Was Ebay Better Then or Now ? Your feelings about All the Changes

[frangi]

Some change is good -- like when a bad hair-cut grows out, for instance, or when sunburn stops hurting.

Other change feels bad and stays bad -- like Hidden Bidders, Enforced Paypal and the awful, skewed Feedback system.

But, maybe I'm wrong.  Gee, I can appreciate that I might be.  But always willing to learn and adapt.

So what do you think .. have the 'changes' improved or worsened your ebay experience and if so .. how ?

[Primaryaim]

Sadly I don't think the changes have made it better. There are so many unhappy people coming to the forums upset and angry over problems caused by the new feedback system, DSRs, Paypal refunds, etc. etc.  I am hoping eBay take it on board and take a few steps back.

[*CountessA*]

I would love to see eBay return to the standard it had only a few years ago. eBaying was fun then! I remember a friend giving me some advice about how to bid, how to search, assuring me it was safe, etc., etc.

I haven't heard from that friend for a while.

And yes, the changes have been detrimental to my enjoyment of eBay. Some of the changes are so incredibly foolish that I can't understand the mindset that produced them. It seems as though the Community Values are part of a plan that's now completely derailed. I feel as though eBay is running the risk of being - basically bad.

eBay, if you're listening, please take on board what the customers are saying. We do not like what you're become - we'd love to see you move back to what you were, when you were a thriving and successful business as well as fun and with a fantastic range of items made available by the very sellers you're now hurting.

[regulus*]

I still don't like the hidden bidders.

[saint_phoebe]

Hi Frangi, no, you're right. It was much better when I started on eBay.
You could happily cruise through & sell your bits & pieces & as long as you were an honest seller with decent customer service skills, you did ok.
And the good old days of frantic bidding wars at the last minute...bidding against rival collectors who you could see...checking out what else they were bidding on in case there was something else you just had to have!
No, the fun has largely gone for me.

[Poddy]

In my considered opinion, eBay was a great place to sell, buy and interact both on a business level and a social level.

Selling not only the spare unwanted things but those hard to find niche market items that are so hard to find. A seller could have a worldwide market for their wares, as in selling locally produced art and craft items and cottage industry items

It was a way you could promote yourself and gain recognition for your efforts and to increase awareness of whatever culture you happened to be in.

The buying was great as well, lots of people were looking for that special uncommon item.

The interaction via the various fora was both informative and had an element of fun and friendship attached to it

All that is now gone.

The bottomline together with dictatorship like rules that make no sense regardless how you look at them from any logical viewpoint.

What ever possessed eBay to try to implement the 'PayPal Only' idea?

Did they have no clue that Australians would not accept a dictatorship??

I would like to see a roleback to the eBay of old but when you look at that in the full light of day you know that it will never, can never, happen.

I am convinced that eBay have made some major blunders

[regulus*]

Lola, I used to like bidding against rival collectors too. The fun of working out what amount to bid to beat them

It was also a great way to track sellers, by checking fellow bidders feedback.

[Numb!]

You don't really want to know my opinion.

[regulus*]

The ebay boards take longer to refresh than any of the other 5 windows I have open.

[saint_phoebe]

Lola, I used to like bidding against rival collectors too. The fun of working out what amount to bid to beat them

It was also a great way to track sellers, by checking fellow bidders feedback.

Same here Nova. Now, not much to track at all, even if you could.

[frangi]

Great post, Poddy


It deserves to be published and read Australia-wide !  (clapping emoticon should be here)

[frangi]

That's right, Lola !   I can remember browsing UK antique jewellery, several times a week .. I just loved looking at all those beautiful things with all their history.

Then a weird coincidence occurred.  Time after time, when I saw an item I really wanted, the same ID had already placed a bid on it.  I felt a kinship with this unknown person.

At around the same time, by sheer coincidence, I read a post in I think the Oz RT by someone who said she kept tabs on a couple of IDs .. because they obviously liked the same things she did.  So by checking on their bidding, she came across things she loved and it saved her from having to trawl through thousands of items herself, lol.

