would be to take the parcel somewhere that will not check the weight, like a Royal Mail delivery office (limited hours) or a CollectPlus location that accepts Royal Mail parcels (not all of them). Clear information about whether the prepaid ebay label can be quickly cancelled and refunded in these circumstances would also be useful.

[marco@ebay]

---

@fatbobfan wrote:

Some feedback and a question

I carry out Ebays best practices (pricing), below is not every search result but not uncommon, not all have all the issues, its normally a combination of the 4 but I do come across sellers who have all 4 of the breaches of policy/tech issues I list below

1. Private Sellers who are Businesses, (I have reported them)

2. Private Sellers who are restricted to sell the product under Ebays guidelines (Baby Products), but are allowed to? (The number is increasing)

3. Lower visibility in the search results because of a glitch thats been over a month (P&P lowest)

4. Being allowed to sell to Northern Ireland, GPSR. This maybe fluid, the last I read the legislation had not changed, apologies if this is wrong

The new 'Feedback' process – The new system is failing its sellers, its says its not all AI and there is a human review team however the humans review team members I speak to say yes, it will be removed, however the reality is it does'nt get changed and no one can explain why, just that is doesnt meet the requirements seems to be the 'go to phrase'. No explanation, nothing can be done. Will note I have seen posts on the forums to the same outcome, not just my whinge, Feedback I understand is being monitored as a process so please pass Forum feedback to the relevant depts accordingly

On a slightly positive, have noted a success rate of about 25% on reporting private sellers who are businesses and are now 'businesses' but that still leave 70+%.

Question below

Lowest price Glitch - Yesterday I was priced at the cheapest on a line of inventory but had other sellers 10% more expensive getting the prized (P&P lowest) result, plus I was running an additional 10% coupon, (so the buyer could get it even cheaper) its crazy and is is a real problem. So despite being the cheapest and offering 10% on top of being the cheapest I'm still fourth in the results

Is there a known understanding/formulae on this issue, so that sellers can use to at least try and get back on a level playing field/compete. Something is causing the results, i'm hoping tech are aware of whats causing the issue, can they provide a work around?

On price competitive inventory this is really hurting, please ask

This issue with the SD fallout or whatever else is going on has created my worst selling period in 20 years. Its a stinker. Considering the new policies gave me an advantage by removing Private sellers as competitors from some of my selling categories, plus our adding of 20% new inventory and weekly practice of 'Best Practices' I fail to see why the performance has dropped, the Glitches are not helping

---

Hi fatbobfan, thanks for your post. 

Thanks for your input, this is much appreciated, and I will make sure to pass this on for you.

Regarding your question, something similar like this was flagged with us before and we've raised it to tech before. However, with the examples we received back then, we couldn't replicate the issue. If you could share 1 or 2 of your listings, we can try reporting this for you, so they can investigate. Once they get back to me, I'd be happy to share the update with you.

Thank you,

Marco

[dave@ebay]

---

@green_apple_55 wrote:

The Royal Mail online postage site allows sellers to choose not to display their address on the delivery label when sending out items to buyers.

Under Simple Delivery (Royal Mail postage), sellers do not appear to have this option as seller's addresses are shown as standard on the label with no apparent way to change that.

Please can you ask ebay to fix this small discrepancy so that seller's can choose not to display their address on the Simple Delivery Royal Mail label?

Obviously I don't mind ebay giving my address details to Royal Mail electronically if necessary for any returns (like I give Royal Mail my address details when buying online postage directly so that a return address is electronically linked to the tracking number), it just doesn't need to be printed on the label - that is a concern that puts me off selling.

---

Hi @green_apple_55 

I absolutely understand your concerns with this. It's not something I've seen before, so I don't know if it's possible with how the system is set up at the moment. I'll pass the above over to the SD team to review and hopefully it will be something that can be rolled out in a future update. 

Thanks,

Dave

[moldosgifts]

Post Office turning away eBay sold packages

Another thread on post office's refusing packages that last week we were told by would not happen.
Yet it is. Apparently they have all these post offices been emailed that any marked with MARKET PLACE SELLER have to accepted regardless.
But there numerous reports they have never seen such an email.
Can you clarify who exactly is ebays contract with is royal mail or the post office? I suspect its with royal mail and not the post office who are a very large collection of independents. Who have been heavily fined for collecting mislabelled packages so you can see why they are refusing.
I am on first name terms with all at my local post office and they will refuse any mislabelled packages.
What up to date info do you have on this?

