Unified Listing Experience

[seller_update@ebay]

Today we discussed the new listing experience in further detail and are excited to have it be available to all sellers. This upgrade in background technology does more than just give listing a face-lift: it replaces the underlying code the system is built on, making it secure and viable for years to come. Read more about this here and let us know your thoughts and questions about it below!

Please note that eBay experts will be present and engaging on the boards between 8 am and 4:30 pm PST on 3.3.

[saturdaystoys]

Are there any "live" examples of listings that are currently using the "Unified Listing Experience."  I'm not really clear on what will be changing... how it will look when listed... or the various options to be considered... and especially as to how sales will be helped with the upcoming changes.  As most of our listings are in the vintage "Collectibles" categories (Disneyana, etc.)... that's very different from offering items from current retail inventory.  While we want to be ready for whatever is coming... it's not clear as to what the changes will actually produce...

[cocoscollectibletreasures]

I am interested in trying out this feature, but it does not show up for me. When can I expect to be able to try it out? 

[ronsam-197]

Nothing changes with the way a listing looks. It's all in the "new improved and enhanced" Unified Listing Tool.

Which basically has a slide out/pop up for every single field and takes 10 times longer to get something listed.

I'd be more worried about the impact of the category changes they're making in Collectibles. Did you know they're retiring the Disneyana category (among many other brands)?

[chapeau-noir]

I can see where this will take longer, even after getting used to the new format.  I am listing a simple Chico's button-down top.  This is what I am finding:

1. When entering item specifics (here I'm listing a shirt), the long pop-up panel rolls to the top again every time I enter a specific.  This means I have to scroll it down again each time I enter anything that is not in the visible portion on my screen.  Accessing the pop-up takes an extra click.  This is extra time.

2.  On a desk top, IS entry is too complicated - instead of rolling down the page simply ticking check boxes and/or using auto-complete, one must click on the specific, wait for the panel to pop up, scroll to the desired specific, enter the specific and if a pre-filled IS comes up that is incorrect (i.e., character type in clothing), one has to clear the panel and then click 'done' (the last step is not the case with simply entering an IS).

3. Extra click to access any of the text boxes instead of simply entering text, then extra click to hit 'done' when finished.

4. The 'add photos' is glitchy and finicky.  I was unable to get it to work until I finally cleared the popup browser window, brought up the folder I needed to access, then drag and drop - it took three times, the first two times the page crashed.  I'm not sure if this is browser-dependent or not, but I'm on the very popular Firefox, newest update.

5.  The description - OMG, I use templates and the popup showed HTML view with the admonition that 'most' shoppers shop on mobile (that's nice, only I'm listing on a desktop/laptop, my listings were already optimised for mobile) - I shifted views to find that my template text had been somewhat mangled.  More time spent editing this.  Also, the text window does not size to the window size and one has to either expand it, or start scrolling to enter text.  My templates are very simple.

6.  Everything has to be finished with 'done' instead of simply moving on.

7.  Way too much tracking back and forth across a screen and dealing with popups rather than moving in a simple downward directly entering information. 

I'm all for trying new things, but this is needlessly cumbersome.  I've learnt that eBay's new utilities are pretty rough when they're first rolled out (seller hub, shipping page) so I will return to classic view and wait for this to be a bit more refined - I don't mind learning something new, but I do mind poor forms creation and I don't think this is at all efficient or intuitive.

Thanks for taking questions and comments.

[chapeau-noir]

I'll add this - I also sell on Poshmark, which started as a mobile platform and only in the last few years developed a web-based app as well - so I've listed on both mobile and desktop on this site.  Listing with both is simple and quick - no pop ups, no clicking "done" until you are, actually, done with the listing.  It takes me all of a minute to list anything on that site. Adding photos is simple drag and drop.  It lists compatibly on both web version and mobile, no matter which version you use to list.  Granted, Posh is a much simpler site, but why not drop-downs instead of these popups to keep data entry in line?  Why not simple drag and drop windows for photos instead of this blank popup that doesn't seem to work very well and also, incidentally, does not show the whole photo. 

