Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part VI

Conclusions



I have been an eBay user since 1997. When I first saw eBay I thought it was one of the most ingenious ideas that had yet appeared on the web. It's self-policing nature, and its limited role bringing together sellers and buyers of all sorts of things, particularly antiques and collectibles (in other words, junk), I thought was brilliant. Since then a number of improvements have been made. With the integration with PayPal, the My-eBay one-page tracking center, automatic searches, feedback, and the ability to print postage, buying, selling, shipping and tracking it all have been made about as simple and easy as their are going to get. All the while eBay's popularity grew until a certain critical mass was reached. It's hard to imagine an other site getting into the auction business in any meaningful way. It's eBay that has the traffic, today. But one of the things I hope eBay will realize is that the critical component of this traffic is the buyer, not so much the seller. If eBay does not make some badly needed course corrections, buyers will go elsewhere. And once enough of them do, the critical mass is lost and will never be recovered. Somewhere, right now, some smart people are sitting around thinking up what a better auction site might look like. Some of them will, eventually, actually build it.

I'm guessing, but eBay probably sees the seller side as the principle revenue stream. I hope eBay will consider that it is the sellers that can most easily shift that stream to another auction site. They will follow the buyers. Buyers on the other hand, are needed in a large mass for the concept to work at all. Lose that mass, and sellers will vanish. eBay discounts the buyer's online experience at its peril.

Search Improvements!


  • The search engine is buggy. Make it return correct and complete results.
  • Add an option for "any of these words" or "all of these words".
  • Simplify advanced search use.
  • eBay provides any number of ways for buyers to find sellers, add them as "favorites" and view other items offered. Add the ability for buyers to exclude selected sellers from searches.
  • Add the search selection on postage charged.


Make it work!


  • Getting the web pages to function properly every single time must be the top priority. If it doesn't work, everything else is pointless.
  • Cut down os graphics significantly.
  • Remove references to slow and unreliable external servers, such as doubleclick.com, that reduce eBay's functionality and clutter the page, while doing nothing at all to improve the users' experience.


And More!


  • Get out of unrelated businesses.
  • Stop trying to compete with discount retailers.
  • Remember to think of the buyers' experience, not just the sellers'.
  • Focus on what made eBay a great service: online, person-to-person, auctions.


A lot of people are hoping eBay will change its course, and soon.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part V

Postage Due



Something I thought was very clever about eBay when it appeared was the self-policing nature of the site. Such schemes are common around the web today, but eBay's was one of the first I'd seen with such features. The search and, particularly, the rating system go a long way toward providing a buyer with the confidence to use eBay. This was especially important in the early days. Lately, some annoying trends have appeared that the system does not provide a good, clear way to discourage. One of these is price gouging on postage. For example, I recently received the following from a friend and fellow long-time eBay user:

"I was looking for a PCI USBII card for a pc at work. They are pretty cheap - like a few bucks. But some places were charging upwards of $20 to ship
them. There were like 1341 listed when I looked so I had to wade through a few pages of listings before I found one for a reasonable *shipping* price."


This problem is exacerbated by sellers that do not fill in the shipping costs fields in eBay's listing framework. Dealing with this problem would be simple and quick without eBay having to use any heavy-handed requirements, by once again returning to the buyer community. It is possible to include the listing postage in your search results. This helps, but it is not the default. It should be. In addition to the ability to exclude specific sellers, eBay should make a maximum shipping cost an advanced search option.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part IV

It's the Web Stupid



Of all the things I'd really like to let eBay know, there's one that really stands out as critical to the site continuing on top of the auction heap: website performance. They can create all new "features" to nickel and dime us for, all new "services" and all the fancy graphics they want, and none of it makes any difference if the website simple doesn't work. I wish eBay would severely restrict all development of new ways to spam buyers with "bold" and "featured items" and "two line titles" until they where sure, and I mean dead sure, that the website itself performed perfectly all the time, and every time.

Not too long ago, eBay did reduce and simplify the number of images on their pages. This was a positive step. However, the fact remains that all the flashy graphics and logos add absolutely nothing to the buyers' experience, and add nothing to the site's ease of use, while serving to create longer page load times and opportunities for errors.

