Annoying listing protocol and sellers listing on purpose in WRONG category.

[surfocollecto]

I have been with eBay as a seller (under another name) & a buyer pretty much since the US inception & then from day 1 on the Aus site.

Nowadays I'm no longer a commercial seller, more of a browser, buyer & occasional seller of unwanted stuff around the place etc.

When I browse the categories for whatever item I might fancy, either as a needed item or even sometimes as a whim, I get all the crap in the world listed under whatever I'm loking for. For instance I recently was searching for an ebook, I knew what I wanted after researching & simply typed in model # + NEW & "searched". What I got in return from eBay was an uncountable number of "sellers" using the buzz words netbook, eepc, asus & any amount of other "descriptions" actually selling cases for the product, unwanted parts for the product, software for any product, batteries unrelated to the product, second hand smashed bits of the product etc. ad infinitum. Amongst this load of garbage were about 3 of the actual product I was looking for!

It's annoying in the etreme. There are also the China sellers with deals & bad feedback that are ludicrous, products in the USA & elswhere with tempting prices & extortionate shipping fees, even when you stipulate Aus only! I've been with eBay through all it's various "improvements" & "upgrades", which is eBaySpeak for "What can we do to rip off more from our sellers & buyers via fees & PayPal & any other company we aquire along the way when it looks even vaguely like it might compete with us or dares to make a profit from our format".

eBay was FUN in the old days, now it's a freakin PAIN. Even when selling a decent item for a very reasonable price you are thwarted by listings galore of rubbish incorrectly labeled in the search headings. As if that's not enough, if you bid on or even look at an item of interest eBay directs you to what it thinks is something like it off site to one of their paying advertisers. Surely to hell this is totally immoral? You charge people to list a product then send anybody who is looking for it to another site???? If one happens to be outbid on something you then get bombarded with messages telling you to look at other items, which, mostly, are not even remotely similar to what you were bidding on.

I haven't made a comment on any of these boards for years, since they changed the format, I'm not even sure if they will allow anybody to read this but I had to get it out of my system!

Sorry eBay, it's just not good enough!!!!!

Anybody agree with me? Lemme know.

Peace.

[digital*ghost]

Are you refining the search in any way? The best thing to do  is to be as specific as possible when conducting a search. I know sellers flooding categories with items you aren't looking for can be annoying, but refining searches is pretty much necessary in a lot of categories.

For example, type your search words, refine to specific categories (accessories should not be listed in the device categories, if they are, they're reportable - eg a phone cover in the category specifically for iPhones can be reported, if you care to take the time).

You can further refine your search by taking out keywords, just add a dash (minus) before the word (eg a search for iphone -cover will show all results with iphone in the title, but not with cover in the title).

[kopenhagen5]

If you find blatent misuse, report the item or seller. Ebay are pretty good to respond, especially if they find multiple reports on a seller and if they can easily see the breach in policy.

[surfocollecto]

As stated, I have been doing eBay since it started, basically I have kept up with all the "refinements" & would kinda think I know how to work the system, pretty much I do refine my searches to the full extent the system allows. My point is, it should not really be necessary. I have been doing eBay for more than 14 years so I do have more than a rough idea of how it goes.

Thanks for your interest, I am just "blowing off" at the system because I remember the good old days but best not to go there & move on to what it's about today.

I have no wish to report people, even for blatant breaches of the rules, eBay will not act if it's not in their interest & anyway I'm not concerned with how other people feel they need to con others.

Peace.

[phorum_junkie*]

Do you mean those good old days when there was only ebay buyer protection which only covered you for the item price and not the postage and less $25 at that?

Do you mean the good old days when there was pretty much nothing but second hand things, many of them absolute rubbish, to choose from?

Do you mean the good old days when there was no Aus Paypal and you had to wait for bank deposits to clear and match up payments with incomprehensible references?

Do you mean in the good old days when carp sellers could leave retaliatory feedback and ask for mutual cancellation so they kept their high percentage?

Do you mean the good old days when you had to pay for gallery pics and it cost way too much to list cheap items?

I have been around as long as you have and have bought and sold on three continents and I MUCH prefer the ebay of today.

[digital*ghost]

 I have kept up with all the "refinements" & would kinda think I know how to work the system, pretty much I do refine my searches to the full extent the system allows. My point is, it should not really be necessary. I have been doing eBay for more than 14 years so I do have more than a rough idea of how it goes.

My comments weren't intended to suggest you don't know how to refine searches, just asked if you were refining them - with examples of how it can be done to achieve exact results, on the chance that it would be of benefit to you, or anyone else reading this thread.

Like I said, I know it can be annoying, but without customising searches to the nth degree, eBay has but a (very) basic search engine for millions of things based (almost entirely) on keywords.

eBay don't list items, sellers do. Sellers also choose their categories, condition and title keywords. Agreed that some of them have dubious listing practices, and agreed that without eBay investing in resources to police their policies, members willing to report such practices and eBay applying said policies across the board when legitimate reports are made, nothing will change or improve.

The comparison to shopping at a fashion outlet doesn't hold up - when you type, for example, 'iphone' into eBay's search bar, you're telling the search engine you want to see anything and everything related to iphones, so the best comparison would be walking into a megamart and saying "let me see everything you have that has anything to do with iPhones", then getting ticked that they didn't just show you brand new iPhones but instead pointed towards a massive section of millions of related items.

[x3n0m]

imagine if outside your westfields specialty shop if westfields management put paid advertising directing buyers away from your store to the competition down the road and round the corner ???!!! WTF is going on here and why are my sales in the toilet??? .. yeah my oath this place is on the nose ..

[x3n0m]

now just imagine if westfiels insisted that the paid advertising directing buyers away from your store must actually be inside your store .. it just doesn't seem possible that any business can sustain the abuse that ebay has put us through ..

[x3n0m]

back before ebay deleted thousands of categories I was one of less than half a dozen sellers around the world who was selling gemstone beads .. well ebay deleted that category which we were all doing quite well in .. eg in Australia there would be about 12 listings in that category and we all sold well .. now we are thrown into a category of 100's of thousands or millions and sales just came to a sudden jolting halt .. just stopped dead and no one can find us or be bothered with looking and best match default just buried us .. all by ebay marketing management design .. it is very difficult for me to recommend ebay to anyone I know ..

[godspeedpluto]

New v Used... my favourite topic. Nobody seemed to consult any of the sellers in the "Rocks, Fossils, Minerals" category about this one. Makes me laugh every single time. There's plenty of T&C's round here that make no sense, but in this case it's a borderline paradox. None of these listings can be new, but if they're listed as used, then I want to know... Used for what???

One step further down the rabbit hole. There are two categories potentially available to list these items.

-Lots More/Metaphysical/Crystals

-Collectables/Rocks, Fossils, Minerals/Crystals

Yet, in both categories the descriptions will talk up both the metaphysical, mineralogical and geological properties.

I've lost count of the number of misidentified specimens I have purchased and the subsequent abuse I've had to tolerate from sellers who know full well they're deceiving their buyers. But because it's in the realms of science AND the paranormal, they know full well they'll get away with it. I can't remember a time when I've ever wanted to go into a store and I've had to stand outside and consciously put my war face on. The new rules only seem to favour the low lives.

The market is so flooded by thieves and cons from every country, I can't tell who's going to rob me any more. The honour system used to work, when their actually WAS honour present. Either way, I quit.