eBay Mess

[Zach Wheat]

Apparently, this may be start of eBay's switch to a new search platform and the manner in which select items are identified. It appears they are trying to appease the larger sellers. I hate to selectively quote from a source, but I have copied some of the key paragraphs from Barron's (a financial publication) regarding eBay's switch. Barrons' has had several articles on eBay recently, one of which dealt with the switch to a new "search" platform and another on the drive to focus on larger sellers and retailers.

Here is the link for thos so inclined to read the entire article:
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB...888930015.html

If you Google Barron's & eBay the results will bring up links to the other articles.

Here is a summary of the one regarding the new search platform:
============
The company already faces a variety of headwinds: Many sellers are irritated about recent changes eBay (ticker: EBAY) made in its fee structures. The softening consumer economy is not helping matters. And with well over half of its revenue coming from outside the U.S., its financial results will be hurt by the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar......


....Blair and Hunter also say eBay is close to rolling out a new search platform that it has been testing for some time. They see risks if it isn't successful: "The ability to search and find an item with accuracy is a key factor in eBay's success and any changes that negatively impact the effectiveness of search would create a significant problem for the company." EBay shares are down approximately 30% this year, trading near their lowest level in five years.

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

"The ability to search and find an item with accuracy is a key factor in eBay's success and any changes that negatively impact the effectiveness of search would create a significant problem for the company." .

When has anyone has trouble with accurate searches? It brings up the listings with the words you ask for?

[gabrinus]

I just sent an email to them explaining(hopefully) how this will lead to lost revenue. Hopefully every member on this board will do the same. There are quite a few big players on this board. Maybe this will wake them up.

[BobbyVCP]

What a mess eBay has created for everyone, we are scrambling to fix our feeds we get from them to add their listings to VCP.

To make life easier for everyone we are going to add a section that will make it so you can search for the eBay listings we are tracking. Hope to have it available to you very shortly. Of course we only cover graded cards.

[Rob D.]

eBay: the ultimate game of hide-and-seek.

Golly.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

When has anyone has trouble with accurate searches? It brings up the listings with the words you ask for?

Egbeachley,

I think they are referring to bringing up similar and related items. The focus seems to be getting more clicks and traffic to the large high volume sellers and retailers on eBay. One of the other articles in Barron's identified such a strategic shift in their business model.

[danmckee]

WOW! So much for me policing the category for fraud and doctored fakes!! I can't go through 400K items!! Scumbags, thieves, and bottom feeders, the road is now WIDE OPEN!!! After all of the clean up efforts we had the pre-1930 and 1930s categories fairly legit and free from fraud.

I just don't get it. Have to take my auctions down tonight or give stuff away.

Truly a shame.

[Frank A]

Whats a real problem' is someone who wants to list a real oddball item. There is no way a person will ever find it unless he spends all day listing every type of card. Talk about someone at EBAY being really stupid!!!!!!!!!! This is going to cost them a lot of money in the long run.