IIS server errors are also quite common. I can be browsing along, go to make a bid, and find out all I'm going to get in IIS page not found errors. Various combinations of logging out and back in, and clearing cache and cookies restores the functionality - sometimes. Other times, it doesn't and I'm simply done for the day. At other times certain items will become unviewable, or even parts of a page. I've also seen pages become malformed in various ways when sections of HTML are not transmitted for whatever reason. IIS? Please eBay, it's 2006. It's long past time to switch to some enterprise-grade server software.

No Deal?

This watch;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=007&item=170033195420&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESO%3AIT&rd=1

eBay #170033195420,

from two weeks ago has not been paid for. The buyer did go through the eBay check out right away, but no payment has been received. The buyer had a zero rating, which I've seen before. But now the buyer's rating is -1. The negative feedback reads "DONT SELL FAKE ID.....NEVER PAID GOT FREE WATCH FOR NOW WHITE COLLAR REPORTED" on eBay item #120035097771;

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=saloonso&iid=170033195420

I wasn't planning to post a watch this week. But if a couple more days go by, I'll repost #170033195420.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part III

Searching



There are some excellent search engines out there on the internet. eBay's is not one of them. Yes it's true that complicated searches using words included and words not included can be done. It is also true that criteria regarding time remaining, item location and payment methods can be included. But creating a search that will really narrow down to what I am looking for is difficult. Documentation is not readily available. And the specific ins and outs of it are frankly more than many potential eBay buyers are interested in uncovering and learning. In addition, there are things that, as far as I know, can't be done, like "any of these words" verses "all of these words".

The search engine will be most users first eBay experience. Shouldn't it be really, really good? Shouldn't it be simple to use and take users right where they want, without the clutter of "featured items" that have simply paid eBay to be there?

There are some excellent search engines around that have proved what a good system can do. And that is not the business eBay is in. eBay really should consider partnering with a major search company to index their site. Features such as the ability to filter out certain sellers and categories, filtering identical items, "all these" or "any of these" conditions are badly needed.

There's a repeating theme developing here. Put the buyer first.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part Two

Get With The Program



One of the trends on eBay most annoying to regular eBay buyers is the ever increasing tendency of sellers to evade, ignore and otherwise not participate in eBay itself. eBay has done a great deal of work to make buying and selling easy from posting an auction, watching it's progress, paying for items and even paying for postage.

It's been annoying enough to encounter sellers not using PayPal, but there are now sellers who refuse to do anything at all through eBay. There are sellers who will not even respond to eBay messages. Sellers need to realize that buyers will, given the opportunity, avoid buying through third parties that will not integrate with the eBay checkout. Every time, as a buyer, I have to enter my shipping address an extra time, or even worse, create yet another account on some other website, I make a note never to buy from that vendor again.

There was an improvement made recently where eBay began listing the shipping amount in search results. This allows buyers to avoid sellers that have not fully filled out their auction information with the postage. That was a good start. As a further service to buyers, eBay needs to create a way for buyer to block selected sellers from their search results and category listings. eBay, please put the buyer first.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Memo to eBay, Part One

It's Not Macy's



One thing I have always loved about eBay is that it's like the world's largest garage sale. It's wonderful to see so many individuals buying and selling, well, just anything. eBay proves beyond any doubt that one seller's junk is another buyer's treasure.

Recently, eBay's front page is plastered with colorful ads that look straight out of fashion magazines. These are obviously the wares of on-line mass-retailers. However there are already a very large number of sites on the internet available to purchase goods from ordinary retailers, and a large number of sites available for comparison shopping (not to mention physical storefronts).

The vast majority of these sellers use reserve prices or buy-it-now prices set a few dollars above the opening bid. Clearly there's not going to be any super deals to be found here. In reality, they are simply selling goods at a fixed price. So what's the point? eBay has entered into an extremely crowded space, to which it brings nothing new, at the expense of what is unique to eBay's business.

I can imagine a response to this; eBay is an open market and the money coming into eBay from the sales of full-blown retailers is as good as anyone else's. I hope eBay will be cautious about this. An email inbox is open to whomever sends email to that address, but that doesn't mean we don't object to spam.

Major retailers spoil eBay. They do not offer real bargains, they do not fit their payment and checkout systems into eBay's framework, and they are frequently unresponsive to email.

