Realistic suggestions that would / could improve Ebay UK

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

I will get the ball rolling:

Change the default search to UK only, if people want to search worldwide they can select that as an option, I don't think it should be the default.

As an example I just searched impressionist painting 

The search gave me over 100,000 results which is way too many to deal with. I changed the search to UK only and the results dropped to under 6,000 which is more than adequate.

I imagine the vast majority of UK buyers buy from UK sellers so why are the searches dominated by overseas listings ?  It is one of the many things that is killing the UK platform.

I believe it would be an easy change to make and literally everyone would benefit.

[spence0175]

I had already started a thread about this ages ago. Was told it was a glitch, was assured it was being looked into and nothing has ever been done.

It’s like we are being forced to view other countries listings just in case we might buy something.

Quite a few categories I used to search, I gave up looking as far too many listings to view.

I have friends who are buyers, just not look like they used to as totally fed up with no uk filter

[vinylscot]

The one thing, which I've been banging on about for about two years now, is -

EDUCATE YOUR BUYERS ABOUT ITEM SPECIFICS

eBay forced all us sellers to jump through hoops adding all these specifics to our listings, allegedly to assist in more accurate searching. Having forced a huge load of work on us, they abandoned the project half-way through.

The search function is poor, but can be greatly enhanced by use of item specifics. But buyers won't know about that, unless eBay tells them. It seems silly, as obviously eBay benefits if buyers can more easily find what they are looking for.

So how about it?

[hudsonsclothes]

For me it would simply be to remove suggestions for the same or similar items from other sellers once someone is on your listing.

I feel people work hard enough to get seen through time spent creating a listing, photos, advertising everything else, to finally get them a click or two away from buying and then throw alternatives in their faces.

It's bad for sellers and it isn't a great experience for buyers either.

[darth_baggins]

Hire someone with a strong retail background, who knows what it's like to be an online seller and give them the power to make changes based on the issues that sellers face when trying to sell on eBay.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Sorry to go back to my opening post as I don't want to dwell on it however if 95% of the listings shown on the UK site are from overseas sellers it's little wonder why so many UK business sellers appear to be struggling / have had enough of selling on Ebay.

It's a staggering number, who at Ebay seriously thinks this is a good use of Ebay UK real estate, to say I'm baffled / irritated is a massive understatement. 

I would love to see the numbers in terms of how many UK based users buy items from sellers based overseas, in most categories I would say the percentage is likely to be very very low, close to zero in some categories so why on earth are overseas listings dominating so much.

This situation alone makes it seem like there is little point listing fresh items if they are simply going to be swamped by overseas listings which benefit nobody.

[theelench]

Totally agree with you in Vintage Glass they STILL appear to be based on US terms which ebay hasn't realised yet can be very different to the UK.

No IS for "Amber" glass.  Used in the UK for at least a century to distinguish decorative brownish /orange glass from brown medicine bottles but not used in the US. The only choices listed were brown or yellow.

No IS for Uranium Glass.  The last time I looked the US term "Vaseline" glass  was the only choice on offer.

No IS under "Brand" for the four main UK glass makers in the inter-war period.  Although several US makers such as Fenton and Cambridge were on the list.

No IS for the familiar UK  "Date Lines" of different "Styles" such as "1919 - 1939 Art Deco"  1920 - 1929 means nothing.  Neither does 1930 - 1939.

I could go on, but won't bore non-enthusiasts by doing so.  Enough to say that ebay has bored / confused many UK enthusiasts by insisting they use IS they don't connect with anything they know to the point where they've stopped looking. 

[theelench]

I mentioned this only a few days ago on Seller Central after searching for "Art Deco Glass" without applying any filters.

200,000+ results.

1.  A.D vanity set from the Netherlands. (£43 P&P)

2 &3.  A.D art print from Sri Lanka (£14 P&P)

4.  Micro landscape plant lamp  (Freepost from China)

5.  Another print from Sri Lanka (same postage)

6.  Solar garden with LED lights from the USA.  (£22 P&P)

7.  Murano Style Millefiore paperweight from Australia (£40 P&P)

8.  (At last) Davidson A.D green glass bowl from the UK (£4.50 P&P)

There were somewhere around 10,000 UK listings for A.D Glass.

[m25jet]

I can think of many ways that eBay could improve the site if they really wanted to, but I doubt that they'll implement any of the suggestions submitted so far in this thread.  To be honest, I doubt if eBay even have any site programmers who are acutally capable of implementing the necessary improvements without messing the site up even further!  Anyway, I've listed the changes that I feel would improve the site:

1.  Close the selling accounts of all business sellers masquerading as private sellers, and only allow them to re-register on the site again - with their account monitored closely for further breaches of eBay policy - if they re-registered with a business account and played by the rules that all registered business sellers have to abide by.  If, after having their first account shut down, they subsequently open up another private account and use that one to sell as an unregisterd business seller, then once caught eBay ought to ban them indefinitely from opening any further accounts on any eBay websites anywhere across the globe.

