'...all these things are (mostly) avoidable for the knowledgeable who use ebay regularly, read the boards or have extensive knowledge of the Help pages.' 

Exactly - but for those who sell infrequently, or like many of us, don't have a lot of time to be constantly perusing the Help pages/dealing with 'updates' etc - the recent changes have made eBay a more complicated place, seemingly fraught with traps for the unwary. This does not make for happy selling! 

For those new to selling, I would imagine there is a lot of 'going round in circles' trying to work out what you can & can't do - especially with the postage situation. Many have found to their cost that when something goes wrong, or you make a mistake, it can be very time-consuming & stressful to get it sorted. Yes, eBay will cough up for damaged and missing parcels, but I still don't think that compensates for all the difficulties and restrictions of Simple Delivery.