Suggestions to make eBay better: come and contribute!

[everard6920]

I don't know who reads these boards, but I thought it'd be interesting to read people's thoughts and ideas for eBay. Almost every thread is filled with complaints (in most cases, warranted) . . .  but let's turn that around and have a positive, constructive discussion about what needs to change/what can be improved.

More functionality for eBay stores. We're paying a subscription fee, and "store" software is readily available all over the internet - so let's try to bring eBay stores in to line with other "stores", me thinks.

1. Minimum order amount: I'd love to be able to set a minimum order amount for my buyers. This is standard throughout most online stores, big and small. The advantages of this would be that it'd be easier to provide free (or discounted) postage, as you could set your minimum order to an amount that would allow you to absorb the postage. You can't do that if someone buys only a $3 item (and forget about posting that with tracking or insurance . . .)

2. Consistency with the shopping cart: this works on some eBay sites, and not on others. Please eBay, decide whether you're going to support it or not, and implement some consistency across your sites.

3. Stop policing my pictures. If my pictures are too small, then that is my problem. Some items are ACTUALLY small and they don't need a 39485743957934 x 495874395794379 resolution. Okay?

4. Fix payments for multiple items. You don't go into Big W or DJ's, buy 5 items, and pay for each one separately. The "bug" that stops people using combined payments on smart phones needs to be fixed, and ideally, sellers should be able to change settings allowing them to force a buyer to pay for the 384328947 items they bought in the last hour, in one payment.

5. Obviously, the DSR, defect and feedback systems need a major overhaul. Refunding a buyer shouldn't automatically be a defect - in many cases, that's good customer service, not bad. We all know that the wording of DSRs needs to be fixed - so do the ratings, because only in the eBay universe is a 3 out of 5 a "bad" rating. If you're not going to allow sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers, then at least provide EVERYONE with more transparency by showing an unpaid item count on their profile.

Might post more later, but that's what I've got for now.

[*sparklz*]

Buyers MUST contact a seller to sort out any problems before they can leave anything other than positive feedback.

[digital*ghost]

Lots of good suggestions in this thread. 🙂 

My wish list remains pretty much the same (though I did get the out of stock control feature 😄 ) - at the top of which amounts to eBay enforcing their buyer policies, most specifically the one relating to using other IDs to buy when any one of them has been blocked by a seller.

Plus, clarfication on a wide range of issues the MBG has since introduced, along with another overhaul of the "new and improved" cancellation process so that it actually works properly and sellers aren't left waiting for 10 days after a buyer requests a cancellation then doesn't know what to do because they're being asked to confirm a refund on an item they never paid for.

If they won't remove the ETA in listings, the least they can do is make it clear it's not a "due date", and they're just guessing on behalf of sellers and postal services. 

It's unlikely eBay will ever allow a minimum spend feature, but you can do the next best thing and use promotional postage rules to set it up so that postage is free when a certain $ value is reached. It can work in conjunction with other postage rules (eg say you have $5 post with each additional item @ $1 post, then free post when the order value is $50 or more). Eventually the item price discounts feature should be rolled out to all sellers. I know neither option is as good, because it means you have to price items higher on average from the outset, which tends to = lower interest etc from search results and the like, so it would be kinda nice if this new feature they've got highlighting markdowns and postage deals on listings was also reflected in some way in search results (without having to pay for a subtitle 😄 ).  

[diecastcorner2014]

to make ebay better they need to turn there clocks back 5 years ago.

back then buyers where plentyful sellers sold items at much cheaper prices and ebay was thriving.

now ebay is almost a ghost town hardly any buyers,  sellers are just about feed up with the many changes.

we all understand things change with time but the past 5 years the changes have done ebays once thriving site no one any favours.

sellers , buyers & ebay themself are all worst off now than back then...

[thecatspjs]

Free auctions for stores included in their store package.

Doesn't have to be their whole free listings amount, 40 sounds good to me the same as non-store IDs get 🙂

[thecatspjs]

Rewards for top rated sellers - ebay does it in the US.

Oz sellers currently only get the stick - we would like some carrot tooo please 😉

[5kazam]

---

@*sparklz* wrote:

Buyers MUST contact a seller to sort out any problems before they can leave anything other than positive feedback.

---

I also believe buyers MUST contact a seller to sort out any problems - BEFORE they can instigate ANY claim.  

Only when/if that fails should a claim be allowed to commence.  If there is enough message correspondence between the two parties, then eBay would have to think twice before closing a case in the buyers favour, and look at what the seller has offered/or was prepared to do, to rectify the situation.

MBG = kangaroo court.

[ydgonline06]

An Australian call centre would be great

[zanadoo_56]

A better search function - Oz sellers at the top, then overseas - and no section of 'near enough' to the 'God-knows-why' search result of irrelevant items.

Saved searches/sellers with the notes function restored (and eBay can change the heading titles back as well)  I've just realised while some of my original saved searches emails work, some now won't and the only way I can fix them is to create a new search....and I lose my notes in the process. Grrrrrr.

Something to compel sellers to add descriptions/comments etc on their products where more info is warranted. 'Sent by my iPhone' doesn't cut it.  For goodness sake, use a proper computer or something if that's all you can put (or be bothered to put) via an iPhone....if you want sales that is.

Get rid of sellers that say they are in Australia but aren't.

More policing of sellers of dodgy goods.  I don't care if they are power sellers and eBay makes a fortune from them - if they are crooks who rip buyers off they should go.

[glenbankloel]

We would love to know if the buyer is a repeat buyer. When they purchase something again a flag or message appears telling us this person bought something from us before with the date. Could just cover the last 6-12 months and show the items and value.

Would be a great function that might say, have a box to tick to be able to give free post or discount, or include a note in the item offering a % discount on the next purchase.

And perhaps be able to start up a list of repeat buyers for exclusive offers email list. So that only repeat buyers get a message about certain offers etc etc.....  anyhow just would love to be able to see who is coming back repeatedly without relying on a manual list, or our memory.