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Hi Tammy,

I think that eBay is heading in the wrong direction for a seller like myself who is interested in selling via the auction format.

It really seems like eBay management hates auctions. No matter, this has been a great thing for me as it has lead me to discover the potential of live video auctions, which I think is truly the future for internet marketers like myself.

I've had two very successful auctions on dealitlive.com where I sold 26 of 28 listed items!

I'm not an eBay hater, but I find myself listing only casually now.

Tammy Kahn Fennell said:

With all the recent changes at eBay lets talk about how it affects your business… what you like, don't like….

What I like - the new search functions is definitely making it easier for people to shop.

Don't like: the new page - i've lost my side bar from my store frame, which i thought made my listing look more professional.

Like - The traffic. Can't argue with ebay traffic.

Don't like: forcing paypal on people.

Hi Tammy,

I'm not sure if you have checked with ebay lately concerning your note on the missing 'sidebar'. I and many other sellers have complained about that!!! Ebay said it was a done deal and that it will not return… Lo & behold, it has returned…? I called ebay on that and customer service with their canned responses and total lack of knowledge tell me that it never was gone. I wrote Skip McGrath of ebay radio and a power seller. (his twitter id - @Skip_McGrath) you should follow him. He said ebay had so many complaints about it that they reinstated it…. The problem I had was that I had reformatted all my auctions to fit within ebay's new size… (800 pixels). When they put the bar back all my auctions now are 975pixels, which requires that buyers not only scroll up and down the page but now left and right… As you know, buyers are lazy. If we make them work for it, many will leave and go elsewhere. Its sort of like having lots of boxes in the aisles of your store for customers to maneuver around… you lose people that way. Ebay Sucks. I want to recommend a new start-up company that I have been dealing with as a social media selling tool, along with blogging, twitter, facebook, utube, & so many others. The company Name is 'netspray”. Here is the link -  http://bit.ly/d3GSH . It is definitely worth looking into.

OK… back to ebay…. their search function eliminates so much with the best match option…. It is for power sellers. ebay has forgotten about where they were 13 years ago!

I disagree with your opinion on paypal being the only option. there are so many others. google checkout, auctiva, and others. You just need to set that option in your seller preferences. If you want to accept other payments like checks; There is one loophole in ebay's requirement not to promote check or money order payments. You can't mention it in your ad, but you can mention money orders or other payment methods in your end of auction email.

Ebay is headed downhill & if they continue to lose sellers and customers they may soon go the way of GM.

Reflecktions, Inc
KA

PS. Nice website here!!!

eBay's proposed change that would make all auctions look the same and take away our ability to customize the look and feel of our templates scares the bejeezes out of me.  I am in the process of building a custom store for a new client and don't want to tell them that this template may not work in a few months.  Not only does it take away a portion of my income (creating custom stores and listing templates), it doesn't differentiate between the professional sellers and the one time scam sellers.  I think the templates make the auctions look unique just like walking into different B&M stores.

Kelley

Last week, the Auction Bytes newsletter had an article about a proposed change to how auction listings will look - read the full article here.   What eBay is considering is standardizing the auction listings and removing the ability to use html to format the listings. 

It appears that these changes would no longer allow users to use third party templates (or their own).  It would make everyone's listings look the same.

Right now eBay is just testing the idea so there is no firm commitment on their part to make these changes. 

These changes would affect lots of companies and individuals who either design or paid to have designed expensive listing templates.  Do you really want your listings to look the same as all of the other sellers on eBay.  I know I don't.

– Kelley