Doesn't anyone own a computer anymore?

[roccotacodad54]

   I just saw 7 new posts complaining about trouble with updates on the phone app. wow

I just kind of assumed a phone app for Ebay was just a novelty kind of thing. Not something people would actually depend on to access Ebay. Phones can go dead for one thing. Half the time I don't even know where mine is if I'm home. I prefer my landline for calls at home.

  They also suck for anything internet related. All that thumb and forefinger flicking just to see something with any detail. I have a smart phone, two tablets and don't use any of them except to make calls, watch videos and I plug my phone into my truck stereo to charge it and play mp3's through it. I have a laptop somewhere?

   Not for internet. I find a regular size screen and a keyboard much more user friendly. When not at the screen I don't like to be tethered to anything like a leash and collar.

    Just me I guess...............

[wastingtime101]

As of right now there is something going on with the app in the UK. Every single one of those roughly 30 posts from this evening are from UK buyers and sellers. It's unclear if eBay has intentionally made the UK app only available to certain OS and older ones are unsupported, or if there's some other issue going on and the app will be restored for those users. In the meantime helping as best we can which is to suggest the web browser until we have more info.

That said, I'm not sure why you saw the app as a novelty thing. As of roughly 10 yrs ago eBay said 50% off all purchases were made through mobile devices, and I'm sure that number has only climbed since then.

Hearing someone has a landline is more of a novelty these days.

[roccotacodad54]

   I guess I just like the ease of use an actual full sized screen and keyboard provide and figured most other adults were of the same mind. Kids......Well... they are tethered to their phones like slaves to them. Poor things............

   I guess I'm just into comfort and ease of use more than alot of people. I am one of those that delete as many apps as I can when I get a new phone to unclutter it and have more room for my music. I found I didn't use any of them often enough to keep them. 

   I turn off all alerts possible as well so as not to get interrupted while listening to music or whatever. I find texting impersonal and annoying. I text back if I get one at home when I notice it or it's my wife when I'm not. If she's with me I don't even take mine along. Notification volume down when I'm home. Ahhh, nice peaceful retired life in the country.............

       I guess I'm in the minority.................................

[readabouthorses]

Yep, all that thumb and forefinger flicking would drive me crazy.

I am a true typist. I can type in the dark. If I could find the pins I got for typing speed while in high school I'd tell you how fast I can type.

My cellphone is in my purse and hasn't been turned on for months. I don't even know if it is charged.

Have to have a landline where I live because cell service is terrible. One bar is a good day if you go outside in the horse pasture and hold your phone up in the air. Still getting internet over old copper lines and speed and reliability is horrible. No other options.

[loose_goose_garage]

I use the app for answering messages and seeing items that have sold throughout the day, or if I want to look up something's value quick.

However, all of my buying and listing is done on a desktop or laptop computer. So much easier and faster in my opinion.

I don't remember the last time I actually bought something using the app either.

[policequilts]

LOL

I have a desktop and use DSL/landline.  Plenty of speed when I watch some YouTube.

Good enough to set up two websites and the few things I do.

Prefer to be doing other things that don't have to do with the internet.

Don't own a cell phone.

I think I might be one of a very few people that stand and walk upright. 😄

So many people have their heads down looking at that phone.

[mudshark61369]

@roccotacodad54,

I much prefer using my laptop for my ebay buying/selling activity. I prefer seeing seeing a whole page at once rather than having to swipe to see parts of a page not displayed. or to inspect photos.  The only time I use the app is when I'm out picking and I want to get an idea of an item's trending price.

  I do feel I'm in the minority at times, especially when talking to Millennials and younger people who were raised on portable devices who tell me I am so 20th century. They don't believe it when I tell them that the ideas for two way wrist watch communicators go back to the 1940s and they don't believe me. So I tell them to search on their devices for promotions for the introductions of the Apple iWatch and Samsung Smart Watch. It floors them.

[pickapaper]

I'm with the rest of you.  Somehow I think it might be an age thing.

