eBay Message System - How To Switch Back To Classic

[eoptimizer]

eBay's new Messages system makes me feel irritated.

I think I'd already taken the 'switch back to classic' option a few months ago, but here is the ugly new Message system staring me in the face again.

It's like one of the old decrepit original email systems that tried to gain traction with Gmail, but went bust.

I dislike the new system/interface with a passion, so is there still a way to switch back to classic?
...and if not, can eBay reintroduce it, cos this new system's REALLY horrible.

[mypds4u]

Right ho Mr clever clogs...   I don't use a mobile phone at all ( yep I am a dinosaur)  I cant make head nor tail of the pathetic new messaging system !   I can barely read the messages!   I wanted to send some photos to a seller, showing errors in their description on a listing.....Can't fathom out how to attach them !!  Can't easily follow what is going on in a jumbled up mess of a page.   The old saying " If it aint broke, don't fix it"  seems to have also been updated by the clever back office kids at Ebay, and it now reads " If it works, break it  and make it UNFIXABLE !"   I also now spend at least double the amount of time making a new listing, thanks to the mainly USELESS compulsory 'item specifics' added to listing forms !!   I could ramble on, but I need to go and request the proceeds from a sale  (I must thank Ebay for dropping seller fees for private sellers....A positive for me at least!)

[johnwash1]

@mypds4u 

It's not at all obvious, but to the left of where you write your message there's a little button with some approximation of mountain scenery.  You need to click on that.  The icon was chosen after extensive checking of the typical content of users' messages, and paying attention to feedback, and discovering that most ebayers wished to send pictures of mountain scenery to one another.

One of the more junior web developers proposed a camera icon.  But this was overruled because the photography category is greatly outnumbered by the postcard sellers with their views of mountains.  She was also overruled when suggesting that tooltips over the buttons would help.

[mypds4u]

Doh !!  I rather though most people on Ebay wanted to either sell stuff or buy stuff..  Not send stupid photos of mountains to each other !!   Really...   

I don't know what was wrong with a paper clip with the word attach next to it ?   At least I understood what that meant   🙂 

 So how is anyone supposed to associate  adding attachments to mountain symbols ?  I don't get it !   

 I do however like the bit below these messages on here:

Drag and drop here or browse files to attach

Maximum size: 5 MB • Maximum attachments allowed: 1

I know it comes a poor second to a mountain image, but !!!!!

[johnwash1]

Alas, if you were thinking of a change of career and joining the ebay web dev team, you've just shown yourself to be over-qualified.

[eoptimizer]

I was sitting looking at the eBay message system in a daze, so am revisiting this message roughly a month later.

Other than it being really horrible.

I've had a problem where messages aren't going into the "sent"

A problem where it looks like I've had a reply when I probably haven't, but who knows...

As with a normal e-mail, I like to be able to copy/paste the From/To/Date block, but this ebay debacle has largely done away with that and additionally it's very hard to tell what date relates to what comment.

I'm forced to spend way too much time navigating and trying to understand message positions/dates etc in this system, when it was a nice list before. I could be in and out of messages in a flash. The new system, it takes me 30 times as long to do the same things. It takes me away from buying, or gives me a headache and I don't want to be on ebay with that.

[eoptimizer]

It looks like it's not just me that finds the messaging system HORRIBLE and problematic.

...and it's been a month or more

So is there a way to switch back to Classic layout yet?
Are they going to send a message out to everyone when there is - maybe pointless in a HORRIBLE USELESS messaging system.
OK, so better to ask here.

[johnwash1]

---

@eoptimizer wrote:

It looks like it's not just me that finds the messaging system HORRIBLE and problematic.

...and it's been a month or more

So is there a way to switch back to Classic layout yet?
Are they going to send a message out to everyone when there is - maybe pointless in a HORRIBLE USELESS messaging system.
OK, so better to ask here.

---

Are they going to.  Probably best answered by thinking about precedents. Can anyone recall an instance of ebay listening to feedback and reverting a change?

