eBay

selective_distribution · ‎27-10-2025

I have just been reading the absolute drivel that some eBay associate has written in the `Featured Posts` article to the right of the screen on the seller forum, and it states that......

`At eBay, we’re here to power you / in search of data-driven insights / Leverage AI-powered insights / Up to 10,000 sellers will be onboarded this year / you don’t need to be an expert to start - just curious, open-minded and ready to grow.`

So ebay, you are here to `Power` me? Are you going to expose me to Gamma rays so I can become a Superhero?

What on Earth are `Data-driven Insights`?

When did ANYONE on this entire planet ever use the word `Leverage`?

`Up to 10,000 sellers will be `ONBOARDED` this year.`......so that`s 1 Seller then is it? `ONBOARDED`? You chose `ONBOARDED`. Really, is that even a word!

Any other Sellers out there that are `Curious and open minded?` What, is this an add for some sort of BDSM club? Really eBay, get a grip, sack the clown`s who think that it`s OK to communicate with people in this weird sort of `Office speak`, and employ people who can communicate in plain `UNDERSTANDABLE` English.

bojangled · ‎27-10-2025

Onboarding is one those phrases that’s popped its head up over the last decade. But I agree with you it is a load of corporate spiel.
I watched the AI push at the open on YT.

It’s not for me….

theelench · ‎27-10-2025

I have to admit that I didn't understand a lot of what the business sellers were talking about when it comes to growing their businesses.

Call me cynical if you like but if someone uses a lot of business-speak, vague unknown new words rather than plain English they're either not able to explain the benefits in words everyone can understand, or they could be trying to hide something.

The last person who commented said something like "I'm more excited than worried" about using it.

If I was a business thinking about taking up ebay's offer, I'd be worried about ebay's A.I getting its tentacles into every aspect of my business and reporting back to ebay.

As we're seeing with private sellers, ebay are looking for more ways to "monetise" every aspect of sales for their own gain. Would A.I be telling ebay which levers to pull and when ?

I'd be wondering if, having expanded my business with A.I's help in automating everything in its sights and guiding me along one path rather than another, would ebay then tell me that it was no longer "free", but would now come with a monthly price tag. Where would that leave them ?

Call me doubly cynical but is anything ever truly Free on ebay ? Today's free offer could be tomorrow's expensive shackles that, once locked in prevent other initiatives and further expansion unless it ties-in with what the A.I is working towards. Would there be any way of turning back or deviating from the course set by A.I and ebay ?

bojangled · ‎27-10-2025

@theelench

True words there, classic platform degradation process, oh it’s free - until it’s not.

pegr-834437 · ‎27-10-2025

100% correct it'll be free until businesses rely on it and then it will just be for anchor level shops or a bolt on for a magnificent price of £29.99 +vat a month but for security reasons they wont be able to say why its increased and been removed, just like concierge service as removed from hundreds/thousands of accounts.

The worrying part is eBay current AI is a complete joke, from writing your item descriptions to reading reports from users and everything in between it seems to be wrong 90%+ . I know people who use AI every day and it saves them so much time and effort but they work for companies that aren't riddled with bugs and if they have updates they seem to work, this is my worry for eBay. Fix what AI you are currently using and then release the ChatGPT software and everyone will trust it, currently though I don't think there'll be more than a handful of users who trusts the current use of AI on here.

vinylscot · ‎27-10-2025

One of the give-aways (worst aspects) of this ensh+ttification is the increasing use of nouns as verbs.

A few years ago we had to start "accessing" things, instead of getting or obtaining them; then things started being "provisioned" instead of being supplied or provided.

"Onboarding" is just another example of this pseudo intellectual business-speak. Utter nonsense, and shows them up to be rather pathetic, really.

I worked for an IT Plc until about a decade ago, and we suffered greatly from this - it's as if speaking in a new way shows how advanced and erudite you are. When our customers started complaining, it was greatly scaled back, but some of the less intellectually gifted employees carried on using the jargon, believing it bestowed upon them some level of superiority over mere mortals.

lucy_farmer · ‎27-10-2025

'pseudo intellectual business-speak..............it's as if speaking in a new way shows how advanced and erudite you are. '

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I'll call it 'business jargon'.

Most often used by people who want to sound cleverer than they really are....

selective_distribution · ‎27-10-2025

Hi `Vinyl`, you are absolutely correct. I believe a basic requirement to understand English grammar should be a essential for anyone applying for a job that requires them to write syntax. Will you tell them, or should I, that you `EMPOWER` someone, you do not `POWER` them!

blackcatbooksuk · ‎27-10-2025

There is no doubt that AI is the way it is going now and it can be incredibly useful.....but....as others have said it maybe free now but all this spend on AI will be paid by the consumers as big companies won't be giving it away for free. They may do now to get you using it. But I am pretty sure it won't be staying that way forever.