This week's eBay sale is 18 size Elgin pocketwatch. This one runs quite well. It's nice due to its age (1887) and really strong running condition.

eBay #170037612926

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

This Week's Watch

This week's eBay sale is 18 size Elgin pocketwatch. This one runs quite well. It's in a well worn case, although it does have a train on the back which people seen to like (I'm not sure why exactly). The movement in this one is especially clean. A nice one...

eBay #170035499394

This Week's Watch

This week's eBay sale is 18 size Elgin pocketwatch. This one runs quite well. It's in a well worn case, although it does have a train on the back which people seen to like (I'm not sure why exactly). The movement in this one is especially clean. A nice one...

eBay #170035499394

This Week's Watch

This week's eBay sale is 18 size Elgin pocketwatch. This one runs quite well. It's in a well worn case, although it does have a train on the back which people seen to like (I'm not sure why exactly). The movement in this one is especially clean. A nice one...

eBay #170035499394

Jeff Sexton

007 1:144 Scale 1:350 Enterprise 10 Barrel Brewing 14 1856 2001 A Space Odyssey 3D modeling 40and20 4th of July 78 RPM Abyss Adam West Advertising Agora Models Air Canada Airline Airways Brewing Alan Bennett Alaska Alberta Alberta Street Pub Alfa Romeo Spider Touring Gran Sport Amati Amazon Amnesia Brewing AMT Analog signal Android Anomalies and Alternative Science Antiques Apache Apollo Apple Apple Stores Art Artisanal Beer Works Assembly Brewing Aston Martin Astoria Asus Atlas Audrey Augmented reality Aurora Famous Fighters auto-awesome Automobile Autos Aviary Aviation Backups Baelic Brewing Bale Breaker Brewing Bandai Barack Obama Barley Brown's Beer Bars Base Camp Brewing Batman Battery Beards Beer Beer Bar Bell System Bellwether Berkshire Hathaway Betty White Beyond the Fringe Bigfoot Bikes Bill Clinton Bird Food Bird Toys Birds Birthdays Bleriot Bleriot XI Block 15 Brewing Blogger Bojack Horseman Bolton Landing Brewing Boltons Boneyard Brewing Books Boxer Ramen Boxer Ramon Breakside Brewing Brian Eno Build Management Buoy Brewing Burger King Business and Economy Business Process Execution Language Bye & Bye Byte-order mark Canadian Carrot Cats Chex Mix Chihuly Chipmonk Christmas Civil Defense Clinton Clocks Closet Doors CNN Cockatiels Cocktails Collections Columbia Grafonola Columbia River George Columbia River Gorge Corners Corvallis County Cork Crooked Stave Brewing Crows Crux Brewing Cuisinart Culmination Brewing David Byne DB5 Dear Jane Debian Deschutes Brewing DFW C.V Diabetes Dick Curtis Digital Living Network Alliance Digital television Dinosaurs Disney Doll House Don the Beachcomber Double Mountain Brewing Dow Jones Industrial Average Dragons Dudley Moore Duesenburg SJ Roadster Durham University DVD E-mail address E9 Eagle Eagle Creek Fire Eaglemoss Easter ebauche Ecliptic Economics Ed Ed and Olive Eels EJB Elgin Elysian Brewing Energy development Enterprise Enterprise JavaBean ESP Evergreen Air Museum Everybody's Brewing Ex Novo Brewing F-84G Thunderjet Facebook Family Photos Fathers Day Fearless Brewing Fedora Ferment Brewing Ferns Festival of The Dark Arts Filesharing Finance Finger Firesign Theater Fireworks Flowers Flying Sub Food Ford Fort George Brewing Fossil fuel Free House Garfield James Abram Garfield Minus Garfield Gateway Brewing Gene Sexton Gene Wilder George Carlin Gigantic Brewing Gilgamesh Brewing Glass Glassfish Global warming Golden Arches Goldfinger Goofy Google Google Assistant Google Buzz Google Docs Google Home Google Lively Google Photos Google Reader Google Wave Google+ Goose Graffiti Grammar Gravy Great