This is worth reading:
eBay's New Search Slowing Buyers?
Also read the comments. You may also want to click on the links to the various discussions on eBay's message boards. If you read some of the complaints, eBay is telling people to check their browser settings, clear their cache, etc., which is why I refuse to report my glitches. The people at eBay think that all of the problems on their site are our fault and not theirs.
I am having some of those problems as well. For instance, I have auctions that I know I have clicked on and viewed because I placed the items in my watched items list. Yet the next day when I search, those links no longer show as being already visited. This is yet another example of eBay wasting my time! In some cases I know at a glance that I have already viewed the items, but in other cases, I end up wasting time by clicking the links again.
Read the discussion here. One person was told by eBay that it is not possible to fix the problem. I cannot state what I think without cussing, so I have no comment.
I had a few items for sale the last week. These were the first items I listed after everyone was forced into the new search. I had four items for sale. One item had one watcher, and the rest had none. Two items sold at the opening bids. The items had very few page views. Last year at this time, sales were great. Of course part of it had to do with one buyer who was buying everything, but many other people were also bidding and purchasing. We should still have the other people around, yet eBay is like a ghost town.
What I want to know is whether any of you are having problems with search? Most particularly, if you still sell on eBay, how are you doing since June 10? I want to know whether you have noticed a significant difference in your page views, watchers, and bidders since June 10. If you have had a change since June 10, the culprit is search. I hate the new search, and I almost don't want to say it, but I am beginning to hate eBay. All this time that I have complained, I have been annoyed, frustrated, and disappointed in eBay... but I have not hated the site.
2 comments:
While I am not enamored of the new search interface as it relates to old books, I have to say that I love it for clothing and some other things. Specifically, I love being able to choose multiple attributes (2 different sizes or colors, for example) instead of having to investigate all of one size, then going back to do it again for the next size up. This feature exists in books, but not on the level that I would prefer (I want to search antiquarian and children's books, for example, but you have to go down one more level before you can pick more than one).
That the new search features seem to work for this kind of merchandise backs up the theory that eBay is trying to refocus from collectibles to new items. I've also won several auctions on eBay lately for less than expected, which makes me suspect that other (less persistent/experienced) people are having trouble finding the listings. Or we can just blame that on the economy, too, I suppose.
At least the new search is great for clothing and such, which I never buy online. It just would have been nice if they hadn't messed up the search for those of us who only buy collectible items.
It is so hard to know why some auctions have such poor results. Is it the economy or eBay or both?
At least as recently as last month, I saw some auctions that did extremely well, better than usual. It may be that many people are on vacation this month, but I used to sell large quantities of series books on eBay in June, and the books always did well. Of course I did well for during the last week in December for 11 years, and this last December was the first time my auctions did poorly. It makes me wonder...
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