eBay

hlmacdon · ‎07-17-2017

It looks like they've decided to tinker with the order management (awaiting payment/shipment/etc) pages. Looks like it is just on .com for now. Instead of a clear and concise format we get a more cluttered layout with unnecessary product images. CSV downloads have been disabled for now as well. Fortunately you are able to revert back to the older format, which ebay being ebay, of course doesn't work at the moment. Always nice to see that features that aren't even tested are still being launched live instead of in a sandbox and tested before being deployed.

momcqueen · ‎07-17-2017

Can you screenshot what you're seeing, please?

rose-dee · ‎07-17-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
It looks like they've decided to tinker with the order management (awaiting payment/shipment/etc) pages. Looks like it is just on .com for now. Instead of a clear and concise format we get a more cluttered layout with unnecessary product images. CSV downloads have been disabled for now as well. Fortunately you are able to revert back to the older format, which ebay being ebay, of course doesn't work at the moment. Always nice to see that features that aren't even tested are still being launched live instead of in a sandbox and tested before being deployed.

I don't know how long you've been selling on eBay, but all I can is that I'm not surprised. This has been their usual modus operandi for years -- throw things up half-baked.

There's not much point posting a screen shot. It's the entire eBay.com sales management arrangement on Seller Hub that's been changed, and anyone selling on .com will have to make friends with it sooner or later. I dropped in to eBay.com the other day to check my listings and couldn't believe the whole place looked different. I thought they'd finished with the roll-out of Seller Hub, but apparently they still weren't happy with the way things looked. Forever re-arranging the furniture, as I always say. I wish they'd focus on some of the real issues.

Even though I now sell primarily on .com, I tend to stay on the .ca old familiar selling manager page to manage my orders, despite sometimes being forced to switch back to .com for certain tasks. The "Selling" screen on .ca is the one thing that hasn't changed much in years, thank goodness. Like a comfortable old sofa.

However, when I took another look tonight at the .com Order Manager after reading your post, I was aghast to see a bright red warning on one of my recent orders saying "Shipping is overdue". What? I had manually marked the order as shipped on eBay.ca nearly two weeks ago. If the new .com order management page isn't communicating with eBay.ca's Selling Manager anymore, that's a real problem. Maybe I'd better give up my comfy sofa on .ca.

As much as I'm getting sick and tired of eBay forever changing the décor, I do have to sheepishly admit I like the idea of the thumbnail item photos in the order management list.

As for the rest, I just keep telling myself what I've told myself for years on eBay -- you'll get used to it because you have no choice. That horrible saying comes to mind: On s'habitue à tout.

hlmacdon · ‎07-17-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
Can you screenshot what you're seeing, please?

It's reverted back now but I'll grab a screenshot the next time it appears. I still had the survey open a browser tab but the order page reverted back to the previous version after protesting it couldn't and wouldn't. I can only assume they are doing another live beta test as it was quite buggy, missing/broken features and wonky alignment. The UI is more tablet'ish for lack of a better term, doing away with the old grid/column-like view. The biggest annoyance was images for every listing and csv downloading removed. It just added cluttered and removing the grid lines made it look like a mess. And to top it off it seems that any multi-quantity revision on a listing/revise seems to be triggering an infinite javascript loop. At this point I'm ready to start collecting donations so we can sponsor a dev. I mean it seems to be working for Unicef.

hlmacdon · ‎07-17-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
I don't know how long you've been selling on eBay, but all I can is that I'm not surprised. This has been their usual modus operandi for years -- throw things up half-baked.

However, when I took another look tonight at the .com Order Manager after reading your post, I was aghast to see a bright red warning on one of my recent orders saying "Shipping is overdue". What? I had manually marked the order as shipped on eBay.ca nearly two weeks ago. If the new .com order management page isn't communicating with eBay.ca's Selling Manager anymore, that's a real problem. Maybe I'd better give up my comfy sofa on .ca.

As much as I'm getting sick and tired of eBay forever changing the décor, I do have to sheepishly admit I like the idea of the thumbnail item photos in the order management list.

