Simple Delivery

[colcoo-616]

Is Simple Delivery mandatory now ? used to be able to select custom postage option but it’s not available now. Just tried listing and Simple Delivery is the only option for postage 

[zapwow]

The answer is incorrect. eBay states:

Simple Delivery is the ONLY delivery method available for private sellers who list eligible items on eBay.co.uk. The option to opt out is ONLY available for items in specific categories that are priced £20 and UNDER. 

Simple delivery is not fit for purpose. Sellers cannot send items via Royal Mail 1st class Signed Delivery or Parcelforce24. Sellers cannot get items to buyers in quick time. eBay have set size limits and price limits. eBay are deigning eBay customers, eBay are discriminating against sellers and buyers. eBay insist that I send sold items within two days, which is practically very difficult for me as a pensioner with some mobility problems. eBay leave me no choice at all but to work towards leaving eBay as soon as I can, after 13 years selling. I would give eBay a zero star rating. I will not ever recommending ebay to other potential sellers. Zero stars. Pathetic.

[subminman]

I think you should check the date tressygirl  posted her statement - I think it was March 2025 and at that time it was true - things have changed since then.

[incredible_how]

The positives (there are negatives especially no combined postage for buy it now):

You can set your delivery to 3 days rather than 2.
Also you can have your items collected by Royal Mail free and they bring the label - but you would need to make sure you only have Royal Mail selected in postage preferences. That has made a huge difference to me, as we have no driver within the household at the moment.

[jckl1957]

There are advantages to Simple Delivery for sellers.

The cover for items lost in the post or damaged in transit is considerably better than you will get if you buy the postage direct from Royal Mail.

'Signed For' now only covers value up to £20.  24 or 48 hour tracked offer compensation up to £75.

Simple Delivery covers your item up to £750 and Ebay deal with claims for items which don't arrive or are damaged in transit.

If buyers want a speedy delivery, they can choose Express Tracked Delivery.  If you as a seller have chosen to only use Royal Mail, then RM Tracked 24 is the express service.

If sending within 2 days is an issue for you, then change your 'working days' - this adjusts your dispatch time and the estimated delivery date shown to your buyer, even if you use Simple Delivery.

Like many private sellers, I have had to choose whether to adapt and stay or leave the site.  I enjoy selling on Ebay and the small income it generates so I have chosen to adapt to these latest changes.

[incredible_how]

Yes the £750 limit is good. When an item my father sold went missing, eBay sorted everything, he didn't have to do anything. Recently I received something damaged in the post via SD and eBay sorted that. And yes the tracked 24 is usually next day, often including Sunday. 

[jckl1957]

Slightly off topic (me, not you!) but ...

I know some people like to moan about Royal Mail but they lost none of my items last year - I didn't have a single INR case in 2025 and, generally, items do  arrive promptly.

Our postie was delivering yesterday (Sunday).

It may have only been parcels but deliveries on a Sunday seems like a good service.

[gatefittingsdirect]

I haven't had RM lose a single parcel in over three years now, same goes for ParcelForce, we only use these carriers for good reason. 

We wouldn't go near EVRI, Yodel, DHL or UPS as we want our customers to get their items fast and in good condition.  

[gav_win]

Royal mail every time for me, could send cheaper but they are much more reliable and certainly take care of items better.
No problems all last year for me, don't need a printer and they will collect from your home if you wish.
Keep up the good work RM.

[dundeepostal]

The item most warent the PP cost or the item will NOT sell.

I sell from £1.00 - over £100

Its the low value items that will suffer

David

[dundeepostal]

The item most warrant the PP cost or the item will NOT sell.

I sell from £1.00 - over £100

Its the low value items that will suffer

David

[claire_leonhart]

There are many shady terms about that and you can never be sure Ebay will agree because sometimes when buyers select another option, without even be told or you know, they invalid the whole claim, which is a problem you wouldn't have with the direct posting service. Also I can't find attractive the 750 £ even if it were true, I have few items worth so much and rarely, they even never sell due the prices so fast, and if you know how to proper pack an item, and a box and use RM, you never have issue. I never had a damaged parcel, even when I was using Evri (before 2022) and only one to abroad in the middle of many, went broken but even here, Disney store item and valuable, how strange, eh, in fact they managed to steal my parcel, they weren't interested in all the low value stuff, not break it, it came out of the depot and none knews anything about it, 10 kg of very large parcel, probably dumped somewhere to be paid the price of it without be bother to bring it ot me, or maybe couldn't fit in the cars, I wonder.