2.   Get rid of the endless listings for similar items plastered across sellers' listings whenever you click on an item to have a closer look at the item being advertised for sale.  It's distracting, not to mention the fact that it has also proven to be costly to sellers in terms of sales lost to rival sellers whose items have been advertised at a cheaper price on other sellers' listing in the list of similar items.

3.  Reinstate the icons that eBay did away with that used to show buyers and sellers whether an item had been paid for, whether an item had been despatched, whether feedback had been left or received, etc...  These were all useful to have, but for some stupid reason eBay saw fit to do away with them!

4.  In order to ensure that all of the necessary improvements to the site could be successfullly implemented without creating new problems or exacerbating existing problems, eBay should sack all of the incompetent site programmers they currently empoy and replace them with competent site programmers who can truthfully say that they have, amongst other things, a career-proven track record of being able to successfully troubleshoot and resolve site glitches with minimum disruption.

There are many more things that I can think of, but I'll sign off here as otherwise this reply could get way too long for most people's liking...

[department28]

I agree. Cramming in so many similar & sponsored items is unfair, as well as making the item listing page look cluttered and confusing. And shoving in another two rows of similar items between the item photo & the description made matters even worse! Potential buyers now have to scroll down to get to the description, if they have not wandered off by then...

I would also remove (or restrict) the option to use AI descriptions...

[charleysshop]

There are many replies that have some great suggestions, so now all we need is for Eve Williams or maybe Sanjukta Sen to read this post and the replies and start listening to the small businesses who are struggling right now and are fast losing the will to keep selling via this platform.

I have been selling for three years now, I am constantly looking for ways to improve, interact and make eBay UK the best selling platform for small businesses. I still believe eBay is the go to platform for buyers wanting quality items, great customer service and above all….trust. BUT even I am struggling to hang around and wait for things to improve sells, search options and the ongoing fee charges. 

I am, by definition, a small business earning less than 10k per year, quite honestly I would be better off being employed, but my circumstances/health and family commitments make that unviable. My love of the second hand market and passion for a working life against all odds enables me to keep on trucking, so to speak!

We all have to draw a line at some point and ask for answers to problems we are ALL experiencing, so this is my plea to senior management to help us understand and prioritise solutions. 

We would all benefit from a round table video call with you, after all, we are the ones paying to be here, through choice…

keep posting @british-ceramics-and-paintings  👍

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

Get rid of all promoted listings and make it a level playing field again.  We pay enough with shop subscription, fvf fees etc add in a promotional fee on top and costs are becoming ridiculous.  They have us over a barrel if we don't promote the odds of our listings being found are low.

[wyntersemporium]

I noticed that last week, was looking for UK only. On the top section was USA items and below was UK . Should be the other way round. Got frustrated and went to the other place beginning with a E and bought straight away from a UK seller that is also on eBay .

[wyntersemporium]

I do not bother with promoted listings etc. they already take a lot of cash from me. I’ve loads to upload but can’t be bothered anymore. 

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

It does make you feel like that, I don't list as much as I use to.  

[tressygirl]

Some great suggestions,   and yes would be great if these were forwarded to eBay Towers HQ in CalifornIA.

My tuppence worth,  would be to reduce that offer time sellers can give for a buyer from the 4 days now,  back to the more reasonable 48 hours.  I mean who needs longer than 2 days to make up their minds?  🤗

To bring back the useful option,   to mark an item as unpaid ,  when accidentally a seller marks as paid.

This a no hoper suggestion ......   Bring back cash on collection and think of another ' Confirm Collection' option than the code,  which many buyers do not bring  with them on collection, or cannot be bothered later to forward that all essential 6 digit code.

[the-nutwood-collection]

... who knows what it's like to be an online seller

I saw an ad for a high-level merchandising job with eBay, working with sellers.  It listed lots of attributes that the applicants should have, but what it didn't say was 'Experience as an online seller, or working in an online selling environment, would be a definite plus'.

I worked as a marketing data analyst for a manufacturer.  I would never have been considered for a job as an analyst for FMCG, because it's a whole different world.  However, eBay obviously didn't think that experience in the online selling world was important.  The ad just wanted skills in 'improving the bottom line' and other similar attributes - but how can anyone do this effectively if they have no experience of the forum they're working in?      

[themidnightcaller]

Allow Cash on Collection - ebay can even charge a small fee for this service.

The UK only search being UK only..

[beddaustamps]

Pretty obvious for us ...

(1) REMOVE THE BAN ON COMBINED SHIPPING!!!!!   (Or BAN Immediate Payment on Send Offer Items).

I know this is pretty revolutionary for an online selling marketplace, but why not let buyers add items into something like a Shopping Basket and then checkout once for all items with ONE postage charge??  

We have lost many of our regular (multiple order) buyers, becuase of eBay's "improvement".

(2) SACK THE eBay IDIOT IN A SUIT THAT BANNED COMBINED SHIPPING!!!! 

Please eBay, bring back Combined Shipping on Send Offer Items.  Please understand that some buyers DO buy more than one item from the same seller.

[blackcatbooksuk]

1) If eBay are determined to continue with "Promoted listings" then reduce the price of having an eBay shop. 

2)Limit private sellers number of listing to 500 max ( I saw one private seller with 15000 plus this week which astounds me)