10-09-2025 11:13 PM
I can't speak for every private seller but I hope I can for a vast majority or mostly all after some online research.
Ebay have destroyed the freedom for private sellers with this dreadful "simple delivery".
It does not work, it never will and every single aspect of it needs immediate scrapping. We just want the old original system back putting us in charge of our postage and packing including how we price postage costs and the freedom to use whichever service we wish without Ebay's control or direct interference.
I wrote a letter of complaint to Ebay UK's London address and got a response back from an email address which of course you can't reply to. The correspondence just said your feedback has been acknowledged and we've added more opt out options.
The only opt I would like to see is "simple delivery" gone completely. I don't require nor want a business account and private sellers shouldn't be punished or controlled like this.
I've sold and bought on Ebay for over 20 years and both private sellers and business sellers make up an important part of this marketplace platform.
FOR THE EBAY "POWERS AT BE", PLEASE JUST LISTEN AND GET RID OF SIMPLE DELIVERY!
10-09-2025 11:54 PM
Simple Delivery works perfectly for me.
I'd like to know how your "online research" shows it doesn't work for the majority, vast or otherwise. It is extremely rare for anything positive about e-Bay to be said in these fora. Have you ever seen a Buyer open a thread saying that they bought something for a decent price, it arrived safely and on time, was as described and they are very happy with their purchase yet such things happen thousands of times a day, as do similar things from the Seller's side. Likewise people are much more likely to take to social media to moan than praise.
Of course Simple Delivery doesn't work for everybody but for some of us it's an improvement. I don't pretend to know the proportion of people who like, hate or are indifferent to it — just that the complainers are, as normal, voicing their opinion the loudest.
The only way of knowing what the majority feel is to ask everyone and force them to answer — again people are more inclined to complete surveys if they are unhappy than if they are satisfied or better. e-Bay will know if it's adversely effecting their business and make changes if it is, as they already have.
If you've been on e-Bay for over twenty years you'll recall the howls of anguish over things like Sellers not being able to leave negative feedback for Buyers, e-Bay taking a cut or the P&P charge, the introduction of Managed Payments and other things beside. Despite these all being "The end of e-Bay" and "Sellers leaving in droves" it's still here and those things are hardly complained about today.
10-09-2025 11:59 PM
For small and medium parcels it's good though. From 6th October it will cost more to send any item over the value of £75 with Royal Mail directly as they are slashing their compensation for tracked from £150 down to £75. This means it will cost over £14 special delivery just to ship a higher priced item and buyers won't want to pay it. I'm hopeful that simple delivery will offer a competitive equivalent shipping method for less.
11-09-2025 7:47 AM
@sw85uk It does not work, it never will and every single aspect of it needs immediate scrapping.
Whilst I agree not every aspect of SD is working, but you need to explain why you agree to the idea of scrapping eBay refunding lost items in the post, refunding fully if a buyer opens a case for item damaged in transit, in both instances the seller gets to keep the payout for those items, refunds come out of eBay's pocket.
Surely you do not wish to scrap this idea ? 🤔
11-09-2025 8:00 AM
...As you may be able to tell, you've just reached other Sellers here (not eBay 'powers that be'). I too find SD a bit of a faff but feel the benefits far outweigh the label/QR code difficulties. That said, I'm thrilled that £20 or less items now have the option for me to choose between SD and Custom Delivery.
06-11-2025 10:14 AM
I absolutely agree - Simple Delivery should be optional. I'm probably going to have to cancel a large order because SD has selected a postage service that won't work (the item is too large, and needs a courier pick-up). There is no way to cancel or modify the postage after an order is placed - that's mad. I'd be perfectly happy to pay a surcharge to change the postage, but there is no mechanism.
The old system - charging an estimated postage cost, then arranging it after the order was so much simpler and more flexible.
06-11-2025 10:25 AM
Surely you realised that simple delivery wouldn't work at the point of listing?
That item should really have been collection only, most couriers won't cover it.
06-11-2025 10:33 AM
For large items SD should use DHL pick-up - which would be fine. It has worked for previous items. For this order it selected Royal mail drop off. The item is too large for that.
