Well, I finally got around to ready my notification email from a week and a half ago and immediately wondered just what does eBay's "transition towards a product-based shopping and selling experience" mean. Foolish me; I called eBay and reached a rep in the Phillipines who answered my question by saying the same thing but in 4-5 sentences. When I asked to be transferred to U.S. based customer support I was sent to a "supervisor" who would only say he's in Asia and could only offer his personal opinion that eBay was going to become like a mall.
Way to go eBay. You're yet another company who farms out customer service to offshore know nothings who are trained to read a canned script and usually are not qualified to offer real help.
A quick Google search brought me to this board. After reading two pages of comments my suspicions were confirmed. Hello eBay listen up! As a buyer of currently available new merchandise, eBay is the LAST place I look for information and pricing regardless of whether 10 or 10,000 listings are presented. I have learned over the years that prices of currently available new merchandise tend to be higher that what I can get from other major and very minor online sellers.
What I do look to buy on eBay is what is considered new old stock. You know, stuff that was perfectly good but was discontinued before its time by manufacturers in favor of "new and improved" versions. Over the years I have had extremely good luck in finding discontinued items of all descriptions from a lot of very nice and honest sellers from around the country. If they disappear from eBay my choices will be limited to my local market place--classifieds, Craigslist, etc. In other words, less choice.
When I sell on eBay it's mostly pre-owned, non-digital, photgraphy gear in good working order. There is still a demand for this stuff, especially the lenses. I also sell items that could be considered collectible or unusual. There has always been a huge market for this kind of item. Has Mr. Wenig ever been to a garage sale, estate sale or flea market? That's were it all started and still happens.
So, to Mr. Wenig and the other geniuses at eBay I say: If you make it more or any more difficult to buy and sell on eBay I will close my account. I don't sell to make a living. I can and will buy elsewhere. I don't want curated listings. That's your opinion of what items are deserving and relevant. I don't want your opinion in that regard. Do you really think any buyer in the right mind will scroll through 10,000 listings of a particular item? A couple of different sortings gives me a clear idea of what price I should expect to pay for the same product in equivalent condition and from sellers with equivalent excellent feedback ratings. Maybe it's your mobile users on a small screen who are having a difficult time.
Lastly, stop trying to compete with Amazon.com, jet.com and all the other large reputable companies with a successful online presence. If you're not willing to create a parallel site for smaller sellers, especially those who are offering hard to find or out of production or collectible items, someone else will fill the void with a new online entity. I for one will eagerly give them a try.
So go ahead and make these changes. Like they say, you can't fix stupid.
