As a Buyer, what 3 things would you wish to change from sellers' listings/ebay searches?

[trainofthought]

I'm thinking more about the aspects that discourage or hinder a bid/purchase, rather than the experience after a purchase. For me:

1. A buyer using AI description is off-putting. If they can't string a sentence together themselves then I have little faith in them.

2. Item photo - I don't buy "used" items from stock photos.

3. No description but relying on the useless item specifics.

(And I have to mention that I do wish ebay's searches just returned explicitly what was searched for, nothing else, I know what I'm looking for!)

[insidethe93]

Good opening post, thanks. My ha'p'orth:

1. Where postage (if any) is normally stated in a listing, which is fairly near the top, state a simple yes or no if the seller combines postage. Saves waiting to find out at check-out. If sellers say they combine postage it can be anywhere in the listing. How many buyers read to the end of a listing? - rows of adverts part-way through don't help. Make it ONE specific place on the page for quick reference. To cover "it depends", incorporate a standard rider: "Normally combines postage? Yes [or No]".

2. Searches, for each and every item displayed, a symbol denoting "private seller", "business seller", "small business".

For those of us who like to support small businesses. If private sellers who should be businesses convert that might help them compete against ginormous companies. Amazon do it in their searches, so programming-wise it can be done.

3. For multiple-listings on one page the search engine shouldn't show you that page if the item you're searching for isn't available. It shouldn't include items that were available in the past, only what's available in the present.

Too many times I've searched a specific product manufacturer and title and been shown one or more pages/sellers, whose thumbnails show multiple items on a single page; so I go to the page and look at the drop-down menu only to find the item's greyed out as unavailable. If I'd searched with much less specific words which happen to "hit" other items for sale on that page, fair enough.

[zoomingmouse]

😂  I did the exact same, but it was a dog, yesterday...

[m25jet]

I've just thought of another one which I don't think has been mentioned yet, and which I feel that eBay ought to change with immediate effect.  What I'm referring to here is the Buyer Protection Fee.  If eBay feel so strongly about offering Buyer Protection then they should be the ones to foot the bill for the cost of providing it.  After all, they already screw their customers over for enough money as it is, without adding this one into the mix, so it's not as though they can't afford to cover the cost of providing buyers with this service!

[deanailicec]

Listings must have a proper image of the item for sale, especially used items. I don't want to see any more "image coming soon", and "picture to follow" listings.

There is a seller, listing over 69,000 items, whose only image on many items is "buy 2 get 1 free". If you sort their items into highest price and p+p order, on the first page of results value £3,041 - £163.49, 36 out of 60 items had the "buy 2 get 1 free" image.

Buyer protection is an unnecessary surcharge. If something does not arrive the seller refunds and makes a claim with Royal Mail or whoever. Why should everyone have to pay a £0.79 for the few items that go astray? As a seller I think I have made 4 claims in 19 years. As a buyer I have only had problems with 2 sellers.

Ebay learning to count, all the results which mysteriously disappear when you change the sort.

[magpiecorner1]

Interesting comment about offers. 

I've offers in all my listings, but don't have an immediate payment requirement on any if them.  Nor do a lot of other sellers.