The Boards.

[theelench]

Like so many others who have disappeared from the boards, I'm slowly getting over my user addiction to ebay.

I had to do my periodic log-in today and had to go find my password as it had slipped away from my consciousness.

Good luck to others battling to become non-users.

[department28]

It has been the two big changes - Simple Delivery & the Buyer Protection Fee - that has put me off eBay, plus the accumulation of other annoying changes over the past few years.

I'm now at a point where I don't want to be bothered listing many more items, only to have to waste time revising all my listings due to yet more changes, or because eBay has decided to meddled about with things again...

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and it stands to reason that if you're finding you don't enjoy doing

something as much, it's time to cut down/do something else.

I'm sure last year will have been the tipping point for those of us that have become increasingly unhappy with the way eBay has been heading - it would be interesting to know how many private sellers have left, and how many are in 'winding-down' mode. See you on the eBay scrapheap! 😬

[dissident_concepts]

Im in the same boat..

Ive only bought a handful of things on eBay since December 1st, all of which are super low value items at less than £10 each. I usually buy on eBay quite heavily but i find myself losing interest as months go by.

Ive listed some of my belongings for sale and im now even reluctant to post out when i make a sale, i see so many scams these days and eBay are simply not willing to help. 

I have a box of items i need to post by tomorrow but im considering just refunding the buyer and taking the hit on any bad feedback or phantom restrictions eBay might apply to my account for not following through with the sale. Its a private account operating as a re-seller in Blackburn, how do i know they wont claim the items are damaged and return some old newspapers in a box with me having no recourse with eBay?

I used to sell personal items that were 5,6,7,£800 in value and think nothing of it, now even if i sell something less than £100 in value im legitimately paranoid that i get scammed by someone and lose my items and my money.

Between that and some of the people on these message boards, who seemingly do no real amount of business on eBay, but spend decent chunks of time on here talking people down, trying to belittle them or make their problems seem either self induced or irrelevant.

Sad to see it come to this, i want off this website ASAP, i just wish i had other avenues to sell my things, once i get my stuff gone i think i will withdraw from this place quite quickly.

A genuine thanks to all the private sellers who sold me cool things over the years though, i accumulated a lot of great items over the years.

[messier44000]

If you are referring to these discussion boards, I know many have about had enough 

of the copy and paste generic answers from the chat team.

On the topic of buying / selling.

Although as of this post I am down to 2 listings, I shall still continue to support the small business sellers 

for my packaging supplies  . No matter what has happened with the site, its not their fault.

Saying that, I will with a little research find if they have a direct website for my next orders.

[department28]

'If you are referring to these discussion boards...'

Ah yes, the OP probably meant the boards as opposed to eBay itself - although it's usually an issue with eBay that sends many of us scuttling over here, thus increasing the amount of time spent on the place, one way or another...

[theelench]

Yes I was referring to the boards more than ebay for buying or selling.   Yesterday I was given kudos for replies I made to a couple of threads from months back and reading back to what I replied to, I realised just how many of the names from 6 - 12 months ago (and some from a lot longer) I'd not seen recently. 

Good people who had been here regularly for years, that one could have a heated but pleasant discussion with, sometimes disagree with on one issue and agree with on another.  But rarely with any animosity carried between the two topics.

As has been said above, the virtual disappearance of the Community Team, cut and paste answers to Weekly Chat, the obnoxious regular talking down to others in the community, seems to be the new norm.  I was particularly shocked by one reply that I received not long ago that called me a liar, without using the word.  Was the post edited -- no, the thread was locked.  Which these days can be the automatic response  to almost anything.  It's as if the mods. have also grown weary and dis-heartened and just hit the easiest button to end the conversation.

As you say, it's as if the whole place is winding down and heading for the scrap-heap, which is so sad to those who remember it as it was.

[_localhost_]

I was going to make a new thread about having to jump through hoops just to sign in. relentless popups asking me to add more security features to my Account. either make it compulsorily or get rid of it.

same with this annoying £5 off if you buy through the APP that pops up on EVERY PAGE I view. that is BULLYING in my book.

a total nightmare for people on the Spectrum might I add.

[department28]

'same with this annoying £5 off if you buy through the APP that pops up on EVERY PAGE I view...'

Yep. There was a couple of days break after the £5 offer ended, now I've got the £10 offer popping up again & again & again... Then I clicked on an item in my purchase history, and up came the 'Save your favourite seller and stay connected' box. These pop-up boxes drive me mad! Why can't eBay just put those offers on the homepage, so you can click on them if interested?  And just because I might have bought 2 things from the same seller, doesn't make them my 'favourite' seller. Mind your own business, eBay! 

