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EcommerceBytes Letters to the Editor

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For consideration, send your email to ina@auctionbytes.com with "Letters to the Editor Blog" in the subject line! Remember to include your name as you would like it to appear in the blog.

Wed June 24 2009 10:00:01

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

By: Ina Steiner

Sponsored Link

To the Editor:
On June 10, 2009 Ebay retired Classic Search. Our sales immediately dropped from 20-30 a day to 0-1 per day. A few days later we started hearing from buyers that they were having major search problems, such as slow loading (with high speed DSL), inability to search more than 5 pages (out of 200+ pages), sometimes not being able to go to page 2 (page 1 kept reloading). Many are so discouraged by yet another change at Ebay, another one they see not needed, that they have turned to other venues to shop.

Other sellers I am in contact with, outside of Community Boards, report the same.

When will Ebay realize that not only have they chased of many good sellers, who were also buyers, but they are now chasing off buyers who have remained?

Community boards report same problems. I do wonder how many posts Ebay deleted. Also, board posters have declined mostly from disgust at Ebay's inablity and/or disinclination to respond to and/or update members on issues. If you are being ignored, why make the effort?

See board posts:
(Link 1)
(Link 2)
(Link 3)
(Link 4)
(Link 5)

As with all other Ebay changes to one aspect, there seems to be other glitches happening since Classic Search was retired. See posts:
(Link 1)
(Link 2)
(Link 3)
(Link 4)

Posters report that responses to ebay tech support via email and phone calls only include: "There is no problem.", "No problem has been reported", and the old standby "Clear cookies & cache."

I have to believe that no sales for sellers = no FVF for Ebay. Why wouldn't they be working on this? Ebay is silent, as usual, about site issues. God forbid that stockholders get wind of what appears to be a major problem at Ebay. Perhaps you can find out something.

Keep up the excellent work! AuctionBytes is often the only way we are able to find out about what's going on at Ebay.
Sincerely,
SJ
PS: Feel free to post this in your blog or letters section. I'd be curious to see what others have to say about this.

Comments (10) | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: Peter Leeflang / LEEFLANG ARCHIVES CORP.

Wed Jun 24 11:48:35 2009

We're indeed experiencing a decline in sales after June 10, which is also visible in lack of 'watchers' which would normally be much more numerous and are now rare.
Some of the search boxes in Ebay's Advanced Search are now so dysfunctional that if a buyer uses them a couple of times, after a couple of searches they simply STOP searching. One can press the FIND button then as often as one wants, but no action happens. The only way to fix that is for a buyer to click on the Advanced Search link in the top and restart the searching.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: vidgamers.net

Wed Jun 24 12:04:04 2009

eBay has known about the issues with the new search for quite some time and has no intention of adressing any of the issues. We've confirmed that if you use IE 5 or 6 the code is completely incompatible, the pages won't load. You would think there aren't too many people with that version anymore, but from what we've seen in sales drops there's more than anyone thought still out there.

There are other bugs but that one alone should have been enough to not release it in the state it's in. I've also heard of some problems with IE8 (which it's supposed to be optimized for) though I haven't confirmed since I use IE 7. Don't know how it's affecting Firefox or Safari users either.

You may also want to consider that there may be something else going on as well. My suggestion would be contact a friend at another location (with a different IP address that yours) and have them search the site on your general product lines without logging in and see if your listings are within the results and where. Pending your seller status level, there may be shenanigans going on in that code (wouldn't be surprising, would it?).

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: gone

Wed Jun 24 12:25:27 2009

I haven't logged into ebay for several weeks but this letter made me curious. I use IE8 and pages were extremely slow loading. Even more annoying is the so-called search. What used to be fun has become more work than I care to do. Constant reloading of pages isn't how I care to spend my time. Very sad ... seems with every change ebay gets less attractive to use.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: joe

Wed Jun 24 12:32:03 2009

THIS ISN'T NEW ON EBAY, IT'S BEEN HAPPENNING FOR WELL OVER A YEAR NOW.
IT APPEARS TO BE AFFECTING MORE AND MORE SELLERS AT AN ACCELERATED PACE...

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: SJ

Wed Jun 24 12:37:27 2009

vidgamers.net

Others, sellers & buyers, have used their computers with same problem. FYI: We are Powersellers since 2003 with 4.9+ DSR in all categories, received 20% discount for 06/15 billing.

