Here's an obvious flaw in the ebay thinking: Just because people do buy from the mobile app does not mean they prefer it. I use my desktop to research what I'm looking for and put it in my watch list. The fact that I can buy an item using my ipad later on if I feel like it is not an indication that I prefer it. It's an indication that the platforms inherently have different strengths and uses. I hate the mobile app. If the desktop layout is altered to function like the mobile app they already ruined, then I won't be searching for items here at all anymore, it's just too much bother. If this is a ploy to further tank the sales of small sellers I'm sure it will work as planned. Buying on ebay is not a game that I want to sit here playing for a few hours in the evening and the brain trust at ebay clearly thinks that's what it should be - the "buying experience" should be a game that I should spend hours clicking and playing, no doubt.
I also have no doubt whatsoever that this move was approved, if not suggested, by the golden parachutes who think people will spend more money if they can be distracted into spending more time on the site. It's like putting candy in the checkout aisle and not opening quite enough registers; if the impulse item is in front of your face long enough, you may cave in and buy. Nuh uh. No. If I can't use the standard platform as I wish, sitting at my desk in my office, saving items to a list for later perusal, then I am truly done bothering. I already don't search and compare on the mobile app, it's a nightmare to use. And yes, I'm tech-savvy, I left IBM to start my own business.
We are so distracted and manipulated in every aspect of our lives, especially shopping. ebay actually wants to gear itself toward shoppers with walmart taste and time to waste. When comparison shopping for some mass-produced item, more and more I am buying where I get free prime shipping and returns. ebay is trying to force a huge army of small individual sellers into running their tiny home businesses with, essentially, free prime shipping and returns while they skim profits off the top without doing the heavy lifting of actually warehousing and shipping items. The push toward descriptionless sales of cheap junk serves no one but the junk sellers and the golden parachutes who will take the money and run with zero interest in the fallout. I'm sure it's all going according to plan.
