Ebay policy changes

Posts: 4704 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:29 am

You should replace the Gonzo avatar with a lab rat.

Posts: 7604 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:12 am

sounds like the beginning of the end to me.

what is the point of restricting searches?

wasnt that the point in the first place, that you could just search and find something you might fancy at random?

are THEY trying to tell us now, what we would like to buy??!!

sheesh man.

thats a bit much to say the least!

Posts: 406 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:15 am

Deadlord39 wrote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20080603/bs_bw/jun2008tc2008062112762

Maybe they know something we don't.

Standard corporate horseshit. When the bean counters sniff a profit angle and want to change a model to take advantage, especially an established one, they always start telling the customer what he wants. They commission surveys, "When did you stop beating your wife" style polls, flood the media with unrepresentative case studies, all carefully designed to switch the attitude of the current customer base towards what the company wants. It doesn't make a damn what the customer actually wants and in the end the customer starts believing somebody elses mind rather than their own on the basis of, "Hey, everyone else is doing it, it must be right." Standard marketing crap, money first, nothing second. Shit on the customers who put the money in your pocket. I don't believe for one second that eBayers have all suddenly decided they prefer fixed price and I certainly don't believe any statistics that eBay might put out. I find it deeply suspicious that a new guy takes over and hey presto! All of a sudden the customers want want he wants. This arse has ruined eBay. Many of us were saying months ago he intends to turn the whole place into a shopping mall for big brands, forcing the little seller out in the process. His past comments clearly show how much contempt he has for the small time sellers. The company should be broken up now. They shouldn't be permitted to destroy the online auction industry by leveraging their monopoly in a negative way. If they don't want auctions, fine. Break up the company and hand over the auction side to people who will support that model and build on it. Let eBay get on with its cosy deals with Nike and Disney and the like. And the eBay/ Paypal axis is monopolistic whichever way they try to spin it. It's harmful to the customer and there are meant to be laws against such practises. Same goes for the search engines. Why is eBay allowed to spam Google with its sponsored listings when if you or I tried the same game we'd be kicked off in minutes? It's time to investigate this company and the shady links it clearly has with other major players. What they are planning is shaping up to be a bad deal for the consumer who might end up with zero alternative if these suits get their way. The whole nature of the Internet is being corrupted by these people. What happened to the spirit of screw the corporation that used to prevail in the land of the nerds? I guess they were all hired and put on fat salaries.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:30 am

mbassoc2003 wrote:

I spoke to a human being (presumabley) on eBay's select customer support line. I was told there is no way to opt out of being a test subject, and the fact that it is crippling my business is the sort of feedback they will take on board. I was told that the search facility for the test subjects only has limited access to eBay's full list of auctions, and only presents items I will want to buy based on my previous purchase history.

Apparently we will all be privelidges eventually to have our search options specifically tailored to our needs, but in the meantime some of us have to be arbitratily selected to be fucked in the ass, and only get to watch as everyone else is given full access to eBay's full selection of auctions. They also have no problem closing my account and are grateful for my feedback.

Ian;

Start another account (presumably with full access); use the new account for all your search features. Shut down the old account except to use for buying/selling stuff (unless you want to give the DSRs to your new account instead). Be sure to hammer the "new search features" with the absolute worst possible rating when the time comes to "grade" it. Add a few full pages of pissed off comments when the rating time comes.

Personally, Ian, I'd call them every single day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. If they are going to waste your time with this nonsense, I'd certainly waste theirs. Also, be sure you ask for a supervisor first thing. Most grunt level dickwads at companies like this have no power to change anything...but supervisors do. When they answer, just say "I need to speak to a supervisor, this is urgent". If they press you for a reason, just keep saying "This is very urgent, it's a private matter, it concerns customer retention, I need to speak with a supervisor immediately". Just keep using keywords like "immediately", "urgent", and "supervisor".

When you do get a supervisor, explain calmly what is happening. If they continue to insist on the company line, explain that you will have no choice but to give the lowest possible rating to both the new search system and the customer service you are getting this day.

I have had to deal with both AOL and Ebay before with circumstances that "couldn't be changed" no matter what, due to company policy. I finally learned the trick of bypassing the peons and getting directly to the people that can help you. No doubt, the minimum wage dodos will do everything they can to keep you on the line and not pass you up the chain...after all, that's part of their job. Just be persistent in getting to someone that can help you. Hope this works out.

