Gen Z ebay lister does NOT like the new unified listing tool- this tool is too mobile for a desktop

[siamjane8]

Yesterday i heard a groan from upstairs.... my 19 year old son who has a very successful ebay business- had just sat down at his computer to list. He just took over 450 pictures and was ready to get to work.......until it turns out his account was now stuck with the new listing tool!

He had been making fun of me for months because for 8 months this account has been stifled by the new listing tool for all of the same reasons you probably have experienced or read about on the boards already.

He tried it for 2 listings and came down discouraged at how ridiculous it was to use and time consuming.   Now he knows what his father has been going through just trying to list every day on a computer with a scaled down inferior mobile app of a listing tool.

Again he is 19 years old and what ebay would consider the "future of ebay", and the pain points are universal!- this tool does NOT work well or meet the needs of ebay sellers that use a desktop to list with           ( from polling people everywhere it seems like the majority of serious or full time ebay sellers use computers, not phone to list and run our businesses)

His thoughts:

1. we should never have to leave the main page to input data( ie. popup boxes

2.advanced edit tool NEED to be available without 2 extra clicks/confirmations

3.the classic ebay shipping calculator was 100% better way to add shipping options- this one stinks    (although i would note that the shipping section has gotten better to be fair- it was unusable 5 months ago)

4. Item specifics are confusing and awkward- hates extra clicks to hit + sign to add data- 

5. no cancel button at the end??? makes not sense

6. frustrated that you cannot leave immediate payment required selected- you must do extra 3 clicks on every listing for something that should be remembered for you account

He just purchased $3000 worth of new inventory and has been excited to list, but the new tool has stopped him cold.  He quit after two listings yesterday- this morning he said he would rather do something else today.......         This tool is discouraging your sellers from listing on ebay!      How much longer to we have to wait until you redesign it to work well on a desktop?

He has been selling between $9,000.00 - $13,000.00 a month on ebay for almost 2 years now - a kid just out of high school- with ambition and good work ethic.   Ebay - DO NOT SCREW THIS UP FOR YOUR SELLERS- he is gen z- and he thinks the tool is far inferior to the classic on a computer.  Even he says that you cant run a full scale business on a phone- the listing tool needs to be optimized to work on a computer with a keyboard!

[evry1nositswindy]

Preaching to the choir, although I am not a Gen Z.  Photos rotate the opposite way, leading to 3 extra clicks.  item specifics are a nightmare.  Rearranging photos is difficult and they disappear.

This morning I was listing an Avon holiday pin.  Category was collectible>pins.   Under condition, it gave me choices for books (like new, very good, good, acceptable) and the descriptions for each said the word book!  The worst part was that I did a sell similar from another holiday pin I already had listed. 

[m60driver]

Yes, the new listing tool sucks.  Yes, the new listing tool takes a significantly longer time to create a listing.  Yes, the new listing tool is emblematic of just how distant Ebay has become from the sellers.  That being said, one can, over time and through repetition,  internalize all the new routines now needed to list.  Since resistance is futile there is nothing for your son to do other than to grin and bear it and relist until the needed actions become a new routine.  If this old curmudgeon can do it I am sure the young man can do it.

Also, depending on what your son sells, there may be alternative platforms available.

[newlifeforoldstuff2]

.....and again, just as the holiday selling season starts, they expect sellers to just get over it and get used to it.  smh ebay learned nothing from last year. 

[ravensbeak]

I logged in this morning intending to put up some new ads... and geesh, what a nightmare! I do not understand ebay's penchant for taking simple things and making them more confusing and harder. It seems to be the way with this outfit. When I do ads early in the morning I like to schedule them to come online later in the morning or early afternoon that same day, but there was no feature/link/whatever that I could find to schedule my ads to go live later. I was forced to save them into drafts... so now, aside for alllll the extra clicks and popups with this stupid new ad layout, I will have to go through yet one more step by having to to to my saved drafts to get my ad live. Before I could just schedule the times, finish all my ads and walk away from the computer and get onto my chores and other things. This is such a joke!

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I'm Gen X and I also agree with others that if it is not broken, don't fix it. Just did my first listing on the new format under the option of 'sell similar' of one of my current active listings, so I didn't go through all that clicking labor yet that I keep reading about. I'm sure I will at some time. 

For now, what stood out the most was how small the description box is. 

[kelekt]

yep. HATE IT. 

it's awesome for other selling sites tho...less people listing here = less cool stuff to find here =  less buyers  shopping here = other sites will grow and dominate 🙂

[iamthecrosseyedcow]

I just got stuck with the new lister last night, too.  I get the logic of it, but it's so darned clunky with all the clicks.  I know I'll get used to it if I continue to use it, but regardless of my "expertise" with it, it will always take longer.  Click click click click...arrghh! 

I run a business from an office with desktop computers that I use for eBay and  my other businesses.  If I wanted to list on my phone, I would already be doing so!  What the hel... is wrong with having two separate listing tools for two entirely separate types of devices??

