This Stinks ~~ Shopping on Ebay is No Longer Fun. It's a Job

[iprefervintage]

When I click on a listing I don't want to weed through a bunch of ads to read the description.  

On some listings  you can scroll to the bottom to read the description. With that comes a boat load of advertisements you have to scroll past. On other listings you have to search for and click on the tab to read the description. 

There is a reason why I search for "specific" items.  I didn't mind the ads or suggestions at the bottom of the page but all of this additional stuff in the middle of every listing is frustrating and ridiculous. 

Way to ruin the shopping experience. 

[reallynicestamps]

Do youhave AdBlock on your computer?

It helps.

[chrysylys]

Don't I remember that one of the recent seller floggings openly said this would not happen any more?

[iprefervintage]

It's the new layouts. All Ebay listings (cross advertising).

[winchester1871]

I couldn't agree more. Ebay is committing suicide. Just when I think I have seen the worst from ebay management, they surprise me again.

[ceara2002]

I'm so glad you posted this, although if anyone from ebay sees it and pays attention, they won't care. 

It is much like a job, and it's not fun. I hate the ads, especially the flashing ones. The pages look ugly and cheap. Like late night take out after a hang-over.

[tunicaslot]

Download adblock - it's free and you won't have those advertisements anymore. Those ads are all over the net - on pages of news stories ect - adblock will prevent them.

[terrycanarsky]

I have Ad Block on this machine (work, runs Firefox) and at home (personal, runs Chrome).   Guess which one actually blocks those ugly and annoying ads that eBay is convinced "improve the buyer's experience"?  Yep, Firefox.  Ad Block on Chrome with eBay is a joke  (although it works wonders everywhere else on the web, oddly enough)

~M

[aramintaca]

---

@iprefervintage wrote:

When I click on a listing I don't want to weed through a bunch of ads to read the description.  

On some listings  you can scroll to the bottom to read the description. With that comes a boat load of advertisements you have to scroll past. On other listings you have to search for and click on the tab to read the description. 

There is a reason why I search for "specific" items.  I didn't mind the ads or suggestions at the bottom of the page but all of this additional stuff in the middle of every listing is frustrating and ridiculous. 

Way to ruin the shopping experience. 

---

You know what else stinks? Having to admit to your kid that they were right because you now have to shop for good quality sports socks on Amazon. It was a breeze. And it brought home how badly the cheap junk on ebay dominates search even with US sellers only selected. Looks like Amazon doesn't allow keyword spamming like ebay does. I don't want to shop at an open air bazaar where all the sellers have the same junk. At least it proves ebay isn't working to be like the big river. Simply no comparison. 

[garmentvarmint2004]

ARAM...

I, too  found it  dificult recently to find good quality crew socks on  Ebay last month. But  I certainly  did NOT  go to  Amazon  for socks.   I very much dislike Amazon  who  pressures  buyer into  buying their  Prime program.   Which  is way  to  expensive.    And inmy oplinion is a  rip-off.

So instad  I did some Searches on   Google---and  did find some excellent sock companies---some of which make their own product,  right here in  the   USA.

[afflv702]

LOL..... Ebay: Hold My Root Beer

[neiljn]

True.  Shopping on eBay is getting tedious.

I came here to complain about what's ruining my Purchaser experience -- listings with multiple items. For instance, this little electric clock:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LED-Table-Desk-Clock-24-or-12-Hour-Display-Alarm-Snooze-8888-Displa...

The item appears in search results when I search for "clock," and it also appears in those middle-of-the-page ads y'all are talking about.  In search results and milddle-of-the-page ads, the price is given as $2.

But, when you get to the item's eBay page, $2 is only the price of a USB cable without the device (and they don't even tell you how long the cable is, but that's a minor criticism).

Back on the eBay item page, when I "select" an actual clock from the pull-down menu, the price updates, and it turns out the actual item actually costs about $12. It's not $2 as was displayed everywhere on eBay.

I'm seeing this low-level scam on eBay more and more often. This mini-scam effectively ruins the eBay search "Sort by Price" function, and it means all those middle-of-the-page ads are lies, since they all display the $2 price.

I just thought I'd mention it on this thread criticising the middle-of-the-page ads because the bigger issue is how the eBay experience is being ruined.  In support of this thread, I have also noticed that the eBay pages are getting stuffed more and more with advertising filler, and it's getting to be a challenge to find data on the item you're trying to find out about with all the other stuff thrown in.

Anyone human can add more-and-more ads to a webpage, but too many ads that can backfire -- corporate profits start to go down as you increase the number of ads past a certain point because people switch to a less-offensive retail experience.

I assume eBay Inc. has software running to delicately balance just-how-many-ads they should stuff into their item pages to maximize their corporate profits, which is the bottom line.  I don't know much about Big Business, but I think eBay stockholders would be obliged to sue the board of directors if technology offered a way to maximize the Corporate Profit curve but the Board neglected to take advantage of it. As usual, adjustments intended to maximize profits are made regardless of the effect on Customer Satisfaction (for which maximizing is irrelevant).  Same phenomenon with Comcast, AT&T Cellular, and other "beloved" corporations. Maximizing profits regardless of the damage to their customer service ratings. And you are there.

[cargo11]

I agree with the tedious part - it's no fun to constantly be directed to BEST MATCH when the set of words I entered into search has NO actual match to what I am looking for - probably the AI doing the "Conect-the-Word"  (i.e.    ForCOM ICe Scrapper)  - I wanted to use the coupons this spring - but wading through page after page of MATCH THE WORD/S Does Not cut it - even after the US only button selected and the "types" specifics.

LIke just now when I typed in COOKBOOK - no kidding -

The Joy Of Gay Sex by Silverstein And Picano 3rd Ed.  is the 11th listing down - where is the word - COOKBOOK in that title???? Really - that is one reason my nephew prohibits his kid from watching in a search here.

[femmefan1946]

I find Best Match as the default Search annoying.

I would like to set my Search to my preferred Highest Price plus Shipping as permanent default.

This allows me to avoid the cheap junk listings.

I find it much faster to drill down a few dozen listings to my price point, than to slog through hundreds of poorly described, cheap or misleading listings before finding the sweet spot.

As a Canadian buyer, the cost of shipping is at least as important as the price of the item. And I always use LIST instead of Gallery so I can identify and avoid Global Shipping Program items.  For Americans, YMMV.

But, it would be a real pleasure to shop if I could set those parameters as defaults, to be changed when I have a very specific reason to do so, rather than having to set them with every Search.

[southern*sweet*tea]

---

@femmefan1946wrote:

I find Best Match as the default Search annoying.

I would like to set my Search to my preferred Highest Price plus Shipping as permanent default.

This allows me to avoid the cheap junk listings.

I find it much faster to drill down a few dozen listings to my price point, than to slog through hundreds of poorly described, cheap or misleading listings before finding the sweet spot.

As a Canadian buyer, the cost of shipping is at least as important as the price of the item. And I always use LIST instead of Gallery so I can identify and avoid Global Shipping Program items.  For Americans, YMMV.

But, it would be a real pleasure to shop if I could set those parameters as defaults, to be changed when I have a very specific reason to do so, rather than having to set them with every Search.

---

I've had search by nearest first my default on my buyer account for like...ever.

Click view>customize

Make your changes and be sure to click apply changes.