Another thread on post office's refusing packages that last week we were told by community-team@ebay  would not happen.
Yet it is. Apparently they have all these post offices been emailed that any marked with MARKET PLACE SELLER have to accepted regardless.
But there numerous reports they have never seen such an email.
Can you clarify who exactly is ebays contract with is royal mail or the post office? I suspect its with royal mail and not the post office who are a very large collection of independents. Who have been heavily fined for collecting mislabelled packages so you can see why they are refusing.
I am on first name terms with all at my local post office and they will refuse any mislabelled packages.
What up to date info do you have on this?

[mendes6]

Hi,

      This is my first time here. How do I post a question. The start a conversation link won't work for me. Am I doind something wrong.

Mendes6

[marco@ebay]

---

@akemp1 wrote:

Why are SD labels for RM more expensive than buying directly from RM - are ebay trying to apply a penalty for not choosing Evri?

---

Hi akemp1, thanks for your post.

This has been flagged with us already, so we are currently looking into it. While this is not confirmed yet, it looks like this could be related to all dimensions included in the service of the carriers. Like parcels up to 15kg for example, rather than 2kg only. Once we have more information, or something confirmed, I'll be happy to let you know.

Thank you,

Marco

[kat@ebay]

---

@jjambadger27 wrote:

Is it possible to have a simple explanation for Simple Delivery from a seller's perspective? I did a test listing a few days ago having specified that I didn't want to use Evri as a carrier, and two options came up for delivery - Standard and Express. Is this Royal Mail Tracked 48 and 24, or a case of eBay overriding my choice and displaying Evri as Standard and Royal Mail as Express?

I was told last week in the chat that my choice of carrier would be overriden in "very specific situations". What exactly are all of these situations, seeing as Royal Mail appears to have more national coverage than Evri? It's only fair as sellers that we are told this.

---

Hi @jjambadger27 ,

Exceptions may occur where your preferred carrier is unavailable due to the seller’s location or package size which will require the alternative carrier to be used.

I will check the part regarding the standard and express options and come back to you.

Thank you,

Kat

[lincolnshiremarine]

Good afternoon

Please could someone look into a case a buyer has raised.  We have spoken to eBay customer service on 2nd April (appeals department) then we did not hear back, so spoke to customer service on 5th April 2025 and have not heard back.  The case is still open, but the customer has submitted confusing information, which the eBay system does not understand.

This relates to order number: 19-12792-00323 this item was sent via eBay Global shipping programme.

The buyer opened a case saying in the reason for return "missing parts or pieces"  then in the comments sections the buyers has put "item has not arrived"

The buyer is correct the item has not arrived as I see it has not had any updates since 24th March when it cleared customs, its left the UK 

Therefore the buyer has not selected the correct reason, parts cannot be missing if the item has not arrived. 

eBay keep sending us message for us to provide a return label, and to resolve this. As the buyer has selected the wrong reason, and the item was sent via global shipping we are protected, but eBay do not seem to be resolving this. We do not want any repercussions our end.  Furthermore from our experience of sending things global shipping eBay should step in.

We have messaged the buyer and explained what has happened, but eBay were suppose to be getting back to us, and we have not heard anything.

Can you help please.

Best wishes 

[poshboutique2]

Currently simple delivery does not offer the Royal Mail bring my label service,  only collection for Royal Mail parcels with the label already affixed. When will this be rectified? The bring my label service is vital for those without a printer and who use the RM collection service. 

Secondly, if I want to choose Evri only postage for certain listings (Evri is OK for low value light items but not for china, tableware which they break at an alarming rate) and Royal Mail only postage for other listings can I choose this with Simple Delivery? If I can't do I disable Evri as a carrier option if I prefer to use Royal Mail for all listings?

[dave@ebay]

---

@wellingnorth wrote:

From reading the forums it seems like people are still having problems with local Post Offices accepting mislabelled parcels.

After last weeks chat user Warmyn-81 reported in message 39 of the below thread that Post Offices had been notified that they should accept all parcels with 'Marketplace Seller' on the label regardless of actual size / weight. https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Post-Office-and-Simple-Delivery/td-p/7817702/page/2

Yesterday I asked the generally switched on staff in my two local London Post Offices if they knew about this and they didn't.

This may be a Post Office communication issue, but it is affecting ebay sellers, so could ebay push them to resolve this issue please? One of the clerks I spoke to yesterday explained that last year they had accepted some overweight parcels and had been fined by Royal Mail for doing so, so you can imagine why being told that ebay have said it's okay may not be persuasive.

One thing that might help would be a public facing page on postoffice.co.uk explaining the policy that a customer could show to reluctant branch staff.

