81–90 of 144 posts
I think I missed the point because I don't understand what this article is trying to say exactly.
I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…
> Nothing about their site has changed in 20 years, and they're waiting to die, like Yahoo. I'm from NZ and I suspect our local equivalent (TradeMe) has the same systemic problems: * Horrific UI flaws. * Adverts. Everywhere. It's like they don't want me to use the site. * A new version of the UI for mobile browsers (a replacement for the broken mobile browser version), that breaks all their links within emails * Auto…
The horrendous UI, unresponsive servers, bids being lost like every other auction, the easiest features like watchlist being outright broken 50 % of the time, watching items randomly not working, random 500/"oops" errors, broken search, tons and tons of ads (THIS IS A PAID SITE FFS) and so on make me think that they don't want to make money.
UX wise; I don't think it's possible to do worse than "Your bid of X has been submitted" followed by "This auction has ended. Sold for X-1.". Don't expect users to come back soon if you keep doing this to them!
I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…
> I'm surprised Amazon or even etsy hasn't been able to destroy them yet Amazon's site is quite flawed as well. It's a lot better but not by much. Etsy seems a better proposition but for whatever reason they limit the types of stuff that they sell. Facebook seems to be coming on the scene now though their offering is more like classifieds than auction.
Amazon's UX is far from perfect but the site at least works. eBay's site is so completely dysfunctional I'm almost surprised that people still manage to complete a significant amount of transactions on there.
I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…
In the last two years, I've found that about 1 in 4 of my purchases from China will never arrive. Obtaining refunds is an easy process but frustrating. Many of the sellers will have rankings that make them seem trustworthy only to disappear completely. And we can also lay blame on the western hemisphere. Canada and USA postal systems bear the brunt of the costs of "free" delivery. They will give these packages low pr…
I tend to use AliExpress for buying things directly from China. It's not always the easiest site to use if you want to make complex queries, but I've only had three packages out of a couple of hundred purchases not arrive - one the seller resent, the other two I flagged as not having arrived and got my money back pretty quickly - the site keeps your payment in it's own escrow service, only releasing it to the seller when you confirm receipt.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm surprised Amazon or even etsy hasn't been able to destroy them yet Amazon's site is quite flawed as well. It's a lot better but not by much. Etsy seems a better proposition but for whatever reason they limit the types of stuff that they sell. Facebook seems to be coming on the scene now though their offering is more like classifieds than auction.
> Amazon's site is quite flawed as well. It's a lot better but not by much. Amazon's UX is far from perfect but the site at least works . eBay's site is so completely dysfunctional I'm almost surprised that people still manage to complete a significant amount of transactions on there.
Amazon is an altogether more structured and reassuring experience, but you don't have all the stuff you get on Ebay.
I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…
Their UI is so bad, they have to use a phony mockup app in their TV commercials. Watch the commercials where a woman sees a fashion item on the street and then buys it on eBay. Just try doing anything like that on the actual site. Their entire query mechanism has had severe breakages for years . You couldn't possibly construct a search that could isolate a particular shoe or handbag or whatever without traversing tho…
I’m not exactly sure what point this article is trying to make, but as a regular eBay user, these are my biggest issues when using the platform. I’m based in the UK, so some of these may not apply for other locations. - Delivery times aren’t accurate. When I buy something from eBay I expect it will arrive within a week, but if I want something to arrive in a shorter time I buy it elsewhere. There is no way to filter…
I think that's because if they don't give a pessimistic estimate of delivery time, they open themselves up to 'it didn't arrive next day' type negative feedback and DSR scores. I'm in the UK and am selling cars part time to earn extra money at the moment - most of which need things doing (hence my markup). Nearly everything I order from eBay arrives next day (if I order before 10am), even though it usually says 2-3 days minimum. But I totally agree, it's a PITA as you should be able to filter down to those who actually will put it in the post that day if you order before (say) midday.
>- Too many Chinese sellers
Totally. They are spottable for the most part, but it's a pain to have to read the listings for the giveaways, and occasionally I'll miss it and then have to wait a couple of weeks for something to arrive. This has happened in the past when I've paid for it, and then they've said 'sorry... just checked and the UK warehouse is out of stock, so we'll send it direct from our China warehouse' - as if there's actually a UK warehouse. These have ALL been listings claiming 2-3 days' delivery.
>Too many duplicate listings.
Yup. It's getting crazily difficult for car parts which I get a lot (see above) - slightly different listing, same seller, etc. Or different seller, identical listing with slightly different price.
I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…
In the last two years, I've found that about 1 in 4 of my purchases from China will never arrive. Obtaining refunds is an easy process but frustrating. Many of the sellers will have rankings that make them seem trustworthy only to disappear completely. And we can also lay blame on the western hemisphere. Canada and USA postal systems bear the brunt of the costs of "free" delivery. They will give these packages low pr…
This is why the UI is horrible and, in general, the site feels stuck somewhere in the early 2000s. Perhaps this is also why the company culture is broken and somewhat dishonest. They have frequently engaged in dramatic policy shifts when someone got the idea that the bottom line could be enhanced. In these cases, they are capable of totally disregarding their ecosystem (especially sellers and affiliates). Worse, they would outright lie about their intentions, which I suppose they felt necessary for placation when completely screwing over their "partners".
eBay has long had a certain toxic nature, including an almost uncanny ability to leave customers and partners feeling disappointed, if not outright cheated at some point. Whatever the shortcomings of the people who participate in their marketplace (including scammers), they are amplified by eBay, whose resolution policies essentially amount to doing as little as possible. This is what people are reporting as disappointment when they've needed an issue resolved.
I am amazed that people still use eBay.
From a senior management perspective, eBay is run like a private-equity backed portfolio company. No offense to PE firms, but eBay has the feel of being more worried about costs and makes very little investment in long-term growth--as if the owners just want to turn a profit and sell the company before the debt comes due. This is why the UI is horrible and, in general, the site feels stuck somewhere in the early 2000…