Absolutely Absurd.
Mr. Donahoe is taking the typical path of the new American CEO- fixing that which is not broken, and ignoring that which is.
First, the new order of search results is strictly contrary to buyer needs, which is, first and foremost, to find the item they're looking for, not to present them with choices favoured by an eBay ranking system.
Second, if anyone wants to improve the eBay experience, here's how: If a buyer has a problem that goes unresolved by the seller, eBay should suspend the seller's account completely until such time as the problem is resolved. I mean completely, too- their password should no longer work, their listings should disappear, they shouldn't be able to bid, nothing, nada, zippola. Even password-based privileges like looking up completed auctions should be unavailable to them. The member's feedback should state that the member is suspended for an unresolved problem, and any auctions pulled should have a statement that the auctions were terminated for non-compliance with eBay's customer satisfaction policies.
Such a move would cut to the heart of the problem, instead of adding nonsensical new rules and rankings. Most sellers are honest (or honest enough), but a few need the fear of God put into them. Losing all access to eBay and having their user I.D. tainted with a non-compliance notice posted for the world to see would do that. Once they resolved the problem, access could be restored, and privileges returned.
I keep wondering when someone is going to come up with an auction site set up to favour small sellers, a place that is set up to enforce honest treatment of buyers, and one that is truly popular. When it comes along, it'll trounce eBay in that market segment. There are some promising auction-site setups out there, but none of them- as yet- can deliver the sheer number of eyeballs that eBay can. It's my belief that Mr. Donahoe's ukases are hastening the day when we will see serious competition to eBay.