Mike B.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:38 am

megnelwil wrote:

It doesn't make a damn what the customer actually wants and in the end the customer starts believing somebody elses mind rather than their own on the basis of, "Hey, everyone else is doing it, it must be right." Standard marketing crap, money first, nothing second.

This is VERY true. Look at the clothes a lot of us wore in the 1970s and 80s. Shocked

Would anyone in their right mind have worn such crap if the companies weren't telling us it looks cool? Likewise look at the shit being offered for entertainment, and ask yourself, did I ask for 190 movies about the Iraq war (all of which fail MISERABLY at the box office since people want to go to movies to be entertained, not preached at)? Did we ask for a movie about the President Bush presidency (the Oliver Stone directed pile of shite that NO ONE will go watch because who wants to be reminded of this?) Did I ask for American Idol's talentless dreck to bombard the music charts (nice to see these people are losing their contracts and failing miserably once they get into the public eye, with a couple of exceptions)? Did I ask for another humorless sitcom about a married couple, he's fat and she's hot, with two obnoxious kids, and wacky neighbors (thank god now most of these fail almost immediately and are cancelled quickly)?

My wife and I have a simple solution, and that is we absolutely buck all trends and "gotta haves" and do our own thing, pretty soon our neighbors and family that get sucked into believing that what corporate America wants is what they want come back to the fold, sadder but wiser, while we have just watched from the sidelines.

Mike B.

Posts: 4704 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:05 am

I'm with you, Mikey. I'm not so much a trend bucker as a trend ignorer. I could give a shit about fads, fashion, fitting in, and all that crap. I am so politically incorrect I make Bill O'Reilly look like a media censor. A mangy dog is a mangy dog, not a dermatologically challenged Canine American.

I'm seeing and hearing a lot of complaints, but the solution is simple: If you don't like eBay, don't use it. I buy/sell/trade the majority of stuff off eBay. Usually I just throw up the chum and the items I'd like to see everyone get a fair shot at. if eBay's fees and payment manipulation become too much of an irritant to me, I will cease to use it.
I think the collecting field is becoming a bit too dependent on eBay anyways.

Posts: 2081 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:11 am

Deadlord39 wrote:

I think the collecting field is becoming a bit too dependent on eBay anyways.

This statement rings very true Exclamation

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:37 pm

The motivation for limiting searches seems to be to establish limits on searches as a "service."

Then, Ebay can sell the "service" to major sellers.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:08 pm

FormCritic wrote:

The motivation for limiting searches seems to be to establish limits on searches as a "service."

Then, Ebay can sell the "service" to major sellers.

Spot on.

As in, "Hey, Nike, how about you pay X dollars and we'll block your competitors items from popping up on searches?"

How about someone "buying" the keywords D&D so that everytime you punch them into the ebay search engine, WOTC's items pop up first?

Yep.

Mike B.

Posts: 2437 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:24 pm

Or maybe "Hey, Mike. How about you pay us X dollars a month to subscribe to our 'premuim' search engine and upgrade from the shitty 'basic' version?"

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:59 pm

mbassoc2003 wrote:

Or maybe "Hey, Mike. How about you pay us X dollars a month to subscribe to our 'premuim' search engine and upgrade from the shitty 'basic' version?"

Not that far fetched. But when that happens, I'm going to Amazon and get a storefront there. Or just not worry about buying on Ebay anymore (I don't buy much from them now, to tell the truth) and hope that all my customers are upgrading to the new premium search engine.... Shocked

This business model makes no sense...because it will make them money on the front end and complete destroy the back end.

Ebay's #1 priority should be getting client's items sold. By blocking access, they are only hurting themselves, because I can't covet what I can't see. Nor can I compare prices....well, I CAN, if I go to Amazon or another online seller. Let's face it, if the only copy of a MERP item I want on Ebay is listed at $100, while 15 other sellers have it on Amazon for less, why on earth would I do business on Ebay? Isn't it all about who has the cheapest prices?

So basically they are going to end up driving people into the arms of Amazon, or any other online retailer who can offer cheaper prices than the one or two retailers they profile (in the case of games, perhaps Troll & Toad or Noble Knight or Titan), while losing the sale in cases where the amount is simply too high. Silly.

