Is it me or did selling get more complicated and confusing?

[gilthorpe]

I've been on here since 1999, and selling process seemed so much more straightforward in the old days. The past year, it's just a mess. A few examples:

The new web site layout might work for professional sellers - maybe. But for a casual long time eBay seller like me, it just adds confusion and doesn't help at all. I'm not running predictive analytics, just trying to run a yard sale, really.

Rules on the seller page conflict with other parts of ebay (one part says you can turn off the reserve price after the auction begins; another part says you can't). A helpful agent acknowledged this was part of the shift to the new web site. 

Have a buyer who wants to cancel before the auction finishes? Sure, you can do that, but watch out they don't start a refund process even though no money ever exchanged hands. At least there is a chat bot log tracking it all. 

Ebay Motors is apparently a separate app now, but they don't make it obvious on the regular pages. Try searching for a particular car on eBay and you're more likely to get phony hubcaps from China as your top listing instead of the car you actually want. Motorcycle listings are even worse  - but it wasn't always this way. 

Ok, I understand they are pushing PayPal out of the way (anyone remember the original provider - BillPoint?), but this Escrow service they promote - I remember when they told us never to trust escrow payment services. I guess this one is OK? 

Amazon tried a years ago to mimic what Ebay was doing and failed miserably. But now it seems like Ebay just wants to make things easier for them to catch up. Ebay is turning into an overpriced Craigslist!

So what gives - did the company get new management and/or is this another side effect of cost cutting by outsourcing? Do people just throw everything away and not even bother to sell anymore? Maybe it's nothing more than a dicey flea market for pirated IP listings? 

Who knows, but it isn't the same place anymore. 

[soh.maryl]

Would prefer not to address your questions, will leave that to a more experienced seller.

However, exactly where in the Seller Center does it say that you can remove the Reserve price after the auction begins? In my experience that fee is charged the minute you list with a Reserve and will be charged whether or not the item is actually sold and paid for.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

The process of "removing" a reserve price means that the reserve is actually lowered to $1 above the high bid showing. eBay would not want to put a bidder in a position of suddenly being committed to an auction after thinking that they had failed to meet the reserve. This has been the policy for ages.  Nobody uses reserve prices anyway so details aren't important.

I have never heard of a bid cancellation leading to confusion over giving a refund.

Many scammers send messages about fake escrow services which of course shouldn't be trusted.  eBay Motors is indeed its own separate world.

[bigdeals.etc]

TLDR.

I just read your first sentence about 1999 and can totally agree that it is waaaaay more complicated since then. The average consumer has changed much since those days.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@soh.maryl wrote: ...  where in the Seller Center does it say that you can remove the Reserve price after the auction begins? ...

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You can remove an unmet reserve, but the fee is not credited.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-auctions/reserve-prices?id=4143

[toysaver]

Not only has the consumer changed since 1999 but so has the interface of the internet.  In 1999 the norm was dial up with a computer monitor the size of a Volkswagen. 

[gilthorpe]

Yeah, I get it - I'm not a clueless boomer and have been very involved with IT and the internet for years. I'm not reminiscing about dial up, just noticing the platform seems to be a bit clunky by modern standards. I acknowledge the typical eBay seller has changed quite a bit too - as have the nature of the products offered. 

For all of the advances in web design, user interface and back end infrastructure available now, eBay does not seem to be improving in the way I would have expected it to, as Amazon has in so many ways (though there are problems with them too). 

[inhawaii]

I used to be able to tinker with my old Chevy in the garage ......... .now you need to be an electronic engineer to work on a car. 

[inhawaii]

I know i'm showing my age ..... but is that Clutch Cargo?

(Go look that up,  kids.)

[pargran3]

Many changes. Many changes in management.

It has been something to keep up with. A lot of us just get anxious about changes.

More complicated?

I don't think I would agree. 

Just call me Pollyanna, but there have been many changes such as calculated postage that have improved the selling process without needing a degree in rocket science.

Nothing has stayed the same since 1999.

Radine

[nuclearomen]

the site isn't to confusing for selling, what makes things confusing (or more frustrating) is how new features fail to work as intended or updates not being specified accurately or fully by EB. 

as for the MP push, ebay is really the last large marketplace to install them, all have gone to a form of MP. Back when you specify such things were likely a bad idea but 20+ years has made it safer and more common practice. Amazon indeed uses MP system, and at least for new sellers there, takes a month to get your money (last I knew anyways). Not saying I defend EB decisions, but I can also see why they made that change as well. 

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[toysaver]

…..  with his pals Spinner and Paddlefoot, right off the top of my head.  

[chapeau-noir]

Ok, I understand they are pushing PayPal out of the way

The companies split and eBay is on its own as of 2021 - previously it was the only major site without an integrated payment system.  Paypal has a higher value than eBay.

People born in 1999 are well past voting age by now and in ecommerce years we're several generations on. 

[dhbookds]

Re: Is it me or did selling get more complicated and confusing

Yep, but so is internet commerce.......  back in 99......it was a gamble, items, descriptions........checks, etc.  With competition, ebay had to conform or be even more degraded down the ladder than they are now.  New sellers coming in "accept" what's here...because it's all they've known, so they don't rail at MP, etc or whatever "new" enhancement is around at the time.  When there were relatively few items, compared to the millions now, sales were easier and less stressful.....now each one is "precious" to us part timers.....and a major disaster, at least to some, when one goes bad...... 

Long ago, people said you adapt to ebay or quit......and that has been the one constant to me, over the years. 

[acrc3113]

Been around here since 2000. I for one, and am very happy with Paypal. Was a lot better than waiting for a check or money order to come in the mail and waiting for it to clear, before shipping. Some of the threads I've read say that you will have to photo copy a check, as well as a copy of your driver's license, and give eBay your social security number in order to enroll in MP.  That's a good way to promote ID theft, and frankly, it's none of eBay's business what my driver's license number is or my social security number is. Come the day I am forced to open a MP account, I too will be gone.

For you cheerleaders out there, I know my account is small potatoes. I just refuse to sell large, bulky, or expensive items here due to returns policies, fees on shipping, and shipping costs. There are better sites for those items. I'm sure I won't be missed, but I'm sure I won't be alone, and that adds a lot to eBay's bottom line. eBay should remember what happened to Yellow Front, White Front, Kmart, Montgomery Ward, and now Sears, when they decided their suppliers and 3rd parties were unimportant.