[frangi]

Yes we do want to know what you think, Numb

come on .. tell us 

[saint_phoebe]

Yep, used to be the best way to find things Frangi. I had a few I kept an eye on too.
SEARCH? Bah, didn't need search back then

[frangi]

And wasn't it GOOD, back then ?  Oh gee, I'm getting sentimental now, for the good old ebay, sob 

[saint_phoebe]

It was great Frangi & that's what makes it so hard to take all the crap now.
They really need to go back to being just a venue & butt out.

[frangi]

Lola .. yes, exactly what you said.  They need to butt out and go back to what worked.

It's so weird though.  They seem more interested in 'control' than anything else.  What's that about ?

[saint_phoebe]

I don't know anymore. I reckon the whole country's gone mad - it has down here at any rate.
Practically everything's banned or illegal. They'll be taxing us for pooping next.
Maybe eBay's just following the trend of increased regulation in everything, coz it suits them to.

[frangi]

Look at the Lunch Board, for example

It was sheer evil

the gloating and baiting .. the sniggering provocation and glee when people were being hurt

and Shane, going along with all of it


We're talking about a billion dollar corporation here, behaving like a gang of bullying ten year olds in the park


If someone had suggested, even five years ago, that they would sink so low, I doubt anyone would have taken it seriously.  Yet we've witnessed it with our own eyes.

It's hard to remember how it used to be back in the good old days ... the ebay Thought and Speech Police have been stuck into us so long with their batons, I'm almost punch drunk.

How did they forget that they're just a venue ?  When did they develop collective megalomania to the point they regard us as disposable as tissues, as worthless as potato peelings and as defenceless as babes ?  Then they have the hide to whine when we fight back !

[Primaryaim]

Gosh Frangi, Your post has made me a bit depressed.



Maybe we had better have some Shortbread Creams and Coffee to perk us up 

[frangi]

Yep .. the old Shortbread Cremes tonic !

But don't be depressed, Prim.  It's the way life goes sometimes.  It's good, then things turn and it gets bad.  We sit out the bad and get on with life.  And then things get good again. 

and I'm hoping ebay will choke on its own bile, very publicly, to the point it's a broken wreck.  Then .. will get good again because someone will see the potential and recognise the problems -- and will buy ebay out.  And will dispense with mandatory Paypal.  Will reduce fees, etc.  Will throw a big 'under new management' opening bash.  We'll all be invited and will get to wear our best stuff and show off.   

The centre-piece will be a cage in the middle of the room, on a dias.

And in it will be Dognuts and Shoine, and Maggot.

Hanging from the ceiling will be a wicker basket.  Inside it will be a hideous creature long hated by loyal Knights and Knightesses worldwide.

At midnight, to the popping of champagne corks and much revelry, everyone will be given a gas lighter.  And the hideous creature will be destroyed amidst the sound of much laughter and loud 'ooooohhhhhssss'.

And we'll all live happily ever after in NewBay Land.  With free Shortbread Cremes for everyone !  Hip Hip ..... ! 

[Primaryaim]

Gesus Frangi, now you are being downright scary.

I am making a mental note NEVER to get on the wrong side of you 

[frangi]

Psssst  (i'm scared of me too)

[Primaryaim]

LOL

[brumbymg]

Change is necessary - otherwise we'd still be living in caves, but, not all change is good.

IMO:

No neg/neut feedback for buyer. (including negative comments)
Bad for sellers
- buyers can, and do, walk all over sellers with impunity
- subsequent sellers cannot be warned about a rogue buyer's practices
Bad for buyers
- problem sellers are prevented from shooting themselves in the foot (ranting neg where it is easily seen that the author is the problem). This tends to mask how bad some sellers really are)
The only 'good' thing is the buyers are not afraid of feedback, encouraging their patronage (Ref: "The world according to eBay" Chapter 7, verse 35)

12 month Feedback percentage Good for all - Allows recent standard to be reflected (as well as providing an opportunity for the single neg rant off that nutcase buyer to slip into the shadows)

DSRs Good - as information only. Buyers can assess expectations of a seller.  If DSRs were 4.9/3.6/3.2/4.5 - then a buyer can see that for themselves and decide to buy or not. (I had one such purchase - happy with item and no surprises - but that seller would not last now!)

