Has anybody else about had it with eBay?

[wta4gurus]

Watchlists that NEVER work right, not being able to EASILY find help, not being able to email eBay, etc. All of this is **bleep** in the 21st century. Does anyone else feel that eBay is an antiquated POS?

[eburtonlab]

What problem are you having with your Watch List? How is it not working right? What things have you already tried to fix it or work around it?

[wta4gurus]

For the last five (5) years Watch Lists do the following:

     - create a new list, it doesn't show on the list the next time I try to add something to it

     - existing lists randomly disappear with no rhyme nor reason. A month later...VOILA! It's back like nothing happened

     - items move from a named watch list to the top "watched items" list by themselves

     - sometimes ALL of my watched lists and items disappear, only to re-appear later

     - it usually takes a week or two before the watch list I created on my desktop PC appears on my phone app

I've changed browsers and TRIED to email with eBay several times of the last few years. After a couple of messages, they ghost me and mark the issue "solved". There are times I've thought "I'll give it another go, I'm just a stupid computer programmer and it MUST be me." NOPE! Same crap, different day. I've spend COUNTLESS hours creating specific lists, only to have my work been done in vain.

BTW, how does one "work around" watch lists? They either work or don't, yes?

Let's talk about the basics: when I originally posted this reply, eBay told me it was 3 of 2 messages. Really? I asked eBay to message me when anyone responds...I get an email, but no message on eBay. Wow. If a $17B  can't get the basics, then why should I bother? I can go rent a table at a flea market and sell my stuff while buying local treasures, saving shipping costs and reducing my carbon footprint.

[eburtonlab]

On this account I have no problems adding items to my Watch List or other custom lists, or moving items between lists. Items stay on the lists I add them to, and I have no problem finding or using those lists.

However, I have another eBay account, created much more recently. On the more recently created account, though I can create new custom lists, when I open an individual item listing I only have the option to add the item to the Watch List directly, there is no drop-down option of adding the item to another list like in my other account. In order to place an item on another list I must open the Watch List, select the item, add it to a custom list, then remove it from the Watch List.

My older account:

My newer account, which also has multiple custom lists:

I do not know if the new account behavior is due to some problem with that account, or if that is just how new accounts work now and my old account is simply grandfathered in due to already having multiple lists.

[wta4gurus]

Thanks for the try, but I've been a member 3 years longer that you, so it's not a new account issue. I've been 'round and 'round these issues before and nobody has gotten me any closer to a solution. Like I said, I've even had eBay helping me, but then they just ghost me after a few attempts that fail.

It's namby-pamby: old-new, gmail-aol-yahoo, different browsers and OSes, etc. I've tried attacking this from ALL angles, as I'm a computer programmer/web designer/MSCE and I know my way around computer systems. For whatever reason, eBay just can't get it's game together and give it's users something that works consistently.

For instance, I got alerted to your response by my phone app. There was the red dot on the bell, I tapped on it, and saw your response in the Notification feed. No trace of it when I log into eBay via ANY of my desktops (Windows/Debian/Mac OS). Not in Firefox, Chrome, Edge, nor Safari.

eBay just doesn't work right, once you go beyond basic listing and purchasing. It's the kind of system I would have expected to see circa 2006, when I first joined. And they don't care to try and fix it, other than the rudimentary "close all app, restart your computer, and see if it still does it."

As a home computer consultant, I've actually stopped helping people with eBay. Not because I don't want the eBay competition or I wasn't making a nice chunk of change from it, but because eBay has, time and time again, made me look like I couldn't handle a simple thing like adding things their their Watch lists. Most clients try to work it out for themselves, then download LetGo, 5Miles, Facebook, or (god forbid) CraigsList out of frustration. I know one guy who actually gave his iPad away (he bought the iPad specifically to eBay with). He is selling things via our local newspaper (I live in a rural area and the paper literally covers my county and half of each of the three neighbouring ones, as well, including the digital subscribers) and apparently it's going good for him!

Again, thanks for the effort and feedback, mate.

PS - I came back to edit this, just to show you that eBay cannot get even the basics right. Look at the stats for the messages...5 out of 4 messages? Come on, now! That's web design 101 stuff!!

[eburtonlab]

Unless you are using another account that was registered before 1998, your eBay account is newer than mine.

However I do not know for a fact that the issue is age-related, or even account-related at all; that is just one possible explanation for the apparently different behavior of two accounts.

Unfortunately this sort of issue is probably not something that an eBay customer service rep can help you diagnose. And unless you can find others that are having the same problem and that are motivated to do something about it, you are the only one with the proper motivation in a position to do much of anything regarding your Watch List or custom lists.

You may be able to register a new account that allows you to save items directly to a custom list, or the new account may have the same problem as the old account.

Or you may be able to work around the issues by using your Watch List to transfer items to other custom lists (if the problem is not being able to add items directly to those lists).

If lists are disappearing or items are disappearing from lists, that is a separate issue. I have not experienced that. If that is happening, you may want to find a different way to keep track of items aside from using custom lists. Bookmarking individual listings, or adding items to your "Saved for Later" list are two possibilities.

My own use of custom lists has greatly declined since eBay did away with the old "All Lists" link that allowed all list items to be sorted conveniently.

My advice is to use eBay for the things that it can do for you; if a feature is not working or not helping you, let eBay know that you are having a problem, but then find yourself a different way to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Unless a lot of people are complaining about the same problem, or else the fix is very easy or part of some already-planned upgrade, it may not be cost effective for eBay to address your individual issue -- and even if lots of people are complaining, that is no guarantee that eBay will actually fix it.