Support UK Small Breeders: Allow the Responsible Sale of Hatching Eggs on eBay

We are small-scale poultry breeders, farmers, and rural businesses across the UK who rely on online marketplaces to sustain our livelihoods.

EBay changed their policy on hatching eggs in the UK in March 2025

This restriction on selling hatching eggs on eBay has had a significant negative impact on small businesses. For many of us, eBay has historically been the most successful and accessible platform to reach genuine buyers. Its removal has reduced income, limited growth, and forced sellers into less secure or less effective alternatives.

As small breeders, we are now being forced to discard fertile hatching eggs that could produce healthy chicks—simply because we’ve lost access to the one platform that reliably connected us with buyers.

This is not only an economic loss but also an unnecessary waste of valuable, viable livestock.

We fully understand the importance of animal welfare, biosecurity, and buyer protection. However, rather than a blanket restriction, we propose a regulated and responsible approach that supports both sellers and buyers.

Importantly, eBay already allows the sale of hatching eggs in the United States under controlled conditions. This demonstrates that a safe, regulated system is both possible and practical. UK breeders are simply asking for the same opportunity to operate within clear guidelines.

We recommend that eBay introduces a controlled category for hatching eggs, including:

- Mandatory “Hatching Eggs – No Guarantee of Hatch Rates” disclaimers  
- Clear seller standards (minimum feedback, proven experience)  
- Approved packaging and postage guidelines to protect egg viability  
- Biosecurity expectations aligned with UK poultry standards  
- Transparent listings to prevent misleading claims  

Hatching eggs are already widely and responsibly sold across other platforms and within farming communities. However, eBay has consistently proven to be the most effective and successful marketplace for connecting breeders with genuine buyers at scale. Its reach, buyer trust, and structured selling system make it uniquely valuable—far beyond smaller platforms or informal sales channels.

By allowing regulated sales, eBay would be supporting small rural businesses, reducing unnecessary waste, and restoring a vital and proven route to market that many breeders depend on.

We respectfully ask that eBay reviews this policy and works with the UK poultry community to create a safe, transparent, and fair system for selling hatching eggs.

Thanks for reading

UK Poultry breeders