EBAY has lost touch with what made them great...

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

After reading recent threads, I know I am not alone in longing for the old EBAY.

Greed is a bad thing, and many great companies self-destruct when they get away from what initially made them successful. I believe if EBAY continues down it's current path we are now seeing the beginning of the end. It might take 5-10 years but the end will come.

Here's my personal thoughts on what I believe went wrong.

FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE KISS METHOD.

Mistake #1: Getting away from a single type of auction

When I first become a member in 2001, EBAY searches were much more enjoyable. You put in your keyword and your search results were right there. Big mistake #1 was they added too many places that you had to view.

Search results should show all the auctions without the numerous stores, EBAY Express, etc. Live auctions are a waste of time and never should have been added. They don't add anything but anger to the equation. Nothing wrong with BINs, but they shouldn't have created another section for these Buy It Now auctions. Mixing traditional auctions and BINs together would have been just fine.

Mistake #2: Failure to police their marketplace

By allowing private auctions, private/hidden IDs or masked IDs, EBAY has opened itself up to more fraud including shill bidding. We all know that EBAY takes a bigger slice of the pie when the auction closes higher, but by allowing this fraud they have tainted their product. People will get tired of the BS, and will eventually go elsewhere. Having to sift through page after page of reprints is another prime example of just another frustration which further makes searching EBAY a less enjoyable activity.

They have taken the FUN out of EBAY!

Patrick

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Posted By: Rawn Hill

I agree that ebay has done some things that I do not agree with; the hidden bidders ID being the main one, but is there an alternative? I know that the auction companies have tried to fill the desires of the buying public, however it will take years if ever to replace the niche that ebay has in the marketplace.

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

Hi Rawn,

I know over the past 2 years my purchases on ebay have decreased significantly. I do more purchases/trade with other board members then I do with ebay. At present, that's my alternative.

Patrick

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Posted By: John S

Patrick,

Well put...eBay has become a frustrating venture from both the selling and buying ends. The simpler the better. Ebay seems to constantly look to enhance and change functions that were fine initially.

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Posted By: Fred C

Patrick,

I pretty much agree with you.

To me, ebay in its infancy was a little like the wild west but it was quite simple. There were some not so good people selling items, but overall, it was somewhat quaint and pleasant. I think what contributed to ruining ebay was the entry of more and more unsavory A$$ Holes that have nothing better to do than to cheat people. It was bound to happen. You have an open frontier with few lawmen to monitor the territory.

They have their shortcomings but they also made a few improvements along with the blunders.

The feedback system is flawed but it's better that it was when it first started. The Power Seller crap is just that.

They're missing the boat right now. Yes, they have more buyers and sellers than many years ago but I think a lot of the people that made ebay good are just not as interested anymore.

I look at a few auction categories, but lately I've been getting tired of looking at all the blatant reprints. This is one reason that the auction houses are doing well. I do find a few interesting things on ebay but anymore I'm just weary of having to deal with some of the idiots.

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Posted By: peter ullman

I DO agree with everything that is being said here...and as an ebay investor and user over the past 6-8 years I agree that a lot of the new rules stink. And the searches for vintage cards has become quite tedious...but...there are other areas of ebay I frequent besides vintage cards and they don't seem as heavily affected. I guess the reprint factor isn't usually present. While it would be ideal if ebay had the resources to have experts in every field policing every auction...oh yea I guess they can afford it!!!! But that isn't realistic. It almost seems more like the wild west now as the rules are becoming more blurred.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

As a bidder, I am much more hesitant about bidding due to the recent rule that all bidder ids are blocked. My main concern is shilling.

One of my old elementary rules to others for avoiding scams, fakes and shills on eBay is to avoid private auctions, and now eBay has made all auctions private. Does this mean all eBay auctions should be avoided, or does it mean I should revise the rule? My opinion is that the avoid private auctions rule is no longer valid, or at least workable, but the mass privatization will lead to more shilling.