16 years on ebay, and SIMPLE DELIVERY is the final straw. IM CLOSING MY ACCOUNT DOWN :(

[billus89]

I have been on ebay for 16 years now. 2800 feedback at 100%, I have a system that works, that I have perfected, that I have invested in.

Ebay now steam roll their way into my postage system/strategy and dictate how I have to post my items.

I have been on the fence for a little while now contemplating leaving ebay (in particulalry with the buyers protection fee saga), but the forcing of simple delivery I am going to walk away.

Its not my first choice, having spoken to a customer service and begged them to remove simple delivery from my account, but I am told it is now the default method as a personal seller and sorry but thats the way it is now bucko!

Thanks ebay, you were a great platform for me over the years. Unfortunately you've pushed too hard this time, and its not working in my favour anymore.

I've been on the fence with Vinted and Etsy over the years, now its time to see if the grass is greener over there.

All the best,

Billus89

[minstrels-gallery]

So many of us feel exactly the same, I've kept my account open but have deleted all of my listings and won't be listing again unless Simple Delivery is abandoned.  I hope you find a good alternative and wish you good luck.

[jma2815]

I’m just not selling for the moment. Ebay suited me until last weekend but (and this won’t be the case for everyone) ☹️

[billus89]

Thanks for the feedback to everyone who replied. Seems like we are all in the same boat.

I'm going to do the same as others now and have a nice break away from ebay for some time. Its hard to close the door after such a long time, but its just not worth the hassle and constant playing catchup to ebay's everchanging games. I appreciate they are a business, but greed seems to be the motto today, and people have already left in masses due to the HMRC ramp up over the past 12 months (not that this actually changed anything from my operation). 

I appreciate that other platforms will have advantages and disadvantages, but I feel that ebay will continue to pull the rug on their sellers, and its now worth exploring what competitors can offer.

Its worked so well for me over the years but the past 12 months I just cannot keep up with the changes especially when they work completely against me.

I'm just so surprised that ebay keeps allowing these changes and ignoring their loyal customers. Unfortunately they are going to learn the hard way, as I can tell you once I end my listings I wont be rushing back to get to where I was today. 

To everyone else jumping ship too - I wish you all the best with your future selling.

[underpinned]

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@billus89 wrote:

Ebay now steam roll their way into my postage system/strategy and dictate how I have to post my items.

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Is the main issue the courier choice? Many people don't like Evri so they turn it off in https://www.ebay.co.uk/ship/prf/simpledelivery

I think somewhere they said they'll add more couriers soon.

[billus89]

The courier choice is one issue, but overall its the fact that ebay now decides what my items weigh and makes the formal agreement with the postal supplier without me having any power now.

I have a process in place by which I weight every item,  I choose the service and when I come to package it I can also weight it prior to buying the label and have the exact weight printed on the label too. This has proven to prevent fraud to many people on here when items get returned that are nothing like the item sent (with often a different weight).

If I have issues with items not arriving, I have used to have my own private separated postage invoices that I can go to the postal provider with.

Unfortunately, this is just one more change that I didnt ask for, didnt need and provides further headaches. 

I have closed my listings down and its time to step away from here for a while.

I plan on investigating some of the other offerings, of which I am sure there will be similar issues and hurdles. I think ebay has just got to a point where it doesnt work for me anymore and they clearly dont listen to their sellers anymore.

[andha-21]

Totally agree with you regarding packing methods. I sell Warhammer models, some are tiny, weigh virtually nothing but because they are bigger than large letter sizing they have to go in small parcels. 

But that means they have to survive sorting and transit with boxes weighing upto 2kg.

You have to do fortress packing to get them through.

That's why I refuse to use Simple Delivery.

I won't relist till they change terms and conditions though. That's the bigger problem now. They don't have to give any notice for changes anymore. It used to be 30 days.

[clearingmyshelves2025]

For me it's the enforced tracking and the postage label. I've got around £200 of stamps just sitting in a drawer. In 20 years I think I've only had 4 or 5 items go missing. All the uncertainty about the weight doesn't help either.

[brainuk]

You could pretend you're Chinese and sell the stamps on eBay!!

[bojangled]

@billus89 

Totally understand your despair. 
Just be advised Etsy is as expensive, and V**ted have the same delivery procedure albeit with more couriers available, and a Buyers Protection Fee.

I’ve tried both on a personal and business level.

One thing both have over EBay is the ease of listing, no endless item specifics!

