Absurdly complicated!

[jonesxxx]

I have listed on ebay several years ago and I recall it was fairly straightforward. Today I tried to create a listing and the process is now absurdly complicated.

I  clicked sell and was told about four “offers” (all expiring today of course.)

I clicked Learn more for the “Sell for £1 max” option and thought that OK.

I loaded up the images, wrote the blurb and then noticed it wanted to charge me a percentage. Fair enough but why not say that up front?

So now I want to set a reserve price. This I’m told is an extra option costing an extra 4%. Not good, but OK where do I select this? Answer: Nowhere. Doesn’t seem to be available. Again, there’s no indication of why not.

OK, OK. I delete all this and start again.

So looking at the other “offers” (HAH!) I started to read the T&Cs. Pages of the stuff. It is obvious to me that Ebay have hidden their pricing structure behind a fog of drivel. Just redirecting the user to pages linked to pages linked to pages is a massive cop out.

If anyone at ebay really cares I suggest this:  If you have a number of options then you set them out in an easily understandable format. e.g A TABLE!!!!! Look up the HTML <tr></tr>,  it might make your site usable. Then list the costs, and what are the restrictions.

I’ve now spent an hour on this **bleep** task and life is too short.

[jonesxxx]

And to underline the inanity of even writing this post, ebay have awarded me my first badge!

[dhbookds]

Not saying the problems don't exist here also.....but you are in the UK posting on the US site........  Your comments might be more effective posting on the UK board........

[castlemagicmemories]

So now I want to set a reserve price. This I’m told is an extra option costing an extra 4%. Not good, but OK where do I select this? Answer: Nowhere. Doesn’t seem to be available. Again, there’s no indication of why not.

I'm sorry you have been having these issues.  You may not know that most buyers and sellers don't like reserves.  Buyers tend to shun those listings and hit the back button as they don't want to play games.  Sellers know the cost of a reserve is unnecessary as they can just start the listing at the price they will accept.

If you are using the Quick Listing form and/or the app, those are limited.  You may find what you are looking for on the Advanced Listing form.  Before you hit submit on a listing, you should be seeing your costs.

[juststuffisell]

Yes, listing has gotten more complicated. Think of it this way - with the new super easy buyer friendly eBay, the fewer details you provide, the higher the probability you will have your item returned for not as described. Naturally, after it has been enjoyed for a few weeks 😉

So, in todays ebay, write a book describing every deeper scratch to the metal, all the light surface scratching from polishing, all the imperfections only visible under 10x, 20x or 30x magnification...etc etc. and even then, after about 3 weeks of use and enjoyment, you still risk someone using the not as described to get all their money back, plus return shipping on you.... Fortunately, the more details you provide, the lower the probability of this happening is, but it will still happen 😞

Cheers

[smashedbanana]

Reserves are a bad idea unless this is a high dollar value item like a car or something.

They drive away buyers who can't be bothered to bid under the reserve.

Or ask you what the reserve is.

You can set a starting bid amount if you are scared your item will sell for too little.

Better option is to just make it a set price.

Or even better a set price with a best offer option.

Best offer is now a filter on searches. So some buyers can pick show only items with a best offer option. FYI.

[castlemagicmemories]

 Before you hit submit on a listing, you should be seeing your costs.

In the case of an auction listing, these would be your basic costs as the final price has not yet been determined so you won't know what your FVF would be.