eBay Plots a Course to Modernize Its Marketplace

by: Geetar

More changes to cost you as a seller more money.

I had it, i am changing all my listings back to calculated shipping. So I can charge for the shipping to customers when they return. Is this still possible? I just cant pay for all of the shipping to the customer when they return the item. It is taking way too much of a toll. If they beat me down in search I just dont care any more. I would surmise by now it would equal out any way. I am selling on other venues than ebay so it will make up the difference from getting beaten up in search. I just cant afford this any more. I made up the difference by just selling more, but that is not making up the difference any more.  

by: Snapped

Ahh. The quarterly eBay bloviated buzzword blather blasted from the penthouse boardroom ensconced so high in the cloud, much like the view from your airline window seat, there’s no possibility of discerning details at ground level.

While they “lean into” the ‘accelerating “flywheel”’ of theIr ‘essential’ “customer’s experience”, (continuing to ignore who the customers who pay their bills actually are), they profess to be making progress toward recapturing the foundation they purposefully trashed over a decade ago.

“Modernizing’ their platform continues to be an exercise in uncoordinated and untested upgrade releases on code so patched and band-aided the very platform itself is less stable than a California stilt house on a fault line.

Meanwhile, there seems to be no acknowledgement of the fact that the only “relationship” they continue to foster is that of the seller as a cowed spouse in a abusive marriage, with eBay wielding the stick, unconcerned with fact, reason, or due process.

And what does it say, that the one thing they celebrate as an example ‘successful enhancement’ - vacation settings - has more to do with NOT selling ‘successfully’ than it does actually selling something?

It may be hard to see from their mountaintop on high, but eBay isn’t a lifestyle that making ‘easier’ will result in success. It’s just a venue. Out of touch with ground level.

Want to impress your (true) customers? Shut up already, and listen for a change. Or there’ll be more flying then wheeling in the future.

by: QueenMab

Hmmm.... Nothing at all about repairing FleeceBay's relationship with Sellers. In fact, Sellers still don't count.  Just more hot air, slick talk and more b.s.

by: toolguy

eBay 2000

You had to host your own pictures

No shipping feature, you were on your own.

eBay motors and eBay were separate

Limited categories

No 3rd party apps

Feedback was a joke, you could leave it for anyone even without a sale!

I guess amnesia runs rampant these days on how the old eBay really was!

by: toolguy

And let's not forget Billpoint

Another eBay 2000 feature ~ LOL

by: ebayout

Buyer: "Knock, Knock"
eBay: "Who's there?"
Buyer: "A potential customer."
eBay: "What do you want?"
Buyer: "A fan belt for a 2017 Camaro."
eBay: "Yeah. Right. Let me show you used GMC trucks. We're here to serve YOUR needs."

by: toolguy

@ebayout

But in reality this is what shows up for the search 2017 Camaro Fan Belt:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p238005
7.m570.l1313&_nkw=2017+camaro+fan+belt&_sacat=0

by: CanBrit

@ebayout

Thanks for the laugh. So true unfortunately.  

by: I Must be Crazy

We have heard several iterations of this same thing for over a decade. Does anyone even take them seriously anymore?

Modernize the marketplace? What in the heck have they been doing all of these years?

Somebody mentioned sellers acquiring enough stock to basically take over and control eBay. That would be good I think. It has been done in Italy. They are employee owned cooperatives. A seller owned cooperative. At least a group of sellers (who have more practical business experience than most corporate stiffs) can get rid the failed executives that cycle through 2 or 3 times pillaging the enterprise with every pass.

by: Ric

eBay's message to Wall Street - buy into our improvement BS line of carp and help make our C Level executives wealthier when they cash in their shares at the peak.

eBay's message to sellers - get ready for endless hours of redoing listings to conform to our defective new programming.  Oh and by the way, fees will go up again.

by: pace306

"eBay 2000

You had to host your own pictures

No shipping feature, you were on your own.

eBay motors and eBay were separate

Limited categories

No 3rd party apps

Feedback was a joke, you could leave it for anyone even without a sale!

I guess amnesia runs rampant these days on how the old eBay really was!"


I didnt have to host my own pics - eBay did it for me (for the VIG they took)

I shipped on my own - its called usps.com - i didnt need their fake discount(s)

I dont sell cars so separate or not it was irrelevant - and even so - whats the difference if they were together or not?

All the categories I sell were there (I sell main stream items)

I never needed 3rd party apps. There are those here that do and thats fine - but it wasnt an impediment to me making sales

Feedback was at least 2 way - where it needs to be


As Ive said 100000000000000000000000x - theres no way that Pierre the Magnificent (the guy that claims he invented online selling or something) could have sold (never mind started a business) on todays eBay with his broken POS laser pointer.

Of course after he made his millions he ran away and forgot it all - but so what - lets all just claim hes some GD d@mn hero and toast the abusive criminal behaviors of TODAYS eBay .... shame Griff et al wont put themselves "on vacation mode".

by: toolguy

@pace306

Besides amnesia you are also WRONG! (eBay did NOT host pictures in 2000)

Here's a completed listing just for YOU!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-broken-laser-pointer-Much-Lik
e-The-First-Item-Ever-Sold-On-eBay/224092754048?hash=item342cf81080:g:R~AAAOSwutFe~nQG

by: toolguy

@pace306

You were also NOT printing labels from USPS.com in 2000

Click N Ship didn't exist. . . . .Your mind is slipping. . . .

by: pace306

My mind is as sharp as a tack

I NEVER had to ever host any pic ever and I started selling in 1998.

You seem to forget that I dont sell, use or grow “botanicals” like another person here does - that person would obviously confuse things.

As for usps.com - it IS possible that I just used ups back then and not usps - but I doubt it.

Either way - I’ve repeated the list 3x now and I made my point - ty

by: RKTOYS

I have to agree with Pace on most of that.  I did not sell for some time after Donahole foisted Paypal so there are gaps.

* Self hosted pictures.  Initially, yes, you had to put them up on GeoCities or something.  eBay did have a feature where you could pay them to host pictures.  I think it was 3, then 3 became the free level, then some time before 2012 it was bumped to 12 free.

* No shipping feature.  Big deal?  See, way back in 2000, Priority was a flat $3.  You didn't need a calculator.  eBay's "discount" is nothing special as USPS.com offered the same discount for a few years.

* eBay motors separate.  So?  Who seriously buys a car on eBay?

* Limited categories.  They had hundreds.  I still use the same handful I did back then.  Considering how "well" search works, this is probably a detractor if anything.

* No 3rd party apps.  Limited use with subscription fees anyway.  Not exactly a killer app/feature IMO.

* Random feedback.  Oh, sure, for a few months after eBay opened in the late 90s.  That was gone very quickly.  If it resurfaced, it was a bug due to poor testing.

by: RKTOYS

Oh, and let's not forget, this was when eBay charged 25 cents to list and 2% of the final item price.  TWO PERCENT.  Not 15% on the item and shipping with a ton of hoops to jump through and a dangerous pool of mystery buyers that know how to work the system.  It was so much less adversarial all around.