Off-topic rant, sorry... 😁

[theelench]

Strictly speaking it might be off-topic, but it's all part of the general malaise of ebay.  Choked with flim-flam, whether it's the boards, buying, selling, or the now near impossible browsing.  Do THIS, Sign-up for THAT, endless "security", ebay peering over your shoulder, at everything you do and and so often, directing you to anywhere but where you want to go, what you want to do and (most importantly), what you want to buy.

It's lost its way and just dredges up more and more garbage that it seems to hope will draw people back.  It certainly doesn't do it for me.  It repels me (and so many others).  I just want to browse, buy and sell easily, not be nudged, have my arm twisted or be cajoled.  

[leadhills_scot]

I never get any of that. Only browse in incognito mode and use an ad blocker. I even block all the silly pics on the side of the forum and the ebay logo.

[theelench]

"Relentless" is a good word for what ebay has become IMO.

Whether it's ebay in general or specifically the boards,, ebay now seems more like a traffic control system gone into overdrive, to the point that it's so controlling it's bringing traffic flow to a halt.

I don't need prompting to 'continue where you left off' or to be shunted towards items picked 'just for me' and directed to 'similar Sponsored listings'.  On the boards, discussions used to meander all over the place before wandering back to the main topic and were all the richer for doing so.  To insist that a discussion stays within the tram-lines of a one sentence title tends to kill it.

Hence falling use due to lack of interest and the frustration of those who do take an interest giving-up because they can't express their views fully or have to do so guardedly in an attempt to stay within the tram lines.

[suelel1968]

@theelench Despite everything i still enjoy selling. Last year was an absolute trial, wading uphill through mud, but I still enjoyed selling. As people are saying it is everything else that makes you want to jack it all in. I set up a pin to make signing in easier. It stays active for about a week and disappears. I spend far to long explaining eBay rules, quirks, changes & glitches to would be buyers who presumably lose the will to live and don't buy. The bot drives me to the brink. The search function thinks it can make me buy from the US, China; buy a colour I don't want, buy something I already discounted as not what i wanted.

But I am having to accept that it is every company, not just eBay. I changed my broadband recently... the CS, the bots, the sign in, the instructions, all rubbish. I wanted a glass baking tray... 3 little words in a search, very specific, the big river warehouse just shows, well anything that goes in an oven really. I put in the brand and it made no difference. I bought them direct from the company that makes them. 

Don't leave the boards completely. "Back to basics" will come back into fashion one day and eBay will be jumping on that bandwagon with the rest of them I'm sure.

[bojangled]

Originally I appreciated the boards for helpful info years ago, even in 2023 it was a source of inspiration. 
As the many changes were implemented and the ranting by many incorrectly registered sellers became the norm, I felt the negativity wasn’t worth it.

I know forums such as these are the main outlet for problems and suchlike but it has become a moaning fest.

As for the weekly chat, and community team, I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever had a positive outcome from anything I’ve requested help on. The mentors and other users are much more helpful. 
From the sales reports not loading, postage cost filtering, to eBay international labels being incorrectly sized, none of those issues have ever been fixed. 
I still try to help where I can, old habits die hard. But I don’t spend much time on the platform in any guise now. 
Made a few friends vis PMs though.

Jo

[hettsville]

Same here.

I used to read and post on here quite a lot.

But eventually it got so I felt like I was being targeted by certain people.

No I didn't imagine it, and just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get me.🤪

Anyway I changed my user name and took a long break.

Now I come here rarely and hardly ever post.

[1956glyn]

I do not answer on the boards even half as much as i did.

What i do not understand lately is......when i exit the boards Ebay are asking me to confirm i am not a bot and i am supposed to tick certain pictures.     Cba and just click the X 

The boards are pretty dead nowadays.      New questions used to be posted every 2 minutes !

[theelench]

"I know forums such as these are the main outlet for problems and suchlike but it has become a moaning fest."

I don't think that's been helped by too much insistence that discussions should stay on one specific topic.  It reminds me of the scene in Star Wars Death Star where the squadron leader keeps yelling "Stay on target" as the X-fighters get blown out of the sky, achieving nothing..  In the case of threads, they just end prematurely, also achieving little or nothing.

But the reason the boards have become such a moaning fest. must have something to do with the numbers of sellers who have something to moan about and that includes business sellers angry at ebay doing little to deter incorrectly registered businesses, genuine private sellers angry at being lumped in with the crooks by posters who refuse to distinguish between the two.  Then ebay's feeble attempt at deterrence by introducing the BPF and 'Simple' Delivery, that's if either of them were, in fact, meant to act as a deterrent or were just introduced as revenue boosters.

I think there is now more genuine unhappiness with ebay, within the selling community, since MP was introduced.  Or further back to when FVF on P&P was introduced.  Once again it has allowed problems to grow and fester, then hit the wrong people with its chosen solution.