A Message from Ebay..

[Dishmop]

Use the bulk editing tool on eBay.co.uk to update: 1 listing

 

[alanf]

There are many features on ebay that are somewhat clunky, including what some screens are called such as the "bulk editing tool". It's just a list of what the ebay robots have picked up as outside their parameters. You can try refusing their suggested amendments, but many of the options for that are worded as if the entire article listing will be deleted. The suggested amendments will come back, even if you refuse them. And most of them are either nonsense or impractical - add 6 keywords which wouldn't leave any room for the book title or author for instance.

There's a need for an auction site that works much better, and could be significantly cheaper. Why doesn't an auction work like auctions have done for centuries? It's open until nobody bids anymore. Instead you have this arbitrary end time that invites sniping and for many items 90% of the bids crash in during the last minute. Bad for seller becaue higher bids are out of time, bad for buyer because bidding higher doesn't get the item, bad for the system because of the transitory peaks of stress. But ebay got in there first and is the one people have heard of, so it gets away with being quite poor. There have been quite a few outages in the past few months, some whole site down and some just functions not working such as the selling page was not listing anything the other morning. I get the impression there's a lot of legacy code in there that is virtually unmaintainable, they're afraid to do more than minor tinkering because it could break the whole site.

 

[Torq]

My thought (after watching an item I was winning go up by $600 in the last 10 seconds) is that any bid in the last 5mins should extend the auction by another 5mins. It would completely knock out the sniping and the item would meet its true price.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why doesn't an auction work like auctions have done for centuries? It's open until nobody bids anymore.

My thought (after watching an item I was winning go up by $600 in the last 10 seconds) is that any bid in the last 5mins should extend the auction by another 5mins.

What you gentlemen need is for someone to set up a site where people can sit around for hours waiting for their item to come for sale, then after a minute or two of frantic bidding the person who bids the highest wins the item.Maybe they should be dotted all around the country and open on Saturdays to suit everybody who has the morning free to go and sit around or bid,it would save a fortune on postage fees. I know, we could call it an auction house. You never know, it might catch on

 

[madasafish]

Anyone who complains about ebay sniping should start sniping.

(It's as if the British lost WW1 by complaining the Germans used barbed wire and they refused to)

I like ebay: if you follow the rules and take care, it's difficult to go wrong..

(Someone did hack my paypal account for $400 but it was sorted in a week with a full refund . That was years ago.)

 

[Torq]

What you gentlemen need is for someone to set up a site where people can sit around for hours waiting for their item to come for sale, then after a minute or two of frantic bidding the person who bids the highest wins the item.Maybe they should be dotted all around the country and open on Saturdays to suit everybody who has the morning free to go and sit around or bid,it would save a fortune on postage fees. I know, we could call it an auction house. You never know, it might catch on

Great idea except that I'm not going to New Zealand to sit in one of these so called "Auction houses" to buy a motorbike repair manual made of.....wait for it.... paper!

 

[alanf]

What you gentlemen need is for someone to set up a site where people can sit around for hours waiting for their item to come for sale, then after a minute or two of frantic bidding the person who bids the highest wins the item.Maybe they should be dotted all around the country and open on Saturdays to suit everybody who has the morning free to go and sit around or bid,it would save a fortune on postage fees. I know, we could call it an auction house. You never know, it might catch on

Commission bids and telephone bidding? Have you seen the way the larger antique and art houses have taken to online bids?

All fine and dandy, and I like traditional auctions, even used them for cars. But they're not interested in anything likely to make only small amounts. It's still the sellers responsibility to get it to the sale and the buyers to take it away even if they're at the far end of the country. There is still a lot going for the online auction, just that it can be done better than eBay do it. I can't see how anyone could break into the market without spending millions to get established. As I recall, there were rivals, QXL was one,' burnt in the dotccom bubble but apparently still a niche player in some European markets.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Great idea except that I'm not going to New Zealand to sit in one of these so called "Auction houses" to buy a motorbike repair manual made of.....wait for it.... paper!

