Royal Mail Special Delivery offers a guaranteed Saturday Delivery Service, which is available via EBAY's PACKLINK service.

If I may summarise this thread and the many others to be found elsewhere. The most important person in any transaction is not the seller or EBAY, it is the Customer; and EBAY seem to have lost sight of this.

It is not possible to know a customer's shipping needs until they have completed all their purchases, which may include a Messaged conversation between Buyer & Seller to suggest other items of interest, and to determine their precise shipping requirements. Whilst many sales may well require the simple shipping of a single box, which can have its mail costs pre-assessed, many others do not. Simple Delivery is not fit for purpose because it presumes the shipping needs of a customer without allowing them the courtesy of being involved in that decision, and is inflexible. It also provides a pitifully small range of shipping options.

The most serious deficiency is the loss of the ability to combine purchases after multiple checkouts. Many commentators have stated that here. That is discourteous, especially as Buyers will rightly consider that they are being 'ripped off' by EBAY by being forced to pay for multiple shipping costs. A Royal Mail Small Parcel costs £3.75 with collection, and whilst limited in size to 16mm thickness and 2kg, it is more than sufficient for the multiple purchase of small items. In any case a Medium Parcel is only £7.10 (SD sometimes charges more than this) for shipments up to 20kg with a very generous parcel size. The loss of this feature robs sellers of a powerful selling tool, the ability to offer buyers additional items at a discounted rate.

The absence of an expedited delivery service has already been discussed. It is a serious omission.

The denial of access to alternative couriers is unreasonable. I would not ship anything by EVRI in view of their poor customer satisfaction rating. In order to sell via an Online Market Place (OMP) sellers need to have free access to all shipping options to meet a customers needs. 

It is not possible to deliver an item if the buyer lives nearby. I often do this multiple times a year, and it generates lots more sales. Buying  a shipping label is compulsory even if it is not needed.

SD needs to revert to be optional, so that those of us who seek to offer a superior customer experience can revert to doing so.