There is one thing I’ve noticed during all these changes, the amount of posts with ‘been here  ** so many years’ they really don’t care how long you’ve had your account. 
Jo

[billus89]

Thanks for the reply Jo,

Its good to get a perspective of what else is out there. I appreciate there will be some pros and cons.

I think I just feel burned out (if thats the right expression) from all the changes ebay have made over the past 18 months. Everytime I get frustrated, count to ten, step back and then come up with a plan to adapt and deal with these problems.

The most recent is I bought a shipping label printer to streamline my postal process and its been working flawlessly! Although I can still use the printer with SD, its just the fact I have no control now of my system, and parcel weight isn't even factored in. As one of the earlier posts states, some items I post are very small but go in large boxes with LOTS of packaging due to how delicate the items are. If I now have to fork out more on postage then I loose out on money, and its just not worth my time.

I agree, I am very disheartened at the the amount of "long termers" like myself saying enough is enough, but I am also reassured that I am not going through this decision alone.

I will always be grateful for ebay and what it has allowed me to do for the past 16 years, but unfortunately it is a different animal now and I doesn't work for me like it used to.

Will

[billus89]

I am in full agreement and have to do the same. Some items I sell are very small but also require large shipping boxes with plenty of packing material to ensure the items arrive safely - EXPECTED by ebay as a seller that you can safely package items.

Ebay have now decided that you must either inadequately pack items to the size that they have decided (after all they know my item better than I do apparently!) or you must take the hit and upgrade your parcel to the next size up out of your own pocket.

Part of me thinks perhaps ebay is on a push to self destruct itself.

I did read an interesting post that made me think hmmmmm........ The economy doesn't want people selling 2nd hands goods. If you buy a 2nd hand item, then you aren't generating the demand for new goods for the corporations that require endless consumerism to make profit. And after all, the .gov require endless consumerism to continue their infinite rise of success, known as GDPee (pun intended). Perhaps there is a deliberate drive from higher powers that want to stifle the 2nd hand market and drive consumerism of new goods? Just an interesting thought.....

Anyway, back to the current topic. I have closed all my listings now until I see some change back in my favour. I don't see that coming so I will continue to look at alternatives. 

Wish you all the best with the direction that you take. 

Will

[wyntersemporium]

Last parcel I sent on my private I skipped stupid delivery and bought a label off Royal Mail adding the tracking details in. It was received by buyer who left me feedback 

[sandyt2123]

I am also a  bit fed up of "simple delivery" - it certainly isn't. 

But now when I list I have to go through several steps to ignore "simple delivery". On the postage set-up page, I select "switch to advanced options" and then I am able to select MY preferred service where I can choose my postal courier, service and price settings to account to my preferences. That is where I can select Royal Mail, Parcleforce, DPD, DHL, Evri (heaven forbid!), etc.

But I do find this a faff.

I have also found out that when my listings are relisted I have to double check that my postal options haven't been over written by "simple delivery"!! 

By the way, has anyone else found that viewing traffic for their items has plummeted this year? My selling is way down from previous years, and I don't think it can't just be because people are hard up. I think eBay have really damaged their brand with all these changes, and this has mystified potential customers as well as sellers like us. 

I just hope that everything settles down!

[edwardian-dreams]

It doesn’t help when eBay are in between two worlds 

either *** or get off the pan as they say 

either have Sd and with its exemptions or don’t 

dong have both systems running tandem 

at the moment it’s an incomplete  still being developed system launched before it was worked out full of errors and omissions and  confusing the hell out of a lot of people

for why?

seems all to be like an experiment with us as Guinea pigs 

[jma2815]

What do you plan to do when ‘advanced options’ and the ability to add your own tracking are taken away? 

[bagpussohbagpuss12]

18 years I have been selling on eBay, it has done well for me, but then they have to change it, firstly no fees for sellers, great, but then the buyer has to pay so called protection fees, what a load of. **** , for me as a seller I then have to reduce my item prices to even get any interest and I can see a fall in interest of numbers anyway and then simple delivery, my a**, my own posting worked brilliantly being in a rural area, tracked 48 and collected from my door, not a problem.  How dare you eBay take that away from me! 
ever heard of of it ain’t broke don’t fix it!!?

i also have ceased selling until this stupidity goes back to how it was !!!!!!

[billus89]

@bagpussohbagpuss12 I also had a great system for posing, again as a fellow rural seller. 

I hope things change. Just had the 1st Bank Holiday in years where I had nothing listed. Sad times