Why eBay sucks and what we can do about it

Jackson on 08/01/2015 - 18:16

So there's probably a thousand reason why eBay sucks, but it's hard to move away from as it's just so big, or maybe it's just institution for me.

My first gripe today is that as a good OzBargainer, I usually do my search, and then sort by "Price + Postage - lowest first". The problem is my last search for a HDMI cable revealed this: (among thousands of other similar listings)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3M-High-Quality-Premium-HDMI-Cabl…

These multiple option listings are becoming the bane of my existence, I can't seem to buy any common small item these days without wading through the masses of these. This a-hole lists HDMI cables worth $15, but sticks in a $1 cable connector which isn't even in the listing title!

Is there any way to turn these off? Why does eBay do this to us? Don't they care about the user experience?

Feel free to enlighten me, or just gripe about other crap ebay does that p*sses you off (like their ever increasing fees, or how I don't have an option for 'Price + Postage - lowest first' on the Andorid app anymore, or anything else).

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Comments

  • Chef-Johnson on 08/01/2015 - 18:32

    yeah such a pain

  • happychild100 on 08/01/2015 - 18:50

    Wow, never seen that happen before, pretty sneaky… Not cool.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/01/2015 - 18:56

      Likewise never seen it before.

      They should show a price range or show the highest price maybe? But they wont.

      • [Deactivated] on 09/01/2015 - 02:38
        +1

        Change to "Gallery view" and it shows the price range.

        1m 1.5m 2m 3m 4m 5m 10m 15m 20m 4K Premium HDMI Cable v1.4 v2.0 3D HighSpeed
        AU $1.00 to AU $49.95
        + more options
        Free postage
        65+ sold

        Doesn't stop such tactics affecting result position, but they are gaming the existing system to try and get their products at the top of the list - not unlike the behaviour of professional OzBargainers gaming systems to get the best deals.

  • pointless martyr on 08/01/2015 - 19:05
    +1

    Try to sell / buy on gumtree instead . If you sell/buy on ebay, i try to use it as amessaging service to hook up a direct transaction - some people are open to it and both parties can get a better dela by cutting out the fees.

  • Axelstrife on 08/01/2015 - 19:43
    +4

    Mate i absolutly HATE that, i see it tonnes of times when searching for phone cables and cases. You think you find the cheapest but noooo it's a $1 screen protector not cable or case.

    My two big gripes would be same as yours and the fact they charge crazy amounts for ebay fees now higher the price more they get I'd be happy with a decent capped price but it's like 10% or something now. I fuse to sell on eBay for this very reason also paypal gets more money ONTOP of this wtf this is crazy.

  • rowenaduncan on 08/01/2015 - 19:56

    I completely agree! If you have 40 of something, there's no need to list it 40 times! Also snipers! I stopped using EBay mainly because of that reason. I can't understand why they don't automatically extend the auction for a few minutes if there are last minute bids. Everyone wins -eBay get more fees, seller gets a better price and the buyer has a chance to at least discuss/evaluate whether they're willing to pay more than they expected…

    • Jackson on 09/01/2015 - 14:49

      Yeah Gray's online works this way, TBH I don't like it because it can extend the auction by hours and I don't have the time. The trick is to do your research very well before hand and actually bid the amount you are willing to pay as a maximum, then it doesn't matter as much if you miss out as you wouldn't have paid the price anyway (in theory, in practice people's maximum 'creeps' up, but we don't want to get too far into behavioural economics)

  • inherentchoice on 08/01/2015 - 20:22
    +2

    Just stop using eBay.

    Instead try other sites like aliexpress or dx.com

    • Sammy2000 on 09/01/2015 - 10:25

      I agree, these sellers drop-ship from these sites, take out the middle man.

    • Jackson on 09/01/2015 - 14:57

      Yeah I just made an account with Ali, still haven't bought anything. I use DX but they are usually a bit more expensive and their support isn't so great, the main benefit of DX is reviews I'd say, there are obviously no reviews on product on ebay, only general seller feedback

  • morpheu on 08/01/2015 - 21:37
    +2

    this happened a while back, what really annoys me now is before on the search results page you could see if the listing had multiple choices but now you have to click on every link to check, and speaking of HDMI cables i bought one recently with this issue, to save time you skip the really cheap ones, also depending on seller/item sometimes you can spot the multiple choice listings by price, cheap items sometimes are $1.00 where as the item you want might start at a odd figure like the 1.8m HDMI cable i bought which was $1.97

  • Sammy2000 on 09/01/2015 - 10:23

    eBay defaults the sort to "Best Match", are they trying to get around these sellers tricks?
    Best match annoys me as there is nothing good about any of the top items; newbie sellers and high prices come up first.

    • Jackson on 09/01/2015 - 15:37
      +1

      I actually think eBay are deliberately trying to make it difficult to quickly and easily find the cheapest item because they make money as a percentage and not as a fee. It's unbelievable but they must have hit a critical mass where the only way to get more money out of people is to allow shonky practices that inevitably mean people pay more for basic items.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/01/2015 - 16:45

    Completely agree with you as well. I'm always having to open up 10 windows x amount of times until i can find a listing that is for the cable and not a damn connector or something.

    While eBay does suck for infinitely more reasons that just this, it's important to remember that people are really quite dumb and are happy to pay more on eBay. I recently sold a 3 month old Galaxy Tab S for a total price of $460 which included postage. The good guys had one listed for $507 + 10% off for store pick up for a brand new Tab S! This person i sent it to lived in Melb City which i'm sure there is a good guys near them!

  • teehee on 14/01/2015 - 00:59

    Just on the subject of HDMI cables, which seller to people get their HDMI cables from on ebay? Its a maze out there

  • [Deactivated] on 20/01/2015 - 18:56

    Speaking of EBay negatives … AGR (peddles of PoS machinery) has 99.6% Positive Feedback on EBay
    see A3Australia's comment on this post https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/179698

    What is the point of EBay ratings when it means nothing?

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