I had been using the eBay Android app on my Samsung Galaxy S5 for a little over two years mostly without issues. My phone is running a customized Lineage OS 14.1 ROM (based on Android 7.1.2 AOSP code.) I do not use GApps: which means I don't have Google Play Store, Google Services Framework, etc.
For over two years I've used eBay's Android app without any Google services on my phone. Rarely any issues. Having the eBay app was great... I increased my buying habits on eBay probably ~80%. Before I installed the eBay Android app, I used eBay for the occasional hard to find item; with the app I started buying a lot more from eBay and got into the eBay bucks program. Sadly, eBay has changed something in their app which now REQUIRES Google Services Framework (GSF.) The eBay app has always told me with a pop-up message that "this app requires Google Services to work." But I always ignored that message because it the app worked fine without Google's spyware. Maybe I had limited functionality, but it worked and I enjoyed the eBay app.
Now that eBay has changed their app so it really does require GSF (a proprietary privacy invading software that I won't use) my one eBay purchase was to use my remaining eBay bucks.
I'm here to tell eBay that this app change is a mistake and I will explain why. I realize I'm a small fish and their are not a lot of privacy conscious people like me (AKA: to eBay, losing me and the like-minded Android dev community is an acceptable and negligible loss.) I do want to point out that my fellow Android devs are not the kind of people eBay should alienate because we are the people who make code commits to Android's source code that shapes it's future functionality and we make the apps that mainstream everyday Android users use. But this is not the backbone of my argument against eBay's business decision with their recent Android app changes. The real reason this is a mistake is that the eBay app will no longer function on older Android devices (which cuts out a lot of budget devices that normal people use, especially the financially intelligent working class people who cannot spend (or will not waste) a $1000 for a new phone: the very same people who often turn to eBay to save money; especially with COVID-19 leaving a lot of people unemployed.)
Me personally? I can access eBay via Mobile browser (I had to use my mobile browser to spend my last eBay bucks that I had accumulated with the eBay Android app.)
The eBay app made using eBay so easy that I bought a lot more from eBay due to sheer convenience. But now that eBay blocked the older eBay app versions (they "require an upgrade") but the new app version will not run without the closed-source Google apps (GApps) I personally won't be using eBay much anymore (just occasional odd items.)
But eBay doesn't care about me (it's not personal, it's a business of scale and online appeal to the mainstream masses.) Well, I can tell you that breaking the eBay app for older versions of Android is a big mistake. Most people cannot just upgrade their device's version of Android... Android upgrades start with devs from Google, going through code changes by OEM device manufacturers and then left to cellular carriers to make final changes (like locking a phone to the carrier) and then the cellular carrier gets to decide if they will push an update to older Android phones or not. This is how Samsung's many phones that flood the used phone market at low prices in perfect working condition are (not) updated. That is a lot of cellular market share to not have your mobile application platform working on.
Even if you know how to upgrade your phone's Android version (like I did to my Galaxy S5) it cannot be done in most cases due to cellular carriers having locked the device's bootloader (the hardware will not boot an OS that isn't signed by the cellular carrier's private keys.) Some phones can be "hacked" using a variety of exploits to get around this and load a custom ROM despite a locked bootloader. But the type of people who can do this (like me) wouldn't do it just to make eBay more convenient to use: do you know why? 🤔
I'll tell you why: because you have competition in the online auction space. Most people will just get Amazon Prime and use that instead of eBay. I personally hate Amazon for several reasons; but I hold no such grudge against eBay. On the contrary, I respect eBay because eBay (unlike Amazon) was always respectful to me when I was a seller on eBay years ago. But it's more than just Amazon... do you (eBay) really think you have a monopoly with online resale auctions? All it'll take is for a better platform to come along (I realize that's easier said than done) and eBay will be in the history books next to myspace and AOL.
I am posting this for two reasons: I am upset that I can't use eBay's mobile app anymore. The inconvenience of a mobile browser does upset me and will lower my eBay usage.
My other reason is because I genuinely care about eBay (or rather I care about preventing an Amazon monopoly) and I do honestly believe eBay is making a huge mistake here. When somebody installs the eBay app and it doesn't work right away: they'll uninstall it and move on to a competitor. They won't stick around like me and other people who have successfully used eBay's mobile app in the past, hoping that newer eBay app versions will work for us now. eBay is losing potential customers every day... I don't think eBay realizes how important mobile devices are in many people's lives and how many people shop on mobile devices. Either that or eBay's management/executives are too busy padding their bonuses and (to quote another post here) something about a circle jerk 🤔.
I probably won't get a reply from eBay. I do hope that somebody high up with eBay reads this though. I have a question for somebody high up enough in eBay to know the answer to this: why did you make this FORCED change to the eBay app?
I'm guessing it has something to do with using GSF to get location information from eBay app users. I haven't been able to get the eBay app to work at all on Android 9 (a different phone with my own customized Lineage OS ROM... a phone that incidentally I bought on the eBay app back when it worked.) However I did get rid of the message about the eBay app not working without Google Services by using some signature spoofing and feeding the eBay app some location data 🤔. Which tells me that this change in eBay's app is because eBay wants to track the exact location of their users... but why? eBay: you have my home address and credit card, why do you need to track my phone's location? Is eBay doing this in the hopes of selling aggregated customer data for profit?
That is not eBay's core business model. Successful businesses stick to a plan. eBay wouldn't be able to compete against Google with Big Data analytics. Google gets all of this information (and much more than eBay could with their app.) Google would be able to sell a much more comprehensive customer analytic data profile than eBay ever would be able to. eBay should do eBay.
Is it not enough that I am logged into my eBay account linked to my name and address? Does eBay need my exact location every minute of the day, despite having access to my data already in my eBay account?
Seriously I would like it if eBay would show me the respect they've shown me in the past by providing an honest answer to my questions here. It doesn't have to be a public answer, feel free to send me an email.
Is it a fraud prevention mechanism? 🤔 I can respect that... but I know a lot about fraud (I'm in cybersecurity, I have fought against fraud.) But let's be frank... anybody who trys to commit fraud on a cellular device is just asking to get caught. If eBay's reasoning for this is as an anti-fraud mechanism: then I'm calling **bleep**. Unless carders and other online thieves have recently become stupid; then they would not be engaging in criminal activity on a cellular carrier (and Google) controlled device with a built-in GPS 🤔.
I honestly would like to help. The Android Open source community is truly a special group of talented developers who give their time to projects asking next to nothing in return. I bet an open source eBay mobile app would gain a lot of developer attention and would be greatly improved by the community. Obviously eBay has to keep some parts proprietary, but a developer API with eBay's servers could make for some pretty cool eBay integrated Android apps. I personally have had interest in making an eBay Android app, but that is out of my skillset. An open source eBay app could be made by using WebView and some good UI (user interface) designs. I am not a designer... if I made an eBay app, it would just be a single sandboxed WebView app that opened eBay.com's mobile website; which is nothing more than a glorified (Google) Chrome browser tab in an app. Maybe I'd replace eBay's ADs with my own ADs 😂 (this is a joke just FYI.) I'm not going to make an eBay app and even if I did, nobody would use it. I could modify the existing eBay app... but quite frankly it would be time consuming and probably would be against some rules (at least ethical ones) but a simple mod to add a dark mode would be nice 🤔.
I'm sad that my easy buying experience on eBay appears to be gone. I might get the eBay app working with a virtual environment and location spoofing on my new phone... but this is too much work for me just to make it easier for me to be your customer. I refuse to buy from Amazon... I guess I'll get more things from local stores like the old days 🤔.