I even lose the will and the joy to buy here, I made my first purchase off Ebay ever, I look here for last now, or look for the same sellers elsewhere, and I think carefully before to go through what I did for my last 2 purchases since this service is on. Even prices are up now, I have to count for packaging since I don't use bin bags and such, so I don't expect to sell much on here this year. I was lucky last year I was one of the last ones to have SD enforced so everybody probably bought off me more then usually. I am waiting my last items sells, and if I can find the list of the non included ones in SD, or just price it to show and cancel when SD fails. If something goes like we don't want it or expect it we can always cancel the transaction.

[claire_leonhart]

I agree. I already see the effect, last year I was making some sales, this year nothing, plus prices are confused I have to add postage, a small value item cost a lot due to ebay part on postage, that instead could go for proper packing so I have to add on, then you have be careful to offers because they try to charge you the buyer protection, I had to counter do the same amount to a buyer and explain I accepted his offer but he had to pay buyer protection himself. He accepted but it was an old phone at very good price, he did just for that maybe. Majority just leave. Go to explain why on another platform the same item and seller is cheaper...

[incredible_how]

"sometimes when buyers select another option"  with Simple Delivery the buyer can only select standard or express and if the seller has only selected Royal Mail in preferences, see here, then that is tracked 48 or tracked 24. In many places tracked 24 is delivered next day even if it's a Sunday.
No-one is making up the £750 cover, see here; if like my father you are selling heavy old books worth more than £75 (which the tracked RM go up to), the customer saves money, because SD is much cheaper than special delivery.
And there is free Royal Mail collection, with a label.

Simple Delivery is not good for combined postage of Buy It Now items. Combination postage for auction items is not perfect. It also seems unfair that if you can't use Evri, because drop off is too far away, then your customer does pay a little more.

And some of the recommended rates are way off, some sellers stick to them even when they more than double the postage.

[maujohwai]

My sales went off a cliff last year, which must have been due to either Simple Delivery, the Buyer Protection Fee, or both.

I can only conclude, like others, that Ebay is out to destroy private sellers, the very members it was designed for.

On top of those disruptive changes:

• They keep wanting me to pay to promote my listings, but this would never be worth it as virtually all my items are one-offs with a limited market.

• The best delivery for many of my cheaper items (2nd Class not over 500g) is no longer available.

• When I need to revise a price or other detail, I frequently can’t because some essential elements are “missing”. These are often photos or descriptive details that I personally entered. I have even occasionally replaced the photo by saving it from the selling listing and re-uploading it to the revise page!

• All the millimetre dimensions, many of which I measured, have been turned into inches, but none of my listings are particularly likely to appeal to US buyers.

• When listings of mine with free postage were changed to SD, a few were changed to ‘Buyer pays’.

• The BPF being added to some listings has changed, and often more than once. This is annoying and damaging, since, when BPF came in, I revised most of my prices to end up as an attractive price to the buyer, like £9.99.

[incredible_how]

BPF: the flat fee and percentage were changed in July I think, so yes all the planned final sale amounts for the buyer changed. But it worked out much better for cheaper items.
Am curious about the dimensions - when listing, say art prints, all the options I see are in centimetres.
I'm not sure that simple delivery meant sales dropped off, but I do think that the new default is free listings but you need to buy promotion...just a seller fee by another name. But I have never used it. 
Simple Delivery did mean when something I bought was damaged in transit, I just told eBay and they refunded me, the seller didn't need for me to return, then refund me, then claim from the courier.

[wendybing]

I dont believe simple delivery or bpf have caused most of the decline in sales - they now work the same as vinted and that seems to be increasing in popularity, despite the appalling customer service. I think much of the problem for private sellers is the way ebay now list things.

The user agreement, section 9, says


*
to drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer;

This, to me, says that your listing may not even be available to buyers. I have had friends try to find my listings on occasions and they haven't been able to. Ebay want you to pay a promotion fee - if you don't, chances are, your listing isn't even viewable.


Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[incredible_how]

yes I'd agree with that. I have found things from sellers I've bought from before, yet if I search for them, using terms they've used, they don't come up. That's what I meant by saying  the "new default is free listings but you need to buy promotion...just a seller fee by another name."

[claire_leonhart]

I am not referring to what delivery buyer select, but when trouble arise and the buyers open a case with ebay, if they select the "wrong" options, the case goes in buyer favour immediately and close. Like if they didn't received and use something else, or they use not as described for another reason, they get to win it even if they are in the wrong. It is happened here in the forum as well, people reporting this. 

[papso22]

Buyers will always win item not received cases if there is no tracking showing delivery.  This is a distinctly different case to return ones where something has arrived but there is an issue.

They will also almost always win item not as described cases, but who pays and whether they have to return the item depends on whether simple delivery was used and the reason chosen for the case.

Ebay does not recognise the concept of the buyer being wrong.

[incredible_how]

Sorry, it wasn't clear to me what you were talking about.