Long enough to own stock in every company that produces headache related treatments. The images are fine if you have one or two items, but if you have a bunch of multi-item sales it just gets to be a mess. I like the look of the Canadian side as well, clean simple and what back end order management should look like. If they want to create an interface for the generation that insists on randomly jabbing their fingers at a small rectangular device they should separate out the two. I'm not surprised if data isn't passing between .ca and .com as it seemed only half-implemented at best. The changes seemed geared towards casual sellers.

rose-dee · ‎07-17-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
The UI is more tablet'ish for lack of a better term, doing away with the old grid/column-like view. The biggest annoyance was images for every listing and csv downloading removed.

Like most changes on eBay in the past few years, I expect the the desire to cater to mobile/tablet users is driving these changes. You're right -- it has that telltale airy, floating look, too much white space.

As I said, I didn't actually mind the item images, because I sometimes otherwise have to double-check the items I sell by using the link provided in the old format. Still, you may have a point that they add clutter to the page. No CSV download will be a big problem for many.

Usually eBay does announce beta testing on something this significant. I'll have to check the Announcements page. If not, it's a bad oversight. I imagine there will be words on the .com boards about this. I don't dare go there.

rose-dee · ‎07-17-2017

I've just checked, and there is nothing I can see on the Announcements page on .com about the Seller Hub makeover. My gosh, everything over there looks weird and unfamiliar, even the Announcements page!

hlmacdon · ‎07-18-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
Like most changes on eBay in the past few years, I expect the the desire to cater to mobile/tablet users is driving these changes. You're right -- it has that telltale airy, floating look, too much white space.

As I said, I didn't actually mind the item images, because I sometimes otherwise have to double-check the items I sell by using the link provided in the old format. Still, you may have a point that they add clutter to the page. No CSV download will be a big problem for many.

Usually eBay does announce beta testing on something this significant. I'll have to check the Announcements page. If not, it's a bad oversight. I imagine there will be words on the .com boards about this. I don't dare go there.

Yeah its all the whitespace and needless prompting. I sell regularly, I'm well aware of when I need to ship something by. I can understand the convenience of images but you can always load the sales record in a two click process if you need a visual reminder. It's handy just having a screen that you can get to grips with the essentials of what you need to do, not filled with prompts and an attempt at a pretty appearance. Call me old fashioned, but there is a reason why excel appears the way it does.

It is the unannounced nature of these things that gets to be maddening. When you are trying to process orders and suddenly a not-so functional new feature is introduced you scratch your head wondering who is reviewing projects like this. It doesn't help that they were messing about with the listing form as well and manage to break the scripts late this afternoon, which has a number of people including myself stuck unable to list or revise listings. I can adjust to change, but please just design it, test it, then deploy it once it is actually completed and working.

pocomocomputing · ‎07-18-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
@rose-dee wrote:
Like most changes on eBay in the past few years, I expect the the desire to cater to mobile/tablet users is driving these changes. You're right -- it has that telltale airy, floating look, too much white space.

As I said, I didn't actually mind the item images, because I sometimes otherwise have to double-check the items I sell by using the link provided in the old format. Still, you may have a point that they add clutter to the page. No CSV download will be a big problem for many.

Usually eBay does announce beta testing on something this significant. I'll have to check the Announcements page. If not, it's a bad oversight. I imagine there will be words on the .com boards about this. I don't dare go there.
Yeah its all the whitespace and needless prompting. I sell regularly, I'm well aware of when I need to ship something by. I can understand the convenience of images but you can always load the sales record in a two click process if you need a visual reminder. It's handy just having a screen that you can get to grips with the essentials of what you need to do, not filled with prompts and an attempt at a pretty appearance. Call me old fashioned, but there is a reason why excel appears the way it does.

It is the unannounced nature of these things that gets to be maddening. When you are trying to process orders and suddenly a not-so functional new feature is introduced you scratch your head wondering who is reviewing projects like this. It doesn't help that they were messing about with the listing form as well and manage to break the scripts late this afternoon, which has a number of people including myself stuck unable to list or revise listings. I can adjust to change, but please just design it, test it, then deploy it once it is actually completed and working.

