The "New" Ebay

[whirlcool]

Look like Ebay is going to be making a huge change in the look and feel of the website come November. To get a glimpse of what it will look like, click on the link. What do you think? To my eye it looks more like an online retailer than an auction site and for some reason I feel like I've just looked at a JCPenny website.

http://www.ebay.com/new

 

[tecnopolis]

All I can say is I'm with 3PO,

 

[tecnopolis]

I think this is a terrible idea especially right before Christmas rush. I think it would have been better to roll it out after the New year?

 

[launderess]

eBay

Along with Best Buy, Amazon and a few others have annouced "same day delivery" on items to be rolled out soon.

Ebay has no choice but to adapt to changing conditions as they are no longer the big dog on the block in most markets for online selling/auction. More and more you see one of two types on fleaPay; professional retailers/power sellers, or BOL types that post hundreds of small listings making their money on the margins.

Because there is just so much stuff on eBay the small to mid-size seller has to really position their items carefully. Then after eBay's fees, shipping costs, PayPal fees, etc often one barely makes a profit.

 

[tecnopolis]

Well if I were an ebay employee I wouldn't be putting that down payment on that new T E S L A  just yet.

 

[fido]

BOL?

I had never heard of BOL until I joined this site, could someone please tell me what it means!

 

[whirlcool]

BOL means "Bottom of line". It is a product that is just very basic with very few options. And example of a BOL dryer may be a dryer with just a timer and one heat setting. Usually the cheapest model from the manufacturer.

 

[fido]

Thanks whirlcool. I did try to look it up but none of the definitions seemed to fit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol

 

[whirlcool]

And of course there is

MOL = Middle of Line, a product that falls somewhere between BOL & TOL

TOL = Top of line, the best product in the manufacturers line up with all the bells
and whistles.

 

[launderess]

Look At It This Way

Bottom of Line (BOL)- Lowest priced and often most basic of any produced goods. Few to nil frills or extras, just basic "get the job done" .

Middle of Line (MOL) - Step up in features and usually quality for the "average" consumer. May have some features of the higher priced lines and or get them as "hand me downs" a product cycle year or so afterwards (for instance originally moisture sensors were a feature of TOL clothes dryers, now they are found on MOL and even some BOL offerings as well).

Top of The Line (TOL)- Best in quality and highest priced of a consumer goods line. Here you find latest trends, inventions, luxury, features and so forth.

Quality can also vary by brands. Miele for instance even at their most basic offerings (BOL) are probably going to be streets ahead of say a Candy or Merloni similar product.

If one uses automobiles as an example BOL cars would be simple basic transport. You get something that moves you from point "A" to point "B" with few if any frills such as power windows, and until recently in the USA automatic transmission.

 

[tecnopolis]

Ebay has gone too far...now your pictures have to be up to standards or else......Minimum 1600 x 1600dpi?

This is the face of the enemy., <span style="line-height: 1.24;">Brian Burke, Director of</span><span style="line-height: 1.24;"> </span><strong style="line-height: 1.24;">eBay Seller Standards</strong><span style="line-height: 1.24;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.24;">& Feedback.</span>

 

 

 

[tecnopolis]

.see this video. he brings up good points how ebay has turned the mom and pop seller into an undesirable element on their site.

 

[launderess]

Don't Think It eBay By Nature or Intent is Evil

Just that they are a publicly traded business which by nature must make money for it's shareholders.

The marketplace like the Internet and by extension the world has changed in the twenty years plus (has it really been that long?) eBay has been around. They can either change with the flow or go the way of many other early web companies and become irrelevant or vanish.

As for pictures and format, everyone with a web presence is adapting to the movement away from desktop PCs to mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones, etc... Nothing is worse than tiny small "thumbnail" picture on a standard desktop sized display, imagine how it looks on a smart phone or tablet screen.[this post was last edited: 10/14/2012-22:18]

 

[Iowegian]

eBay has wised up. Yeah, auctions are fun and exciting with the potential of getting something good for cheap, but they lead to unrealistic expections and disputes that cost more to resolve than what you're collecting in listing fees. And when you also own PayPal, you want to cut down on the butthurt griping and just collect your fees.

And that's just what eBay is doing by becoming an online merchant storefront, rather than an auction house.

 

[d-jones]

And that's just what eBay is doing by becoming an online

If that's what they're doing then good luck with that. They'll find that they've got tremendous competition in that arena, whereas they had virtually no competition as an online auction house. I've personally never used eBay when looking for new items. As a lover of nearly all things vintage, that's what has brought me to eBay again and again. But the changes they keep making haven't gone unnoticed, and as soon as a viable alternative auction site turns up I'll jump ship and never look back.

 

[fido]

I wish there was a rival to Ebay in UK, one which does not involve Paypal. Since I moved to Hungary Paypal have blocked my account because I use a UK bank but have a Hungary address. The other day I wanted to buy a starter solenoid for my LDV van and found one on Ebay but none of the payment options were available to me so I ended up having to ask someone else to buy it on my behalf.

 

[tecnopolis]

Ebay can change it's format or whatever it's doing, but do not suddenly castrate me as a seller after 12+ years of loyal seller service with no negative feedback or seller disputes. Which is exactly what is happening.  

If it's no longer business as usual, they should have done more than just change the font they use for their name, perhaps a new name or site altogether?

No, I guess it's just better to throw out the infant with the bathwater as they say.

 

Ellon Musk must be laughing his ass off!

http://ebaysuspension.net/

 

[DigAPony]

Ebay is more profitable than ever but in the process ruined it for the little guy, buyers and sellers alike. They saw all that money changing hands and couldn't resist taking a bigger bite.

Now prices are up across the board and selection is down. The feedback system is a joke, items get buried in their search engine, and with "buy it now" auctions its difficult to get an accurate market price for non-commodity items.

 

[launderess]

eBay's Search System

Is a joke.

Search for "bluing" and you get most anything starting with "blu" or any part of that word. Same for "ironing" as the system delivers anything with "iron", and so forth. The only way one has found around this nonesense is to use quotes so as to return an exact search.

Between eBay's fees, Paypal (which one is required to use) and shipping it is hardly worth selling many things on eBay, which is why one hasn't bothered.

 

[tecnopolis]

They really should start a sister site....vintageBay?  Only selling things that are preowned, not new, so as not to compete with their red carpet merchants selling their iPhone5's or Galaxy's.

 

RE: Ebay search results...their default of "best match" should read, "sellers we make more money off of".

       I have tried to change the default search mode to "newly listed", but every few weeks it reverts back to "best match".

       Also, if I don't agree to accept PayPal, my listing is artificially buried in the results, no matter how you sort the search.