Mike B.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:28 pm

Mike wrote:

Or just not worry about buying on Ebay anymore...

That's the way to go. eBay is probably delighted it is driving away small to mid-sized sellers in anticipation of the arrival of its new and best-est ever friends. But have they remembered, sellers are often buyers too? And without buyers it doesn't really matter what their fee structure is or how their search operates. It's hard to say you won't buy on eBay anymore because they have a lock on the marketplace. But I'm seeing more and more sellers using eBay as a gateway to separate private stores. So I'm now trying to hunt out sellers I can transact with away from eBay and I give such sellers preference, even if the prices are a little higher on some occasions.

I checked in on the eBay discussion boards. Murder going on and the pinks have done a runner. One group was complaining about a lack of response on a 800 post thread! Apparently increasing numbers of sellers are being suspended, even some with 100% feedback. 30 days without sales, zero customer support, the daggers are out. eBay might do better to tell everyone to F-off. It might piss the customers off but not as much as being screwed under the pretense of a customer service drive. Nobody likes being lied to.

Posts: 2437 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:08 am

I have found a rather drastic solution to my unable to opt out problem. I have formatted and reinstalled my OS, and have the original search options back, even when I'm logged in to My eBay. Presumably there was something written into my registry by eBay, because clearing my internet history, and deleting all my cookies by hand did not do the trick. We'll see how long it takes before my opt out is reversed by ebay.

Posts: 1276 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:17 am

It could simply have been a script / Active X control which has nothing to do with your cookies.

Posts: 4704 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:10 am

Ah well, a good O/S douching once in a while is healthy. Surly might be right, though. Check the IE (if you use it) add-ons and see if eBay stuck something in there.

Posts: 2611 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:47 pm

I'm so out of the eBay loop now ... I can't remember my last sale there (February, maybe?). I've bought a handful of items, but that's been about it lately.

But, from quickly scanning this thread and checking out a couple of "auction watch" sites that I like, it seems to me that eBay really, really want to be ... Amazon. Which is fine, I suppose, except there's already a pretty company that does that. It's called Amazon.

Seriously, I've never encountered such rampant cluelessness or observed a company more out of touch with its user-base. I'm embarrassed that I ever defended eBay at this site.

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:29 pm

I have noticed another odd phenomenon.

Several times, my proxy bidder service has reported that my snipe was blocked by the seller.

Each time, I have contacted the seller with the news that my bid was three times what they got...and why was I blocked?

The sellers all deny blocking anyone.

I am wondering if Ebay is messing with snipers. Maybe they are trying to make proxy bidding harder in order to discourage the practice.

?

All they would have to do is identify proxy bidding websites and delay their final bids by a second or so. That would make services like AuctionSniper far less reliable.

Possible?

Mark

Posts: 1276 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:31 pm

I'm likely alone, but I hope so.

Posts: 2611 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:39 pm

FormCritic wrote:

Possible?

Sure; why not?

I've used a lot of third-party eBay software over the years, and if there's one universal thing I've noticed, it's that the developers all dread eBay making any changes to its code. Even a simple change means that the third-party guys get to spend a week fixing their code in response.

It's also important to remember that, a few years ago (2004, maybe?) eBay made sure that everyone knew whose playground it is. That's when they introduced a "token system" that essentially tracks third-party vendors and forces them to comply to a bunch of rules that no normal person would ever care about. In other words, any maker of sniping software (to use your example) has only two choices: adjust to changes on eBay's terms or give up their right to have an eBay "token."

Which is my long way of saying that I'd guess eBay changed a snippet of code and is currently laughing its ass off at the third-party guys scrambling around to respond. Either that or your specific sniping service has, in fact, lost its token and is essentially being blocked by eBay.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:24 am

Mark, if you haven't already tried it have a look at this auction management software. It's far and away the best I've used and it's free.

http://www.jbidwatcher.com/

I use it to auto-load my searches into tabs and then pick the auctions I'm interested in, leaving the others to build a historical and searchable database. Or just drag auction URLs from the eBay site into the application window. The developer responds well to eBay's various attempts to scupper 3rd party software. From experience I'd say failure rate is about 1 in 250.