As near as I can tell, eBay has become desperate to show gains every quarter to the stock holders--long term goals have been tossed by the wayside, and all that seems to matter anymore are the money grabs that we see implemented with every new Seller Update. Insiders, such as eBay employees have even written about this very fact on chat boards--and it should be clear to anyone who sells here that long-term goals and worrying about the future of this company, are absolutely not a priority to the bosses who are currently in charge.
Loyalty doesn't matter, good customer service doesn't matter, and if you are a "small" seller your livelihood here certainly doesn't matter anymore. Corporate greed is all that matters here anymore. I sell clothing, and I have a 2.4% return rate--and even though probably only .3% are legitimate SNAD issues (I am human and sometimes make mistakes--not to mention eBay GLITCHES that cause problems ALL the time) I will FOR SURE be paying that extra 4%. SO--my long term goals are to explore other options, which I started doing last year--if eBay was concerned about keeping me and millions of other "small" sellers there is no way they would even think about implementing such a heinous money grab. The really horrific part is the BLATANT trickery with which they are going about this--asking sellers to offer free returns, and then when the sellers return percentage goes up (because it CERTAINLY will)--tacking on another 4%--as a punishment for complying with their wishes. Shameful.
As far as the re-designed pages, that actually are more clunky and user un-friendly to use--I honestly have NO idea. It takes forever to do anything on here--and listing has become such an incredible headache. It takes me twice as long to list anything on here, and then, of course, there is always busy work added on top of that. To this day, my listings WON'T stay mobile compliant--and half the time they are also exceeding the width of the page--so unless I want to go back in and edit every one of them individually, what am I to do? It is a constant ordeal of back peddling here, double checking, and busy work. You are absolutely right--and your theory as to the psychology behind all this-- that maybe they are intimidated and resent their reliance upon us--well, that's as good as any I have heard.
Every day it gets more stressful around here--to what end, I don't know. I think they simply want us gone. For whatever reason they want to be the ultimate "copycat" site--Alibaba and AZ combined. Why they can't do both, I have no idea--seems strange to cut off a limb that is working, and to hope that the new one you are growing functions just as well.
For what it's worth, you are definitely not alone in your frustration and also your head-scratching as to what's up. Look at this week if you want a good example of how screwy everything is. We got a new log-in page--which is uninspired, doesn't work very well (All my ID's are scrunched in the box, and it certainly doesn't save me any time) and they are asking if we want to sign in with Facebook. Facebook--who just got caught selling data and has had to issue a MASSIVE apology to the entire world. OK.......meanwhile, there is a MAJOR glitch in the "Sell Similar" feature that WILL NOT change the price of your "new" or similar item that you are attempting to sell--not even when you go back in and EDIT it. Ummmm.....hello--this is costing sellers TONS of money, and will only result in even MORE buyer and seller dissatisfaction. It's a HUGE problem--but have you gotten any emails from eBay informing you of this MAJOR issue? I haven't. Just unbelievable. The incompetence is mind-boggling, I totally agree.
