Another ebay annoyance
 

So I placed an early bid tonight on an N28 Clarkson in lower grade. I was the high bidder for awhile but eventually lost by $2. I thought that was strange because the minimum bid increment should have been $2.50 (or maybe even $5.00). So I decided to look at the bid history. I went into my watched items, clicked on the Clarkson, and up popped an N28 Keefe, along with a message that the Clarkson was no longer available, so ebay decided to show me something "similar."

I knew damn well that the Clarkson was no longer available. That was precisely why I wanted to look at it. I then decided to search for it by searching completed items. It was gone. The same thing happened with every other card I bid on tonight. As soon as the auction ended, the card disappeared and was replaced by ebay with a "similar" card.

It's still possible to search for completed items, but tonight's auctions aren't accessible that way. I assume they are phasing out the completed items feature. Why?

This is definitely annoying, but you can still find the listing. In the line of text telling you that the listing you are after has ended, the word "listing" is a hyperlink to the item you are trying to find.

Every year eBay adds at least one more obstacle that makes it harder to use or requires another click to just go where you want.

Thank you Jobu.

Yes even though the hyperlink is there, it is still a huge annoyance. If I am clicking on a completed auction there is a reason for it. Most of the "similar" when it comes to collectibles isn't even similar... unless a reprint is similar.

But think about it from EBay's perspective ... they want you to buy something. Not look at listings they can't make money on.

And for many items other than baseball cards (which are very specific) it kind of make sense that if you lost the auction for the toilet bowl brush ... they show you another toilet bowl brush you can buy.

So from their perspective ... this is a great change to boost impulse sales.

Their perspective is flawed, though. This doesn't cause impulse buys, it causes frustration. They already give you a list of similar items when looking at completed items, no reason to route me to any single one. Also baseball cards is specific, but collectibles is not. This would be an issue with any collectibles.

Ebay was started for the collectibles market, specifically PEZdispensers, they have decided to go the opposite direction though and totally abandon the market share that helped them get to the point they have gotten to. Which is why they are going to lose in the end to Amazon and other Auction Houses. They have a large platform now, but there is no way they can compete if they keep going in this direction. They lost site of what made them stand out and the more they transform into a scammers' playground and resell shop for Amazon deals, the more they are going to lose traction.

I noticed this recently as well. Very frustrating. I don't believe this "similar item" issue occurs on the smart phone App, so that is another way to circumvent the craziness (at least for now).

Allow me to sum up this issue in two languages:


User-Friendly - No-Mas!

Just a supposition, and I'm definitely giving them much too much credit, but I'm wondering if ebay started doing this now to help knock out the possibility of some nefarious activity. Say a buy-it-now card sells for a low price (due to a seller not realizing what he/she has, etc.), usually the sharks will immediately contact the seller and offer him more money for the card. Then next thing you know (as has been documented countless times around these parts), the original sale is cancelled for a completely invented reason and the card is sold to the other guy. If listings disappear immediately, it now becomes much harder to do those sorts of things. Of course, where there's a will there's a way, but it will definitely help with the situation I highlighted here.

But their stock is upday, and isn't that really what they care about?

You're dreaming if you think eBay makes changes like this to stamp out shady behavior. :) It's all about driving traffic to active listings.

Abso-freakin-lutely agree.

n28 Clarkson
 

Hey Paul,

With respect to the Clarkson, I was the high bidder. I believe the bid was a few dollars below your maximum bid and my maximum bid happened to be $2 above yours. With respect to redirecting the listing to another one, I agree it is annoying as hell and completely unnecessary. When you lose an auction you are going to look for a similar card, but their attempt to push you there is not helpful.

Robert,

Thanks for letting me know you won the Clarkson. Congratulations. That's an awfully nice card for the grade.

Paul

I'm noticing now that when I look at a card that has a BIN, they will have a "package" of similar items that others looked at when looking at this card, and the whole thing is put together for me to just checkout with as part of a multiple card cart purchase. Definitely trying to drive sales. All good. I'll still find what I want.

I found a Fix.

Look at the Auction with eBay App on Your Phone.

It does not bring up other auctions they are trying to get you to bid on.

Clarkson
 

Thanks Paul. It is nice for the grade. While I got lucky on the Clarkson, somebody beat me on rhe King Kelly card. So it goes I guess.

Rob

Let's face it, eBay is no longer a place to sell sports memorabilia. They just don't understand the mindset of the sports memorabilia business.

But until another venue comes along with that many eyes, many of us are still stuck here.

+1
There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS one answer as to why ebay does anything $$, and this change is annoying as heck.
.

Happened to me yesterday...it's a gnat...I move on.

Bidding increments do not apply to proxy. If you did not have a proxy bid the next amount would need to follow bidding increments. When there is a hidden maximum, the high bid needs only to be .01 higher than the hidden max bid. Thus the reason all of my snipes add a couple pennies. If the proxy is 20 dollars and I snipe at 20.01...I win.

When I look at my lost auctions on Gavelsnipe it shows different descriptions that what I actually bid. When I click on the descripton it shows the correct auction.
For instance, I bid on Mordicai Brown but Gavelsnipe shows Bobby Wallace.
:rolleyes:

That JUST started happening. I think it's a function of Ebay now forwarding you to a new listing. It's REALLY annoying because now I have to try to remember what I put my snipe in for the week earlier! The Gavelsnipe impact bugs me more than the re-direct actually.

The closest hyperlink i could find was "see original listing" and then it still directed me to another listing and not the original.