07-12-2025 7:43 AM
Simple Delivery is awful.My selling has will end as I can't just wrap up,take to post and get it off.I can't decide about postage, etc. Its a deliberate act to clear out sellers they don't want ,the individuals who were happy to pay e- bay to sell on their platform ,follow the rules but free to adjust postage etc to their market.
07-12-2025 7:46 AM
Slagging ebay off in your description is definitely one way to bring your selling to an end!
07-12-2025 8:00 AM
It is a stupid,greedy,grasping idea and designed to be.If it was a choice,fine but it is not.
14-12-2025 8:12 PM
I totally agree.
EBay are Judge, Jury and Executioner. They couldn’t care less about their users and their requests.
I know of no one that likes this compulsory option.
I know of buyers that too are disappointed by an Evri delivery when they asked the seller to use Yodel
plus to add more insult. Those same Powers that Be (idiots) have updated the app again making things even harder.
The old saying. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”
eBay has too much money and don’t know how to waste it. So. “Let’s get something from those that work for us”. “Get them to waste time and annoy those that make the money for us”. I can only imagine what the company directors think of its users.
we are all mugs. I now list more on other apps.
15-03-2026 8:44 AM
Ebay did three things wrong here ... plus they broke one of our hard-line policies , the first in the list ...
1. An external body dictating whom we use as our suppliers (including delivery service ). WE choose our suppliers, no one else.
2. Everything we sell is "Large, Heavy and Delicate"... what a mix ...simple delivery is not a methodology that is appropriate for our customer needs. We use a courier that hasn't given us a loss or dent in 8 years.
3. We tried it when we were first forced to it ...it let us down 3 times. out of 5 sales. DHL once didn't even show up.
Now we don't sell on Ebay anymore. - It's now used as awareness only. People come to the showroom.
15-03-2026 9:05 AM
Why not just become a business seller? Given you refer to suppliers, showrooms etc, you certainly talk the talk of a business.
15-03-2026 12:41 PM
We specialise in vintage studio and audio restorations, that's 70% of our output and cant sensibly sell that service through Ebay. Yes we cherry pick juicy items to restore and sell on - but over the years the showroom has been doing the bulk of at performance because people like to compare and PX items. That doesn't work well on ebay either. In the past we did two or three items a month that could be sensibly shipped; it worked well before SD. Simple delivery was the final nail in the coffin. I'd need someone from Ebay to show me a realistic environment we could use. At the moment I cant see one. Perhaps next up after 22 years being here, we close the account entirely...I'm lost with it.
15-03-2026 12:55 PM
Chang to a business account, trade legally and then you can use whatever postage option you wish.
Complaining about eBay when you are breaking the law is comical and really if you were to leave eBay then at least customers who go to your store would get all their consumer rights which you are currently not giving them and they wouldn't be forced to pay a buyer protection fee which is a very grey legal area.
How many posters come on these boards and openly admit to breaking eBay policy with zero repercussions is an actual joke.
15-03-2026 1:15 PM
15-03-2026 1:47 PM
Breaking the law ?? ok send for the police .
Firstly they are my services and products - I sell where and when I like, and to whom.
secondly we don't do volume traffic ... we are an occasional seller. That's in Ebays own guidelines.
Thirdly you've obviously never heard of the Consumer Protection Act.
15-03-2026 2:33 PM
Did you even try Simple Delivery?
You can choose to only use Royal Mail, and getting a QR code to take to the Post Office (where they print a label and stick it on your parcel) literally takes 3 clicks, less time than it takes me to write the name and address on a parcel.
Prices are lower for postage than I would charge and sellers are protected if items get lost in the post or arrive damaged.
It is still easy - just different.
15-03-2026 2:49 PM
You buy to sell, or do reconditioned items, claim you have a showroom, offer buyers additional extras like making special cables or Bluetooth adopters, all of these are actions of a business. As you are claiming to be a private seller that's misrepresentation.
Please show me the eBay guideline that states if you only are an occasional seller you don't need to operate on a business account even if you are a business?
I have heard of the Consumer Protection Act, I advise you to read it and all other requirements for a business to operate legally whilst online as you are failing a very basic one of offering returns for change of mind.
Just to make it even more clear you are a business you have your eBay store linked on your own website (maybe update the link as its going to your old username) where you are offering the exact same items for sale. That clearly shows you are a business and should be operating on a business account.
Its not the police that would attend its Trading Standards.