A perfect example of a horrible design with too much white space, too many images, slowness, implemented poorly with many issues is the latest version of the eBay.com USA forums this year. Wow, so much bloatware, bugware, pooresignware, do not care for their members opinions.

Compare to the sleek design of these eBay.ca Canada forums that have remained unchanged and very glitch free for years now. You come to these forums and get in and out quickly with effectively used whitespace. I DREAD the day these forums gets turned into the eBay.com USA mess.

These forums staying the same for years is probably because of the low budgets eBay.ca Canada has and for once I am happy they are underfunded here.

momcqueen · ‎07-18-2017

I have to wonder aloud again the reason ebay devotes resources to fixing the %^&* that's not broken when there is clearly so much that is broken and waiting in an endless queue to be addressed.

rose-dee · ‎07-18-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I have to wonder aloud again the reason ebay devotes resources to fixing the %^&* that's not broken when there is clearly so much that is broken and waiting in an endless queue to be addressed.

They probably have to constantly find something for all those über-keen and far-too-creative young designers to do. Fixing things is no doubt boring, a task for the grunts, not the elites.

rose-dee · ‎07-18-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
It is the unannounced nature of these things that gets to be maddening. When you are trying to process orders and suddenly a not-so functional new feature is introduced you scratch your head wondering who is reviewing projects like this.

I completely agree. I think I could accept practically anything here, given reasonable notice and time to adjust step-by-step.

I always liken these sudden eBay changes of décor to arriving home from work, knowing you have to prepare a dinner for guests in one hour, and finding someone has moved, re-arranged and/or replaced everything in the house since you left in the morning, including the entire kitchen -- not because it's more efficient, but because they think it looks better.

pocomocomputing · ‎07-18-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
@hlmacdon wrote:
It is the unannounced nature of these things that gets to be maddening. When you are trying to process orders and suddenly a not-so functional new feature is introduced you scratch your head wondering who is reviewing projects like this.
I completely agree. I think I could accept practically anything here, given reasonable notice and time to adjust step-by-step.

I always liken these sudden eBay changes of décor to arriving home from work, knowing you have to prepare a dinner for guests in one hour, and finding someone has moved, re-arranged and/or replaced everything in the house since you left in the morning, including the entire kitchen -- not because it's more efficient, but because they think it looks better.

LOL, eBay would leave you with a fancy glitchy modern looking microwave only (made in China of course) and remove your old fashioned stove/oven stove. The reason being that the microwave is smaller and faster but is impossible to cook as well without lots of practice or not at all. And no microwave manual nor microwave cooking guide.

hlmacdon · ‎07-18-2017

@pocomocomputing wrote:
A perfect example of a horrible design with too much white space, too many images, slowness, implemented poorly with many issues is the latest version of the eBay.com USA forums this year. Wow, so much bloatware, bugware, pooresignware, do not care for their members opinions.

Compare to the sleek design of these eBay.ca Canada forums that have remained unchanged and very glitch free for years now. You come to these forums and get in and out quickly with effectively used whitespace. I DREAD the day these forums gets turned into the eBay.com USA mess.

These forums staying the same for years is probably because of the low budgets eBay.ca Canada has and for once I am happy they are underfunded here.

Indeed. I tried to venture over there yesterday to figure out if anyone had a workaround for the listing issue. I came to the conclusion ebay is simply trying to get us non-finger jabbers to buy new mice since two posts of moderate length will fill an entire screen. Spending too much time there is sure to kill your scroll wheel in short order. I've always like the simple, pared down experience of all things .ca.

hlmacdon · ‎07-18-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:
I have to wonder aloud again the reason ebay devotes resources to fixing the %^&* that's not broken when there is clearly so much that is broken and waiting in an endless queue to be addressed.