Thank goodness we have a website we sell on. Doing more sales there than on Ebay. Does anyone wonder why?

SJ

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: no problem

Wed Jun 24 12:50:36 2009

I have used firefox for the past year. Great program. Loads ebay fast and best of all blocks all there crummy ads.

Ebay programers are illerate idiots and couldn't program a microwave without help.

Ebay is in a sad state of affairs and will only be getting worst and the Hole leads it to oblivion.

Great job Hole.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: Juan

Wed Jun 24 14:28:44 2009

I too have noticed a significant drop in sales. I would say around the time that they changed the look of the Ebay store items. I'm not sure that was it, but other changes also implemented alongside that. I had a steady flow and dare I say increase in business last month, then around the 10th, a serious 40% to 50% drop, no kidding. Something is definitely going on, this is not normal and its not the economy. A lot of the trickling of business I am getting is coming from the UK, since I advertise in print mag there for collectors of the items I sell. I can't imagine my sales without that right now. By the way, I am a Power seller with 100% positive and get the 20% discount from ebay. I believe this is all due to a seriously faulty search engine, and slow loading pages. At one point I noticed I was getting different search results if you put THE in front of the items name, or different results depending on whether you entered ''and'' or ''&'' which is amazingly ridiculous. Thanks for hearing me out, it is very frustrating that we pay as much as we do to ebay and they cannot provide a working, competent venue to sell.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: Patricia

Wed Jun 24 14:59:58 2009

I can only assume that the new search is aimed where Ebay wants it aimed - at the diamond sellers and other large sellers Ebay is coddling. The rest of us are just there to feed the them our listing fees! I, too, noticed yet another dismal drop in sales. I'm a small seller of one of a kind items and my last three listings gathered only 1 viewing between them for one 24 hour period. That was enough for me to pack up and concentrate on my sales efforts elsewhere. Ebay must be profiting from this somehow...I just can't figure out how. To sit back and lose sales and revenue in the name of changing Ebay's business model is utter madness!

"God forbid that stockholders get wind of what appears to be a major problem at Ebay"

Unfortunately, the stockholders who are buying Ebay stock are charmed by the wall street gurus that Ebay seems to have in their back pockets. They only know the company is sitting on 3 billion in revenue - held off-shore! The inner turmois of Ebay somehow eludes them.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: Another Wronged Seller

Wed Jun 24 17:10:24 2009

New search should be re-named ''finding a needle in a haystack''

My STR used to be around 80% prior to the changes of the last two years. Until two weeks ago I considered my self lucky just to have a 50% average STR. When they retired classic search my STR dropped to approximately 15% overnight.

Lets see... 80% to 15% in two years or so despite me standing on my head for ebays ''improvements'' and bending over for buyers at ebays behest.

On top of that the average selling price has plumetted for the items that do manage to sell. An item that was selling for $20 to 25 dollars six months ago now has closed at 5 to 7 dollars the last three times I listed it. Items rarely go above the opening bid price.

It's pretty clear that buyers aren't finding what they want. Hence one bid vs half dozen or more. I've done multiple searches for my own items using the exact wording in the listing and I frequently can't find my own products! It's pretty sad when my exact wording is still dropped below Diamonds products that don't even come close to matching my search criteria.

I love getting results showing black pants when I searched for a blue shirt....

I keep vainly hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel but clearly EVERY change this company initiates makes it worse.

eBay's New Search Search Slowing Buyers?

by: EventHorizon1984

Wed Jun 24 20:26:33 2009

Apparently someone at eBay considers their search engine to be problematic too.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bing-product-manager-bolts-
to-ebay-2009-6
Bing Product Manager Bolts To eBay (MSFT, EBAY)
''While Microsoft (MSFT) keeps poaching Yahoo search execs, it seems one of their own has bolted for the Bay Area.

Product development manager Hugh Williams quit the company to join eBay (EBAY) as VP of Search about two weeks ago, says a now-former colleague. A spokesperson for Microsoft confirms Hugh's departure.''

''What is wrong with you people? Don't you have anything else better to do? Why don't you get a hobby? Read a book or something?''
Vir, Babylon 5

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