The younger generation(s) grew/grow up with cell phones.  Mothers used to give babies a small toy to amuse them; now they hand them their phone.  I see very small children with a phone or tablet and it's obvious they know how to use them to a degree.  It just amazes me that people run their lives with their phones now; they do everything.   It's incredible, and getting more so every day but I don't desire to be part of it.

I have always disliked phones.  I don't like talking on them, never have.   We have cell phones which we use sparingly.  People don't understand why we don't have our phones in our hands/pocket constantly and sometimes get upset if we don't respond to a text or call immediately.  

Honestly, the only thing I like about cell phones now is because we are old, and that is for security.   To be able to call for help if we need it while we are out and about.   For my husband and me to be able to get ahold of one another if need arises.   

[valueaddedresource]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

As of right now there is something going on with the app in the UK. Every single one of those roughly 30 posts from this evening are from UK buyers and sellers. It's unclear if eBay has intentionally made the UK app only available to certain OS and older ones are unsupported, or if there's some other issue going on and the app will be restored for those users. In the meantime helping as best we can which is to suggest the web browser until we have more info.

That said, I'm not sure why you saw the app as a novelty thing. As of roughly 10 yrs ago eBay said 50% off all purchases were made through mobile devices, and I'm sure that number has only climbed since then.

Hearing someone has a landline is more of a novelty these days.

---

@wastingtime101  nice catch on the fact these posts appear to be only coming from the UK - I saw a few posts about it on the UK boards as well but figured that meant it might be a global issue.

If it really is UK specific, it might not be a coincidence that today is the day that Buyer Fees and changes which will hold UK private seller funds until after delivery go into effect.

Maybe they pushed an app update as part of those changes and it is not working as intended?

[mudshark61369]

@pickapaper,

"We have cell phones which we use sparingly. People don't understand why we don't have our phones in our hands/pocket constantly and sometimes get upset if we don't respond to a text or call immediately".

We sometimes see that on these boards when a topic is posted at 3:00am and 5 minutes later the OP is back complaining that no one is responding. I guess the cell phone generation, who think they are so much more advanced than us older folks, do not understand the concept of Time Zones.

When our boys were younger we had so much fun handing their friend's a dial phone and asking them to dial their parent's number. Most didn't even know their parent's number much less how to Dial it after they looked it up on their cell phone. They would get so frustrated so quickly, it was fun to see. 

I wonder if the BEEP line still works 🤣

[casprrr]

I use my desktop for most things eBay related. However, I use an old iPod Touch to take and edit photos (I find the photo editing simpler to use that that on my iPhone). Since it is no longer supported and I can't update the eBay app, I can no longer use it to add photos directly to my desktop-created listings. However, the photos I take with the iPod are automatically shared to my iPhone, and that OS is current. I take and edit most of my eBay listing photos with an iPod, use an iPhone to add the photos to my saved draft created with an iMac, and use the Mac to actually do the listing.

The phone is useful to immediately know if an item receives a bid, has sold, or if a buyer has a question. With notifications enabled, I get this information immediately and can respond in a timely manner, even if I'm not at home.

[selsa84]

A novelty? Around half of all eBay purchases are through the mobile app. 

[kensgiftshop]

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@casprrr wrote:

The phone is useful to immediately know if an item receives a bid, has sold, or if a buyer has a question. With notifications enabled, I get this information immediately and can respond in a timely manner, even if I'm not at home.

---

That's the only thing I find useful about the app.

As far as trying to run a business, listing or buying, it's a PC for me.

[gosimus]

@roccotacodad54 

< Doesn't anyone own a computer anymore? >       

I do.  I'm on it now.  I also have an iPhone 16 ... in fact, I just bought it new a couple of months ago.  Other than the apps that came with the phone, I have only two apps that I installed myself:  Spades, which I haven't even opened in over a year; and Shazam, which I do use frequently to identify songs &/or artists.  Sometimes I use google, via Safari, to look up something but only when I'm not at home where my computer is. 

[simba6]

Today's social media crowd are attached to their mobile devices.  Too them, a desktop computer is as outmoded as a rotary dial telephone.  Wait until the VR headsets take over.