new listing tool - first try review

[darak10]

new listing tool fatally crashed a couple minutes after starting causing me to need to x out of it so I'll be returning to the classic view to start that one all over again once I finish this.

really, no improvement over the current format, just a font and format change, stuff moved around and process altered.  No improvement in speed, a bit annoying you cant do an immediate search for your item to bring it up automatically, you have to go first to the section where you enter your upc code and then wait for it to update.  Kind of backwards, this should be moved right to the top so it can be entered as the listing is started.  I also dont like having to click on what Ive just entered to allow it to be entered into the field - I typed it in for a reason so I shouldnt have to click it to validate the entry - this is an unnecessary step, and i wish they would get rid of this.  

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Adding to this with my own input.

When editing multiple listings at once, there is no number indicator for the amount of photos in a listing like there is with classic view. This is an essential data point for me when listing sports cards as two photos (front and back) need to be added to every listing so that the buyer can judge the condition of the card effectively. Sometimes image upload fails when I'm creating the listing and I don't catch it, so quickly scrolling over and checking the quantity of photos for all the listings before I submit them is essential.

[pjcdn2005]

I haven't tried it yet but haven't yet noticed any positive posts about it.  Hopefully they will continue to improve before it is the only option.

[38e_avenue]

I don't like it at all. The worst problem is associated with the management of the photos. In the old version I was able to change their order. Not any more! I need to delete some of them, and then upload again! I reported the problem - I hope they will fix it.   

UPDATE: they fixed it, but it's still not working as well as the old version. 

[kawartha-ephemera]

The option to try the new tool on DOTca appeared this week, switched over and completed a couple of listings.

The current Canadian version is awful, hate it with a capital H !

They seem to be fixated on shrinking the interface's footprint to the absolute minimum, basically what we're left with is a visual summary, that's all fine and dandy until changes are needed. There are some well hidden areas that require click, click, click and click, back and forth, to and fro before the user finally reaches the end of the rainbow ... it's ridiculous. Ebay if your're reading along, please provide a LOT more data input fields all on one screen.

I also noted problems using my existing templates, a few odds and ends didn't port over.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Discussion post from dot com 04/05/22 on pro's/cons of new listing tool. 

@darak10 

@38e_avenue 

@kawartha-ephemera 

@canada_goose_whisperer 

New Listing Tool - A Warning

Lag:
There is a significant lag when opening a listing/draft with the new listing tool, sometimes up to a minute or longer - the form is just solid white and blinks for a while. I thought it might be my internet connection, but I have zero issues with the classic tool.

Item Specifics:
If you thought they were a pain before, this will be excruciating. First of all, if when you ‘convert’ a draft or any single listing to the new listing tool, ALL of your active listings and drafts switch over to the new format. With that, you randomly lose item specifics from every single active listing and draft and have to enter then all over again.

In addition, each item specific is met with a pop-up window that has to be navigated. This is specifically troublesome because you cannot see any other portion of the listing when you’re making these changes.

I didn’t realize before, but sometimes I just forget what I’m working on and now I can’t even see the title - I have to close the pop-up, scroll up, scroll down, open pop-up again. Oh wait, what color was it again?…repeat entire process. I honestly cannot believe how long it takes to do this.

HTML:
If you’re like me and write your own code for your descriptions and/or have descriptive listings with different fonts, etc., that’s over. Attempting to even view the HTML prompts a pop-up warning that has to be clicked through, which discourages adding any “extra”.

Once you’re past the warning, attempting to simply change the font color creates another lag where you have to wait on a color box to appear. My intention was to include a picture here, but I just tried and gave up after waiting almost 2 minutes for it to come up.

Video:
This is probably minor, but video cannot be added to variation listings.

Loss of draft data:
This is the worst. Last night I left my computer for a few minutes, then came back to a draft. After entering all the data, the screen flashed white, then the draft reset to what it was before I opened it. I entered everything again, and it did it AGAIN.

I can only assume this happened because my session timed out, but I wasn’t gone more than 10 minutes. I’m in and out all day long, every single day - I’ve never had anything like this happen before. I strongly suggest everyone save their drafts before stepping away.

