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