eBay Advertises New Classifieds App on TV

by: Ric

I have been seeing the ads on New York networks and was somewhat interested.

I had no idea that they were tied to eBay, and now that I do, I will have nothing to do with the app.

Knowing eBay there is a strong likelihood the app will gather data on phone usage which will come back to haunt you in one way or another in the future such as with targeted ads for junk you do not want.

If this was a stand alone start up, I would have been interested and might have checked them out, but the association with eBay killed any interest I had.

by: Ming the Merciless

How stupid are these people, anyway? (Rhetorical question.) Sheer idiocy on some many fronts.

by: Fred Turnip

Doesn't Facebook local for sale groups already offer this service?.

by: Rexford

What Ric said.

by: The End

NOTICE :
Verizon workers will go on strike starting after midnight This Friday (Saturday Morning).
Disruption (sabotage) will extend from Massachusetts to Virginia for an undetermined amount of time.
If you are a Buyer DO NOT hold it against any sellers on any venue.
Sellers will handle business as the sabotage allows.

by: Volvo351

"[N]o mention of eBay..."?  Could that be b/c the brand name has been turned to carp? That the new, tech-savvy generation thinks eBay is "soo..mid 1990's!"  

Remember, Millenial's - if you open an account on eBay your data is not secured/encrypted - that's why it was HACKED not long ago.  And, no, I don't believe they've done anything to fix that in the meantime.  The Hoe has been too busy loading his life boat with $23MM in CASH and deserting a sinking ship! They didn't even bother to FIRE anyone in IT so clearly it wasn't considered a serious matter to the clueless BoD or the CEO. Oh, they did offer an "apology" of sorts..BFD!

So, if the CURRENT "three-year turn-around plan" involves kicking the old brand name to the curb and going after what is essentially Fresh Meat in the persons of mobile users, we'll see how that turns out - in maybe SEVEN years!

by: ignatz

eBay management seems willing to spend time and money on anything - ANYTHING - except getting their core business straightened out.

Whether it's empty newspaper trucks doing local deliveries, huge touch screens on mall windows, or repeated attempts to enter the free classifieds "business", when this co. finally does bite the dust its legacy will be repeated failed attempts to enter one misguided venture after another as its core business steadily slipped away to nothing.

by: Volvo351

Poster "The End" mentions a Verizon "strike" - gee, I thought all the "Verizon" employees were now non-union - at least the ones hired the last decade or so..the old unionized operations are dying off. So, how do employees who are NOT on the job manage "sabotage" anyway? If THEY can do it without access to the physical facilities, at least the buildings - then anyone can, right?

On another note you certainly won't see eBay making any announcement of possible service disruptions in the Northeast - Verizon would certainly take offense at the suggestion that they're vulnerable to disgruntled employees.

by: Volvo351

@Ignatz once again brings up the point of eBay not sticking to its knitting which is the legacy of The Hoe and his 'Disruptive Disruption!' eBay's former heads once said something to the effect of: "A trained monkey could drive this bus!" Well, instead of a "trained" monkey they got a plain ol' monkey in the form of The Hoe. But instead of throwing his own carp at stuff he used seller's MONEY in the form of DOUBLED FEES and hissed most of it away. Somehow, tens of MILLIONS of dollars ended up in his pockets, though. They could have had a real monkey for some peanuts and overripe bananas - instead sellers got a Bananahead.  

by: ajeweler

another waste of money and will more than likely not work (as most of the mobile apps) more so when users find it is tied to freebay will avoid this app. they also are devious in the way that they use and store user info, starting to act as big brother

by: Mark4

Ebay should be concentrating it's efforts on it's core business which is in shambles, not this nonsense that no one will use.

by: Ric

Ignatz correctly observes: " eBay management seems willing to spend time and money on anything - ANYTHING - except getting their core business straightened out."

The answer for this is simple....

Management knows that the past decade has destroyed the once successful eBay marketplace. As outsiders run the day to day operations at senior management levels, they are clueless as to how to reverse the disaster generated by their predecessors.  The outsiders steadfastly refuse to simply revert eBay to it's previous systems and policies as this would be an admission they are clueless figureheads who are fresh out of ideas.

These clueless outsiders are desperate to find something new to bring in much needed revenue and will keep throwing things against the wall in the hopes they will bumble and stumble upon a new revenue stream which will hide the many previous miscalculations.

This process has worked for eBay in that they have been able to keep stringing investors along even though many of their acquisitions have proven to "have little or no synergy" with eBay and are sold off at deep discounts.

Management's only clear strategy is to continue to try and bamboozle investors in the hopes they can strike gold somewhere, somehow.

by: Rexford

ignatz says "eBay management seems willing to spend time and money on anything - ANYTHING - except getting their core business straightened out."

Truer words were never spoken. Watch for Close5 to be shelved in the next year.

eBay--jack of all trades, master of none.

by: Troy Stiffler

That's cool.  I followed the Rumgr startup for awhile.  I remember when Rumgr "joined" eBay a year or two ago.

It's a nifty app to see what your neighbors are selling.  Will people use it?  I have no idea.

by: bitbybit

Ebay is hoping to bamboozle people into using Close5 before they catch on that it is an eBay company. Doesn't really matter because once the glitches, hacks and eBay's insanity take hold Close5 will turn into Closed5.

by: The End

@Volvo351 :
Please research more effectively so as to Not leave your "a$$ unaware out in the breeze".
There are 39,000 unionized Verizon employees ready to cause us damage.
That is the reality of it.
Educate yourself so as not to be a fool in public forums.
Implying I am a liar is never a good thing.

by: IDKwhoIare

@The End
I don't think Volvo was trying to mess with you or implying anything. I read it as more of a query regarding unionization followed by wondering 'out loud' that if the employees could disrupt things from outside of the physical location then are they vulnerable to anyone else doing it.  I could be wrong (shrug).

When you say disrupting business, are you thinking about those Mobile Buyers? I still can't imagine buying stuff that way...I guess I am too old ;)  

by: IDKwhoIare

@Fred Turnip - Yes, Facebook groups do this and there are many that are tailored to specific interests and by locale for easy pick up/cash payment.  So far FB has not done any advertising because it seems to be grass-roots in origin.  Don't think they will until they figure out how to squeeze money out of it.

by: IDKwhoIare

As for eBay running classifieds...ugh. I don't think I want to read those TOS, but one would have to do it. Might be one of those South Park HumanCentiPad deals hidden in there...

by: Massachusets Howler

Babybit is correct (hey gurl!).

Ebay is trying to distance themselves from ebay- LOL!!!!

They even know ebay SUCKS stale toast.

Baby bit is like me- she is so dedicated to her buyers she runs up to the Post Office in her pajamas in the middle of the night.
Most sellers here on AB are just like us, we are not advance label printers and waiters, so do not say we are- it isn't true.
MH