It would also help if there was clear advice on ebay.co.uk explaining what sellers should do in this situation. For example an alternative would be to take the parcel somewhere that will not check the weight, like a Royal Mail delivery office (limited hours) or a CollectPlus location that accepts Royal Mail parcels (not all of them). Clear information about whether the prepaid ebay label can be quickly cancelled and refunded in these circumstances would also be useful.

---

Hi @wellingnorth,

I have seen some posts on this recently. Royal Mail should have notified all the PO branches how to handle this situation. There does seem to be an issue with a small number of branches. We have passed this back to the shipping team and they are reaching out to RM through their channels to get this resolved ASAP.  

Thanks,

Dave

[a45heaven]

Refund details mystery.

Ive mulled this since it was reported to 'Marco' back in June 2024 and was confirmed as an example occurring also to a Mentor, and still can not make sense of how ebay display the refund appropriation.

The reason for making the refund is  wholly a 'Postage Adjustment'. whilst it appears the correct amount is taken , im more concerned as to how this will be viewed by HMRC and financial assessment of my trading on the platform.

Order21-12920-95069

Sales record no.82891

Total refund

£4.00

Refund summary

Show breakdown

Refund summaryTransaction details Transaction amount

Postage	£1.20
Purchase price	£2.80
Fee credits	-£0.49

Amount you owe

£3.51

[marco@ebay]

---

@mendes6 wrote:

Hi,

      This is my first time here. How do I post a question. The start a conversation link won't work for me. Am I doind something wrong.

Mendes6

---

Hi mendes6, thank you for your message.

You did it just fine there, so if you have a question for us, feel free to type in your question the same way you just did there, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you mean starting a new thread, just go to any of the boards, like "Seller Central" or "Buying", for example, and click on the blue button that says "start a conversation" with your question and input. If you get an error when you click on it, please let us know what kind error you get, and we will take a look for you no problem.

Thank you,

Marco

[kat@ebay]

---

@moldosgifts wrote:

Post Office turning away eBay sold packages

Another thread on post office's refusing packages that last week we were told by would not happen.
Yet it is. Apparently they have all these post offices been emailed that any marked with MARKET PLACE SELLER have to accepted regardless.
But there numerous reports they have never seen such an email.
Can you clarify who exactly is ebays contract with is royal mail or the post office? I suspect its with royal mail and not the post office who are a very large collection of independents. Who have been heavily fined for collecting mislabelled packages so you can see why they are refusing.
I am on first name terms with all at my local post office and they will refuse any mislabelled packages.
What up to date info do you have on this?

Another thread on post office's refusing packages that last week we were told by community-team@ebay  would not happen.
Yet it is. Apparently they have all these post offices been emailed that any marked with MARKET PLACE SELLER have to accepted regardless.
But there numerous reports they have never seen such an email.
Can you clarify who exactly is ebays contract with is royal mail or the post office? I suspect its with royal mail and not the post office who are a very large collection of independents. Who have been heavily fined for collecting mislabelled packages so you can see why they are refusing.
I am on first name terms with all at my local post office and they will refuse any mislabelled packages.
What up to date info do you have on this?

---

Hi @moldosgifts ,

We are aware of the different posts and threads on the situations some sellers have faced with packages not being accepted by the post offices. The post offices should be accepting the packages and this has been communicated. In the cases where they are not we are tracking these examples for our shipping team and they are working with the Royal Mail to ensure packages are being accepted. 

Thank you,

Kat

[mendes6]

Hi all,

           I have just listed a book weighing about 3.5kg. I used Royal mail. Going through simple delivery Ebay charged £12.80. When I did it through advanced options myself the cost was £6.80 for the same service. It appears the weight range for Medium parcels on simple delivery misses out a whole category for items 5kg to 10kg and skips directly from 2kg to 15kg+. Is this a glitch or a missed option help appreciated.

Regards,

                   Mendes6

[marco@ebay]

---

@poshboutique2 wrote:

Currently simple delivery does not offer the Royal Mail bring my label service,  only collection for Royal Mail parcels with the label already affixed. When will this be rectified? The bring my label service is vital for those without a printer and who use the RM collection service. 

Secondly, if I want to choose Evri only postage for certain listings (Evri is OK for low value light items but not for china, tableware which they break at an alarming rate) and Royal Mail only postage for other listings can I choose this with Simple Delivery? If I can't do I disable Evri as a carrier option if I prefer to use Royal Mail for all listings?

---

Hi poshboutique2, thanks for your post.

This has been escalated to the highest level, but we haven't been confirmed when would this be available. Once we know more about this, we will let you know. 

If you're shipping internationally, Simple Delivery will apply for the first leg of the journey of the parcel (from you to our hub), and from there, it would work the usual way. If you're not using GSP, Simple Delivery will only apply for domestic orders.

Thank you,

Marco