Seriously considering going back to paying Ink Frog to host my listings and greatly increase my Mercari presence.

[siamjane8]

Unfortunately even Samsung has made a ridiculous mobile website like what ebay is doing and it's so bad to navigate on a computer, my wife just did not buy a new tablet from them out of frustration! She actually went to another platform and bought it. Must be the same misguided designers. She was going to buy a new Samsung phone last month and recalled giving up because of the poor User interface. Ebay usually copies the wrong trends and this listing tool is no exception. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Unfortunately, I was on a Zoom with eBay this AM & asked a member of the new listing tool team if they were toying with the idea of letting people use the old listing tool, which was so much better & the answer is no.  They told me the old tool is on an old technology platform, so they must be moving away from it.   They did however say that they are aware of the postings on here & are constantly improving it.  

[siamjane8]

@simply-the-best-for-you I had done a zoom meeting months and months ago with some of the listing tool team members as well. It's good to hear that they are still engaging sellers about it. What was the gist of the meeting? Are they admitting or concerned that the tool is not well adapted to desktop?

Did they seem responsive to feedback?

Did they give any impressions as to when we can expect this improvement?

Thanks

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@simply-the-best-for-you Yes, I think it's safe to say there's no going back. I also think it's safe to say that they are not going to waver from their goal of having a tool that basically works the same on a phone as it does on a PC. 

So, are they "listening" to sellers who are telling them to bring the old tool back, or retain the choice? Are they listening to sellers who are telling them to have one tool for PC and one for Phone? No.

Those issues really aren't up for discussion, and sellers would do well to recognize that.

So, are they listening to sellers? Well, from what I've seen, yes. Take those two things off the table, and get down to specifics: how this is a pain point or how that specific feature could be improved? I think they are listening. Which doesn't mean they will necessarily Do everything suggested. But we know they've been making changes, many as the result of seller input.

I recommend using the "Tell us what you think" Question Mark at the top right of the new listing page to do just that. Posting here might get noticed, but those comments WILL get looked at. 

What is unhelpful is "I HATE this! Bring the old one back!" That accomplishes nothing. What is helpful is actual redesign suggestions about specific features.

Ultimately, believe it or not, the goal IS to make listing easier, because that translates into more sales and fees for ebay. 

[siamjane8]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Ultimately, believe it or not, the goal IS to make listing easier, because that translates into more sales and fees for ebay. 

While I agree with you that the goal is to make it easier to list- that is a secondary goal for ebay , and that is the problem- their main goal was to simplify the IT and coding into a one size fits all so that they do not need to maintain a IT dept for mobile, and desktop.  Seller usability was only a secondary goal.

I completely agree that the individuals and team members DO want to do a great job and the best that they can- no conspiracy there.  Its just that they are out of touch with the seller base.   If this was a good change- non of these forums would have anyone on them at all.

The pushback should be evident enough for any company to pause and say- wait a minute, we are doing something that our customers do not like at all- we need to rethink this or at least recognize what is happening....... ebay arrogantly pushes on, trying to hit conversion dates, frustrating more and more - not to mention going into the biggest retail season of the year!- they are pushing ahead and making the selling experience worst at the busiest time of the year for sellers.

[kwsdiscgolf]

100% agree. The fact that we will have to grin and bear it just shows how out of touch ebay is.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@siamjane8 wrote:

@simply-the-best-for-you I had done a zoom meeting months and months ago with some of the listing tool team members as well. It's good to hear that they are still engaging sellers about it. What was the gist of the meeting? Are they admitting or concerned that the tool is not well adapted to desktop?

Did they seem responsive to feedback?

Did they give any impressions as to when we can expect this improvement?

Thanks

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@siamjane8 

The meeting was actually for grant winners & this was only one of the guests, so it was not the only focus of the meeting.  It was actually more of a training session for the tool.  Since I am a Community Mentor here, I wanted to address it, but it was def not the forum to go in-depth on the negative reaction.  I will also say that a couple of the attendees expressed genuine surprise at the hate b/c they loved the tool & wanted to know what ppl disliked about it, so as always, what we see here, is a small but vocal percentage.  

The rep from that team was very responsive to feedback, but it was not the venue for me to go into any sort of details, my main point was to know if they were aware & to find out if there was any option for going back, so that as a Mentor I could provide factual info.   I understood the improvement to be ongoing & she mentioned that there had already been several iterations of improvements (which is clearly true based on comments here) & that they were continuing to gather feedback & make changes.   She also mentioned, as I did above, that despite the vocal reastion, there are many who like the tool & find it quicker & more efficient than the old tool.   I specifically asked her about the testing of the tool & she indicated that it had been tested.  Unfortunately, it was not a one on one session, so this was the most I felt comfortable asking since there were many other attendees & it was not really the point of the meeting.