Why in the world would eBay change it so you can't research completed auctions now?

[mypalrocco]

Today I was researching completed auctions to determine which price point to list my item. Part of this research for me involves reading the completed auction description of similar items I'd like to sell to do a comparison of condition, included components, features, etc. So today, they apparently changed it so now I can see the list of completed auctions but when I click on the item to try to open the listing I get a "The selected item is no longer available" and instead, it shows an item that's still active and available for purchase. Why? What purpose does this change serve??  This was an invaluable research tool for sellers!

Now if an item sold for $2 and another similar item sold for $100, I have no idea what the differences were to affect the prices because I can't see or read the body of the completed auction. The other problem with this is that if I'm wanting to buy something at, say, a garage sale or local antique auction, to resell on eBay, I don't know what to pay for it now because I can't make appropriate comparisons. Of the things that eBay should change, THIS somebody at eBay determined needed to be changed??? I'm finding myself more and more finding other avenues to sell my stuff because of nonsense like this! If somebody from eBay ends up reading this, for crying out loud, change this back to the way it was! I've included a screenshot as an example of an item that just ended as recently as 5/26 (5 days ago) so this change has nothing to do with the auction ending a long time ago.

[dma725]

I do not know if this helps or not, but when the blue bar comes up saying that this Listing is no longer available just click on the word    listing    and it will bring up the screen you can click on to  See original Listing and then you can see the details in full from the original listing.  It has worked for me, but sometimes it will pop back to the blue bar - I just hit the word listing again.

[jaring]

This change is TERRIBLE and not even consistant.  I buy indy comics and often look at solds to find rare variants that I might not know about - they sell quick and I often miss them in the active listings.  My comics do not have UPCs.  I also use completed listing for pricing my extras.

I did my daily search today and I was able to view some completed listings but was directed to current listings on others.  The current listing suggetions were USELESS.  Some suggested a $5 mass market standard cover for the variant I was looking for - same character, but not even the same series.  Some suggested a $199 variant instead of my $20 variant.  Yeah - I'm going upspend $180.  A couple of listings even brought back suggestions for trading cards for my COMIC search.  Sigh...

FYI - my ebay bucks reward was down to less than a $1.00 for the last 3 months.  That's how much I don't spend on here anymore.  I've been a eBayer since 1999 - it is no longer fun for me to sell or BUY.

[ersatz_sobriquet]

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@dma725 wrote:

I do not know if this helps or not, but when the blue bar comes up saying that this Listing is no longer available just click on the word    listing    and it will bring up the screen you can click on to  See original Listing and then you can see the details in full from the original listing.  It has worked for me, but sometimes it will pop back to the blue bar - I just hit the word listing again.

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This is working for me too. Because the word "listing" is in blue as well as the bar, it is very easy to miss that the word "listing" is clickable. So I can still see the completed listing, but it's more work to get to it--that's typical ebay. 

[dma725]

It is extremely easy to miss!  I only found it out by accident.  I was re-reading this thread and noticed that this was also reported as workable by Labs118 on message 25.  I should have read more throughly before I posted, but I was almost in a panic because I could not get to the original listing.  Sorry, Labs118 - I should have taken more time to read all the posts!

I really do hope that eBay does not do away with this option - I rely on it a great deal as selling prices seem to be so all across the board, especially for vintage and collectible items.

[dolldesigns4u]

AKA "if it's not broke, we want to fix it"

[ted_200]

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@dolldesigns4u wrote:

AKA "if it's not broke, we want to fix it"

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My own version of that one is:  "If ain't broken, fix it 'til it is".

[rgroftexas]

I was unable to open any sold listings, so I signed out of my account. After that, some were normal, some were the blue bar that I had to click "listing" and some were still unavailable.  This can't be a feature. Regardless, it needs to go back to the way it was, ASAP.

Is there a place to report bugs other than calling?

[spoofer82]

Why is eBay determined to drive off its user base with each passing day?

As a buyer, these product-based changes are horrible.

[onestellarseller]

Replying to ph_0490xxxx:    Hi   I don't understand what you're pointing out with your screenshot.    Could you explain what it is you're showing in the lower right corner?   I don't see that on my screen.  

[onestellarseller]

I don't care if anyone sees how much my items went for.    It's about the RESEARCH!!   If you sell antiques or collectibles, and other items as well, there is no way to know what an item is worth if you can't find out about it on eBay and see more, such as its condition, so you can make a learned decision on whether you can buy it and make money on it.     I've been doing this since 1996 and I am so fed up with the way they treat sellers.     Completed auctions are important to the seller, and even to buyers if they want to know if they're going to be paying too much for an item.   They can look back and see how much it went for in the past.    

[rolenboy01]

I've found a work around for now but it's 1 extra step, you gotta click the highlighted listing link.

[rgroftexas]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

I've found a work around for now but it's 1 extra step, you gotta click the highlighted listing link.

the problem is, that blue bar doesn't show up on every listing.

Anyways, there's another thread about this I found where supposedly ebay is aware and is working to fix it. They suggest using ebay.ca for now to view listings, although the prices will be in Candian dollars.

[ymeagainlord]

eBay has always been one of the VERY FEW sites where you CAN actually see completeds & solds and I've always wondered when they'd remove that, but they should still leave the listings available for the actual seller and buyer.

[timemachine777]

eBay's way of showing us more junk that we weren't looking for, nor wanted to see. PO most of the searchers in hopes for an impulse sale. Another reason why I rarely buy anything on eBay anymore. 

[rolenboy01]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:
eBay has always been one of the VERY FEW sites where you CAN actually see completeds & solds and I've always wondered when they'd remove that, but they should still leave the listings available for the actual seller and buyer.

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Yes and I never understood that unless they want to charge for the service, without that kind info the prices are gonna either be too low or too high like they already are, a lot of people outside of eBay use them as gold standard of pricing of certain items as well so i'm not sure how all that's gonna pan out in the future.