Divide Brewing Great Notion Brewing Greek Festival Greenhouse gas Gruen GT40 H. G. Wells Half-Life 2 Halloween Harlan Hawaii Helbros High-definition television Hilo Hilo Brewing History Ho 229 Hollywood Theater Hopworks Urban Brewery Horizon Models HP Hybrid electric vehicle IBM Impala Inner city Instagram Insulin Investing IPMS Iris Irony J.C. Penny James Bond Jane Austen Java Java Architecture for XML Binding JC Penny JDBC Jeannine Stahltaube Jeff's! Jim Davis joe the plumber John McCain Jonathan Miller Jubelale Kapaau Karma Kauai Kay Thompson Kermit the Frog Keys Keys Lounge Kids and Teens Kona LA Auto Show Labrewtory Larry King Laser Laserdisc Leavenworth Wenatchee River Level Brewing Lilly Tomlin linux Little Beast Brewing Lloyd Center Logging Lowry Sexton LPs Lucky Lab Magnets Mark Cuban Market trends Martin Mull Maytag McDonald Mediatomb Meier and Frank Mel Brooks Mercury Microsoft Microsoft Windows Migration Brewing Mobius Models modern Times Brewing Money Monkey monsters Moon MOUNT HOOD Mount Tabor Movie Reviews Multnomah Falls Music Music industry Muxtape MySQL NetBeans Netflix Nikon Nikon Z50 Ninkasi Brewing Nintendo Nissan Cube Norm Coleman North Bar Nuclear fallout Nuclear warfare Nuggest Nuts OBF Office Depot Offshoot Beer Co Oktoberfest Ola Brewing Old Town Brewing Olive Open ESB Oracle Corporation Orca Oregon Orion Space Clipper Owls Pacific Ocean Packard Boattail Pam American Parrots Patio Sale PDX Pearl District Pearl District Portland Oregon Peppers Performance Review Peter Cook Peter Iredale Pets Pfriem Brewing Philip K Dick Phone Book photography Pizza Plank Town Brewing Play Station PlayStation 3 pluspora Pocher Podcast Poke Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Polar Lights Politics Pono Brewing Portal Portland Portland Development Commission Presidents Pride and Prejudice Programming Projects PS3 PS4 Pumpkins Quotation Marks Rad Power Radio Radio Room Ramen Ramon Recipes Recording Industry Association of America Renewable energy Reservoir Reuben's Brewing Reubens Brewing RIAA Richmond Pub Robot Chicken Rock-paper-scissors Rogue Brewing Round 2 Sales San Francisco Santa Sarcasm Sasquatch Brewing SATA Science fiction film Sea Quake Brewing Seattle Selfie Serbia Service-oriented architecture Seward Shelby Cobra Shipwreck Shopping Signs Silver Moon Brewing Slide Rule Snow Soap Soap Cutter Social Security Social Studies Society6 Sony Sopwith F.1 Camel BR.1 Soviet Space 1999 Space Race Spad XIII Speaker Repair Spirit of St. Louis Spitfire SQL Squirrel's St Patricks Day Stanford Hospital Star Trek Star Wars Starbucks Stock market Storm Breaker Strip search Stripes Studebaker Studellac Sun Microsystems Supernatural T-Mobile Tablet Tamiya Tamiya Spitfire Taube TechCrunch Technical Television Terminal Gravity Thanksgiving The Producers ThinkGeek Three Creeks Brewing Thunder Island Brewing Tiki Time Bandits Toaster Tom Peterson Tools Top Ferment Total Recall Transportation Security Administration Trumpeter Tubboat Tyco UFOs Unicode United States United States Department of Homeland Security Universal Plug and Play Unknown Primates USB USS Yorktown Valcom Van Gilder Hotel Vegetable garden VHS Victoria Video Video game Vintage Images Vintage Vintage! Virtual world Volcano Hawaii Volvo C70 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Wall Street War of the Worlds Warren Buffett Warrenton watches Watercolor Wayfinder Brewing We Can Remember It for You Wholesale Web service Web Services Description Language Whiskey Wii Windows 7 Windows Phone 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Windy Wingnut Wings Wood Worthy Brewing WWI WWII X-Files X-ray vision XML XML Schema Y2K Yeti YouTube Yugo Zero Mostel Zima Zoom H2n