Since using the new listing tool, I’ve sent several “Tell us what you think” comments to eBay over the last month, but have seen zero improvements. I can’t even describe the amount of time I’ve wasted on this thing - something that used to take me 5 minutes now takes 30.

I’m not prone to doom and gloom, but I really can’t emphasize enough how many issues this is going to create for everyone who is actively selling.

Full discussion:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Classic-Listing-Form-to-Be-Retired/td-p/32831787

-Lotz

[clemowbooks]

I tried it a few months ago, and even allowing for the learning curve, it took me nearly 20 minutes to complete a single listing.

And I write my descriptions, including HTML code , in  text document, so those are just cut and paste.

There is a belief on the dotCOM boards that we will soon not be allowed to use the current form.

Perhaps if we used templates it would work better?

velvet@ebay 

Perhaps you could start keeping track of the complaints now, since I think you are going to get a lot.

[mrdutch1001]

Used the new listing tool at least 3 times and that was enough for me!

I use "sell similar" for most of my listings, which are copy & paste method.

Many of my listings are also text documents stored in a file on my computer.

I truly hope I am done with eBay by the time this is implemented as mandatory, as it really is intolerable....

 AND It's a complete time waster!

[velvet@ebay]

---

@clemowbooks wrote:

I tried it a few months ago, and even allowing for the learning curve, it took me nearly 20 minutes to complete a single listing.

And I write my descriptions, including HTML code , in  text document, so those are just cut and paste.

There is a belief on the dotCOM boards that we will soon not be allowed to use the current form.

Perhaps if we used templates it would work better?

velvet@ebay 

Perhaps you could start keeping track of the complaints now, since I think you are going to get a lot.

---

We've definitely been passing feedback on @clemowbooks and you can pass it on to that team directly by using the feedback option in the listing flow. If you click the three dots towards the upper right corner of the page, you'll see the below menu popup:

[mrdutch1001]

I left my not-so-glowing feedback 3 times...do you really think it will make any difference? eBay rarely does anything for the benefit of the seller and/or that is a genuine "improvement". 

have seen it all on eBay over the past 20 years ...the good, the bad, the ugly...and most of what eBay has done over the past 7 years has been truly 100% of the UGLY!

[darak10]

oh really....I just noticed myself it popped up again asking me to try it out again.  no thanks lol

[darak10]

yeah I think it kind of goes without saying that I wish they would just stop changing stuff, especially when theres nothing wrong with how its working right now, and people have developed processes to speed up their workflow as it is, and that includes me.  I can get a listing up in around 7 minutes, I dont need something that increases that time.  There really is something called change fatigue, and its made worse by constant new this and that that adds unnecessary stress to peoples (meaning, us) lives.  What is so wrong about the listing process as it is now, or is this stuff just being initiated to justify salaries of the folks on their IT teams?  

[clemowbooks]

@darak10 

velvet@ebay 

Seriously, if eBay just told us what problem they were trying to solve with the new format, they could not only relieve a lot of seller anguish, but might also learn why we don't find whatever it is to be a problem.

The new format appears to want to match with phone use, but frankly, I doubt many seller use phones to list.

Photograph yes.

List?

Too many minor tweaks needed for the slow typing on a tiny keyboard.

[barnfindparts]

Why did they get rid of the auto adjust feature? 

[darak10]

i used it this week to make a number of changes and every time I found a bug - about 3 or 4 times - I just stopped and shot them a message about it. the ability to immediately give feedback about it is a positive feature that hopefully they will be using since we are their beta guinea pigs telling them where the bugs are for free.  Like, for example, I could not create and apply shipping tables for all of my listings at once as it crashed, it would only work if I did it 200 items at a time.  And I discovered that even if you set up shipping tables for all the countries you need to put them in effect for, in order to apply them and ungray the apply button you have to enter international rates again, even if all the info is already in the table.  To get around it I just re-entered the info & rate for one specific country and that got around the bug.

Arent beta testers paid pretty much everywhere else?? lol. Perhaps we should be getting a fee rebate or something for helping them identify all the bugs with this new tool.  

[byto253]

Sounds like yet another move to make everything into a phone format, and ignore computer users.  Most serious sellers are listing on a computer, not a phone.