I suspect the gatekeepers who make the final decisions worked as realtors at some point. You know the sort of realtor....just slap a new coat of paint, rearrange the furniture, hang a bunch of props and completely ignore the fact the foundation is cracked and a new roof is needed. Don't address any of the real problems since it is a seller's market!

From reading posts by the different staff at ebay it seems like trying to get any issues addressed always falls into the insufficient business case wastebasket of good ideas while anything relating to UI/cosmetics gets approved. If it can be linked to "the mobile experience" it will get pushed through. The staff are aware of the issues and why they need to be addressed, understand the issues are important to sellers, but ultimately can't push through anything because a gatekeeper only sees the direct cost of the dev work rather than the tangible benefits. I've dealt with these same frustrations in trying to get projects through that would meaningfully effect business, but you run into a gatekeeper that suffers from a failure of imagination or is too busy with their 30,000 foot viewing to get down to ground level and understand how things actually work. It is hard to make a business case when the decision maker doesn't understand the day to day mechanics of the business.

Ebay's most successful direct competitor has a largely unchanged UI and they focus exclusively on functionality, quality of coding and out and out performance. Something could be learned from that. Yesterday my ability to process orders and list items for sale was hampered at best, and outright broken at worst, because someone wanted to push through a untested, incomplete UI changes that in no way would improve my ability to sell.

rose-dee · ‎07-19-2017

So...it sounds as if this isn't the best time to try creating new listings on .com then?

I have quite a few to do, but I don't want to spend hours on each individual item, or prepare everything and then find it won't upload properly. Yuck.

rose-dee · ‎07-19-2017

@hlmacdon wrote:
Ebay's most successful direct competitor has a largely unchanged UI and they focus exclusively on functionality, quality of coding and out and out performance. Something could be learned from that.

Oh yes, my thoughts exactly (for years now in fact). I was wondering which site you were referring to, but it may be true of more than one. Another site on which I sell has none of these issues, and I've never had any complaints about their UI or functionality, most importantly about checkout. What is different is that when they do make a change, it's done incrementally and with precision (things actually work as they should when they're finally rolled out!), with plenty of notice to sellers, and it's almost always a obvious improvement for the user.

On eBay, checkout is my bugbear. I find it interesting that in over 15 years I've been on eBay, they have never been able to fully resolve that function to the complete satisfaction of buyers and sellers. I can remember sellers begging buyers in their listings not to use eBay checkout for years prior to about 2010. EBay fixes or updates one aspect, which then seems to "break" something else. Is it really too much to ask that a multi-national online selling venue focus on facilitating the commercial transactions that take place on its site? (And I'm speaking here from the point of view of both buyer and seller).

hlmacdon · ‎07-19-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
So...it sounds as if this isn't the best time to try creating new listings on .com then?

I have quite a few to do, but I don't want to spend hours on each individual item, or prepare everything and then find it won't upload properly. Yuck.

Should be fine now according to an ebay employee posting and that was my experience yesterday as I was able to list/revise without issue. One user posted they were able to use turbolister as a workaround, so something you might want to keep in mind if it happens again.

hlmacdon · ‎07-19-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
@hlmacdon wrote:
On eBay, checkout is my bugbear. I find it interesting that in over 15 years I've been on eBay, they have never been able to fully resolve that function to the complete satisfaction of buyers and sellers. I can remember sellers begging buyers in their listings not to use eBay checkout for years prior to about 2010. EBay fixes or updates one aspect, which then seems to "break" something else. Is it really too much to ask that a multi-national online selling venue focus on facilitating the commercial transactions that take place on its site? (And I'm speaking here from the point of view of both buyer and seller).

Just add free shipping to everything.

dutchman48 · ‎07-19-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
So...it sounds as if this isn't the best time to try creating new listings on .com then?

I have quite a few to do, but I don't want to spend hours on each individual item, or prepare everything and then find it won't upload properly. Yuck.

Hi rose-dee

Are you not still using Auctiva?

I use it to list on both .ca and .com and don`t run into a lot of these issues.

The cart however is still a disaster