[go-bad-chicken]

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seller_update@ebay wrote:

Today we discussed the new listing experience in further detail and are excited to have it be available to all sellers. This upgrade in background technology does more than just give listing a face-lift: it replaces the underlying code the system is built on, making it secure and viable for years to come. Read more about this here and let us know your thoughts and questions about it below!

Please note that eBay experts will be present and engaging on the boards between 8 am and 4:30 pm PST on 3.3.

---

While eBay may be excited I doubt that most sellers are going to be as excited. The new "Listing Experience" literally requires up to 75 MORE CLICKS to complete a listing from start to finish.

Why exactly should sellers be more excited about the prospects of having to do a lot more work?

[seller_update@ebay]

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@cocoscollectibletreasures wrote:

I am interested in trying out this feature, but it does not show up for me. When can I expect to be able to try it out? 

---

Hi @cocoscollectibletreasures - we will be ramping this up to all sellers in the near future, keep an eye out for it!

[seller_update@ebay]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

I can see where this will take longer, even after getting used to the new format.  I am listing a simple Chico's button-down top.  This is what I am finding:

1. When entering item specifics (here I'm listing a shirt), the long pop-up panel rolls to the top again every time I enter a specific.  This means I have to scroll it down again each time I enter anything that is not in the visible portion on my screen.  Accessing the pop-up takes an extra click.  This is extra time.

2.  On a desk top, IS entry is too complicated - instead of rolling down the page simply ticking check boxes and/or using auto-complete, one must click on the specific, wait for the panel to pop up, scroll to the desired specific, enter the specific and if a pre-filled IS comes up that is incorrect (i.e., character type in clothing), one has to clear the panel and then click 'done' (the last step is not the case with simply entering an IS).

3. Extra click to access any of the text boxes instead of simply entering text, then extra click to hit 'done' when finished.

4. The 'add photos' is glitchy and finicky.  I was unable to get it to work until I finally cleared the popup browser window, brought up the folder I needed to access, then drag and drop - it took three times, the first two times the page crashed.  I'm not sure if this is browser-dependent or not, but I'm on the very popular Firefox, newest update.

5.  The description - OMG, I use templates and the popup showed HTML view with the admonition that 'most' shoppers shop on mobile (that's nice, only I'm listing on a desktop/laptop, my listings were already optimised for mobile) - I shifted views to find that my template text had been somewhat mangled.  More time spent editing this.  Also, the text window does not size to the window size and one has to either expand it, or start scrolling to enter text.  My templates are very simple.

6.  Everything has to be finished with 'done' instead of simply moving on.

7.  Way too much tracking back and forth across a screen and dealing with popups rather than moving in a simple downward directly entering information. 

I'm all for trying new things, but this is needlessly cumbersome.  I've learnt that eBay's new utilities are pretty rough when they're first rolled out (seller hub, shipping page) so I will return to classic view and wait for this to be a bit more refined - I don't mind learning something new, but I do mind poor forms creation and I don't think this is at all efficient or intuitive.

Thanks for taking questions and comments.

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Hi @chapeau-noir - thank you for this really thoughtful critique. We will make sure the product team in charge of this form reviews it in detail! 

[chapeau-noir]

Thanks for reading!

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

Whenever I hear ebay and update in the same sentence...I lose a night of sleep.

[chapeau-noir]

Another to add to the list - I'm certain I'm not the only eBay seller who uses templates, and on these templates has self-created item specifics which are pertinent to the particular market they sell in.  Mine is "Garment Measurements" - this adds the measurements to the IS frame as well as having them in the description so the buyer has two opportunities to read them.  It's part of my effort to be thorough, but brief.  I had to add this IS as it was dropped, and can see that I would have to do so to every single listing myself (duplicate work) instead of having it remain on my template.  (The way it's broken down in vintage clothing is inefficient, spreading the measurements out in an unwieldy format, and many aren't relevant).

Item specifics on a seller's template need to not be wiped out with this new format.

Thank you.

[ratdog44]

This new update is not user friendly. It makes listing take exponentially longer. It created all of these policies that i most definitely do not use for shipping.

The app on my phone is where I do my listing. This new way of listing makes it almost impossible to list from.

IT was these easiest thing in the world to just click how I wanted to ship and what I wanted to charge. Now I am setting policy after policy. Why?