[eoptimizer]

I don't want "SENT" items in my inbox.

Due to "SENT" items showing in the inbox there's no clear way to look at the inbox. It's messed the inbox up. It's ruined the messages system.

[eoptimizer]

Also, I think I've noticed an increase in the number of users not bothering replying to questions since this messages system implementation. Most probably caused by the total confusion the new messages system generates. 
Is there a way to switch back to Classic yet?

[department28]

'Is there a way to switch back to Classic yet?'

 I don't think eBay will backtrack... they will just carry on tinkering with the new layout, fiddling around, trying to fix issues that didn't exist with the Classic layout. In the meantime, we users have been grappling with this badly designed, horrible new messaging 'experience' for over a month...

Unfortunately, I'm finding the bad things about eBay are now outweighing the good... eBay used to be an escape from life's troubles & stresses - now it is adding to them!  The nightmare of 'Simple Delivery' is looming, and the Classic Feedback page will probably disappear for good, leaving us with that awful new page. I'm really sad about the way eBay has changed over these last few years. ☹️

[electrotexsales]

HI, I AGREE, NOT A GOOD IDEA AT ALL.

I HAVE DONE THE FEEDBACK WITH 1 STAR..AND THE REASON.

I HAVE SPOKEN TO CS , FIRST VIA CHAT, ALSO AND A VERY NICE SUPERVISER WHO CALLED ME BACK ON THE PHONE! SHE SAID SHE WILL PASS ON THE FEEDBACK.

LETS HOPE COMMON SENSE AND LOGIC PREVAILS!

[eoptimizer]

Yeah, imagine if, instead of switching back to classic, they instead start taking their horrible design to other parts of eBay...

[eoptimizer]

Once upon a time systems used to be designed for the user, but these days, not just eBay, the users don't seem to be the focus.

[darrenc977]

New messaging is terrible, another nail in ebay's coffin in Amazon's favour. 

[johnwash1]

---

@darrenc977 wrote:

New messaging is terrible, another nail in ebay's coffin in Amazon's favour. 

---

But does anyone use messaging on Amazon?  I see the two sites quite differently:

Amazon:  See item from big supplier, click, pay, delivered.  Happy days.

Ebay: See unusual secondhand item from private hoarder, message to confirm condition, negotiate discount for multi-purchase, click, pay, become unhappy with ebay's stupid delivery date, message to confirm dispatch, discover what a nice helpful seller this is, items arrive.  Happy days.

Do you not see that difference?

[liskeard78s]

I'd say there's no comparison if you don't compare like with like. I don't even know Amazon. Couldn't get into it because I don't have any photo I.D.
But compare Ebay today with Ebay two (or more) years ago, then it's time the Ebay buffoons reflected on their own silly behaviour. Happy times on Ebay are all a distant memory now.

[jointerspark]

Brace yourselves, the children have been out again with a new pencil and rubber!!

This time the upload picture page for selling has changed!

Ready for this, they have more or less gone back to the page that worked in the first place. Hoorayyyyyyy.....

Now I think with a little luck, Santa will bring the children a full set of colour pencils or even crayons, and a BIG rubber.  They can then erase all the *bleep* they have done in 2024, and put the site back to working order!

BIG rubber obviously is for the message page especially, but they might need supervision for that one!

Therefore, ebay HAVE listened, and ALL of our problems might just go away.

Happy 2025

Regards

Pinocchio

[a45heaven]

Therefore, ebay HAVE listened, and ALL of our problems might just go away.

I notice it had gone back to what it was before the Dimprovement was made.

ebay listened ? lol bless your optimism. 😉 

I missed the notification of the change so I just assumed that the short lived change caused major issues further down the line, and the reversal is only temporary until the agent is released from detention, when a new version of the change will be inflicted on us?

[liskeard78s]

I don't see any change (as of December 24) and certainly no improvement - or reversal of the silly idea.

[jointerspark]

Lucky I signed out as Pinocchio!!!