I agree with everything being said here. We do need site stability but, in thinking about this, it makes perfect sense that these are the areas not responding because they are the ones being 'improved' right now. I appreciate your insight into the new hub. I really, really hope they don't mess up Selling Manager too badly, as I have a very low tolerance for messiness and clutter on my workspace. The Sell form sounds like a real improvement.
I dearly wish, however, that ebay would pull their heads out of the sand where the image of the company is concerned. We don't need more sellers, we need buyers and, moreover, we need to improve the tattered reputation of the place.
When I tell people who don't know me that I have a store on ebay, they cringe before they catch themselves. Literally cringe. That is how this place is perceived to the outside world: thieves and junk.
I consider my partner to be a typical shopper. He doesn't spend his day shopping or pricing stuff, that's for sure. Just buys what he needs when he needs it. His take on ebay is that it's garage sale stuff sold by jerks so if he wants something, he goes to AZON. If AZON itself stocks it, he might get a good deal. If one of its third-party merchants does, he doesn't. The last thing he bought was a new bulb or something for a big TV for his brother. Great price but it blew to pieces within three weeks. Same old piece of that you'd find from a piece-of--seller-from-outside-North-America on ebay but if he'd bought it on ebay, I'd still be listening to the rant. The glow has not worn off AZON yet so he's still giving it some benefit of the doubt.
AZON keeps a very short leash on its third-party merchants while ebay is loosening theirs. There is a big love affair right now with the main competition, AZN. But everyone loves to hate ebay including its sellers. I'm happy to see the poor sellers kicked out and opening shop elsewhere. Ebay needs stricter rules, not fewer ones. And a public confidence campaign so that shoppers who aren't sellers (real buyers!) come here first, not as a last resort. Trying to entice people who've never used ebay to buy to suddenly start selling here is a recipe for disaster. It's a complicated place and, more importantly, shipping is terribly difficult to get right.
A brand-new seller with the best intentions in the world who has NO idea how to pack and order and mail it cannot deliver the goods to their buyer. Period. It's just unreasonable to expect someone who's never bought anything on ebay to start selling stuff here. Or to sell here successfully at least. Everyone makes mistakes when they first sell, they just do. It's unavoidable. Like learning to drive a car. You need experience. So then those new sellers inadvertently create disappointing experiences for the few actual buyers we have kicking around. It's a vicious circle.
Ebay needs to BRING IN NEW BUYERS while dumping the crooks running amok here, focus on helping north American buyers find North American sellers, support the existing sellers here doing a good job to sell more, and then look for new sellers. But what do I know?