So I don't understand the complaint - you had the opportunity to bid on an item you'd never get the chance to otherwise, you know when the auction ends, you put in the highest amount you are prepared to pay for it, press bid and walk away - you log back in after the auction has ended (No chance of auction fever then) and if noone was prepared to pay that price you win!
I use the sniping tool regularly (It was especially handy when I was at sea) When an item i fancied came up for auction I would sit and consider how much I was prepared to pay for it decide on the maximum amount, set up a snipe and walk away.
I agree that for sellers Ebay is now screwing the a*se out of it.
But for buyers.........

On an online auction you have to have a timespan (a closing time) to enable the item to be on sale for a decent amount of time for everyone to have a chance. Can't see what the whingeing is about actually

 

[Torq]

So I don't understand the complaint - you had the opportunity to bid on an item you'd never get the chance to otherwise, you know when the auction ends, you put in the highest amount you are prepared to pay for it, press bid and walk away - you log back in after the auction has ended (No chance of auction fever then) and if noone was prepared to pay that price you win!
I use the sniping tool regularly (It was especially handy when I was at sea) When an item i fancied came up for auction I would sit and consider how much I was prepared to pay for it decide on the maximum amount, set up a snipe and walk away.
I agree that for sellers Ebay is now screwing the a*se out of it.
But for buyers.........

On an online auction you have to have a timespan (a closing time) to enable the item to be on sale for a decent amount of time for everyone to have a chance. Can't see what the whingeing is about actually

The point I was making is that it's not practical to go to auctions for certain items and that Ebay has opened the world up. I can get bike parts from all over the world that I just can't get at home.

I do always put in a final bid and walk away but it's not a true auction because the end time causes a final bidding frenzy just like calling last orders at the bar.

I still think that once the end time has been reached that the auction should run until 5mins after the final bid has been placed.

 

[alanf]

...I still think that once the end time has been reached that the auction should run until 5mins after the final bid has been placed.

5 minutes, one minute or any set amount. As the conventional auctioneer does, looking for any other bidders. Getting into the bidding is part of the auction experience, there's a sense of exploring how far other bidders would go. No time for that to happen in the last few seconds. Would you submit a maximum bid in a poker game and walk away?

Another feature that's missing, an experienced auctioneer takes smaller bids as the end approaches, eBay only ever increases the minimum bid interval.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

as I said if you want the 'real' experiece, go to a 'real' auction

 

[Torq]

as I said if you want the 'real' experiece, go to a 'real' auction

As I said that's not practical when what you want to buy is on the other side of the world.

 

[Dishmop]

Well, I didnt mean to start an argument but my point was that ebay were advising me to use the BULK EDITING tool to edit ONE ITEM.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well, I didnt mean to start an argument .

Hmm maybe the mods should intervene - seeing as this 'off topic' chat has gone errr............ off topic?

my point was that ebay were advising me to use the BULK EDITING tool to edit ONE ITEM.

How bulky was the item?

 

[Bosleeu]

I love eBay.

Just put the top price that you are prepared to pay in from the start. If someone else is prepared to pay more, they get it. If not, you do.

Just like any other auction. That way you can get a bargain if you have little competition, and the seller always gets the best price. The finish times, bidding etc are all very transparent, so everybody knows exactly what they sign up for when they start bidding.

 

[Dishmop]

I love eBay.

finish times, bidding etc are all very transparent, so everybody knows exactly what they sign up for when they start bidding.

I agree, and so is the description, but I have people who buy things and obviously didnt read the description..

Somebody bought a

Reproduction "Vim"
Cleaning Powder Box
Printed on Card.
10 x 7.5mm x 3cm
Supplied as Self Assembly
to save on postage cost.​

After sending me a snotty email about the box being empty I pointed out that the ad said "Vim BOX" not "Box of VIM"..he then left neg F/B of


"He sold me an empty box very inaccurate discription I got shafted."