Penalties - Feedback and DSR driven  Bad. Feedback and DSR information allows buyers to choose. Also, the current formula is unfair to low volume sellers.

New 'My eBay' - Good to do a facelift. Has certain flexibilities. Bad for the slowness and obvious lack of consideration for the most popular browser (like it or not) - I.E.
Search - Doesn't work very well. Incredibly bad. Proof - Margo couldn't even find her own listings.
Search options Yep - separate heading! BAD. You want a New product in a particular price range with a certain distance, then be prepared to run a search after each and every parameter selection! Ludicrous.

Discussion boards BAD. Slow to load, difficult to read and additional policies to control 'negative' comments.  The new layout may have looked nice - but it's not practical (I get a headache reading it). I think a graphic designer sat back and said "Isn't that pretty", someone said "Yes" and that was it Fate sealed.  If eBay took over the highways, they'd plant gardens in lane 2 of Epping Road (a major 6-lane arterial road in Sydney) to keep lanes 1 and 3 apart, making things safer ... and looking much nicer - don't you think?

[frangi]

Jeepers, Brumby ... I was laughing and mucking up like an idiot and now you've made me scramble to put my brains back in, lol.

[saint_phoebe]

Search - Doesn't work very well. Incredibly bad. Proof - Margo couldn't even find her own listings.

Sorry Brumby but that doesn't prove ANYthing
The rest of your post I agree with though.

[frangi]

Ok, Brumby .. now please don't expect too much sense from me please ... but ....

do you feel ebay could have eliminated a lot of the problems without the radical 'changes', if it had adopted a policy of validating IDs, for example ?

[brumbymg]

Relax.

It's OK Frangi.

The worst you have to fear here is one of Poddys Irma Grese-slaps!

[brumbymg]

Search - Doesn't work very well. Incredibly bad. Proof - Margo couldn't even find her own listings.

Sorry Brumby but that doesn't prove ANYthing
The rest of your post I agree with though.

Ok - bad example.

[frangi]

OUCH !!  Not Poddy oh no !   He's the strictest of all  

[brumbymg]

But the point is - it should not take a forensic effort to find any given item.

(Amazing how one poor citation devalues everything else you've written!)

[frangi]

But Sir, Sir ... about the validation.  Don't you feel ebay could have eliminated many of the problems by adopting a policy of validating IDs ?  Not foolproof, obviously, as some would sneak in a few extra IDs.  But if the IDs were validated, both sellers and buyers would realise they could not hop and skip from one ID to the next.  Nor could they anywhere near as easily use their multiple IDs to shill.  And they'd grow to realise that this ID is something they'd have to protect .. by being ethical, courteous, etc.

[saint_phoebe]

Not at all Brumby - you missed this bit :

The rest of your post I agree with though.

[brumbymg]

No Lola - I didn't miss that at all ---

I WAS SPEAKING FROM THE VIEW THROUGH MY OWN EYES.

[frangi]

Mr. Brumby ... SIR ... put your eyes up the page a bit please Sir

You've become blinded by Lola's beauty

I've been waving my hand in the air for ages now Sir ...

[saint_phoebe]

Well I think you're being a bit hard on yourself then Brumby

Anyway, I'm off like a bride's.
Nighty night all

[frangi]

Nite, Lola       

[frangi]

I have to go too .. ironing and defrost the bar fridge


See you tomorrow, Brumby  (I'll take lots of Smart Pills in the meantime  .. for all the good they'll do )

[Fluffy*Duckee]

See you Franji

 

[brumbymg]

Validation.  Even if 20% of shonks could find a way to get around it, there would be still be 80% less of them out there.

Risk management is the issue and since it would seem impossible to guarantee elimination of this particular risk - then to not implement some risk minimisation measures is abdication of responsibility.

Some people call that negligence.


Oh dear, has Frangi left already....?   Sorry .... Sorry !!!

[*CountessA*]

From the point of security, it's incredibly sad to see established and legitimate members made to feel at risk when better forum+site security with validation required would eliminate the majority of the problems.