Big changes at eBay

[JAC]

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803030932242.html


"
Protecting buyer's identities as they bid on all auction-style listings
To protect the Community from this growing safety threat, we have made the decision to mask User IDs for bidders on all auction-style listings on eBay.com and Motors. This change will go into effect later this week.


How Safeguarding Member IDs works
Bidder User IDs are "masked," so that scammers can't tell who is bidding on a listing and therefore cannot target them with official-looking spoof email. The masked User ID's consist of two random characters from the member's User ID – for example, a***b. This method of identifying a bidder (whose feedback score is also visible) gives legitimate members a sense of who is bidding, while protecting the bidders' identities."

[JAC]

No doubt rarechips4everyone dude with his super rare black pentium pros and other stuff will be delighted.
Shilltastic.

[Windmiller]

[JAC]

[Qwerty]

eBay is digging it's own grave!

There are many suicidal changes - like:
- "modifications" of the feedback system ...
- massive fee increase (eg. 60% in Germany)
- anonymized bidder IDs
- "best match" sorting
- 21 days - PayPal money freezes based on your feedback score and detailed rating
- the eBay USA's helpdesk staff is now in India.

In Germany we have some extra "improvements":
- new search engine - it will find anything except what you are looking for.
- changes and massive malfunctions of listing pages.
- the eBay's buyer protection doesn't exist anymore
- the PP is a mandatory payment methode
- the "new community" - also called a "new comedy", "new tragedy", or "peep show" - you will get it soon. Prepare yourself!


I doubt eBay will "survive" these changes. Who will be foolish enough to sell or buy something on eBay?

[CPUShack]

Ebay love shill bidders, makes them more money.

[JAC]

I am really sad to see these changes. I hope sellers continue to sell items. It is through ebay I have been able to investigate (and spend a lot of money) on strange vintage technology like radio tubes, nixies, old cpus and other cool technical things.

[debs3759]

They're just opening the gates for cheaper, better run and better organised auction sites to take back some of the marketplace

[FDIV]

It would be nice to see a viable alternative to e-bay. In the U.S. they are the closest thing I have ever heard of to a pure monopoly. They make Microsoft and Intel look like free market economics at its finest. Perhaps with the global community such as it is today a player with foreign roots such as tao-bao will succeed ebay. That or mabey craigslist. Although the only thing I ever see on craigslist is ads for prostitutes. In any case there is quite an opportunity to be had but the successor will need what e-bay had in, of all people, rosie o'donell to get started. It's hard to remember but before rosie was the oft fired foul mouthed ignorant stereotype run amuck from hell she was Americas chatty amusing housewife with her own highly rated talk show. A sort of day time Jay Leno. Her show was on right after I got home from school and immediately before the Simpson's. I remember her auctioning off celeb signed merchandise daily on e-bay. I believe she is the reason E'bay was successful. Her audience of millions of American housewives trapped in the house with children and craving shopping had no where else to turn. If Rosie was a bit smarter she wouldn't have given E-bay all those 5 minute free daily endorsed commercials and rather would have taken a percentage stake in the company. Had she done that she would be richer than her sworn enemy "The Donald" R. Inc. Pat-Pend. Ok, I'm done with ranting suffice it to say I would be happy to see that greedy little bastard company fade into the never written history of once mighty dot coms. And as for their support moving overseas. I wasn't aware they had any support to start with. I thought E-bay consisted of a rich owner 300 lawyers, 2 tech guys locked in a basement, and 50 overworked marketing interns.

[debs3759]

hehe, I couldn't have put that better I had no idea it was a TV presenter who helped put them in everyone's shopping list though, amazing how much power a chat show can have!

[Guest]

FDIV, what you are experiencing on Craig`s List is
a regional internet filter. Here in the somewhat
Northern East, Craig`s List is plump with jobs not
prostitutes. They get looked for the regular ways.
Still, a neighbour is running across a big job looking
problem. Over the weekend, his enemies load
the area`s Craig`s List with several (actually tons)
of poor, non- existent, or other fraudulent jobs. He
suddenly discovered that already having a Sunday
job and letting the everyday people dig for the
fake jobs set out for him Sunday then looking for
the real jobs Monday solved nearly all of the
problem. I agree about Rosie, entirely. For those
who are tired of E-bay`s endless keep- aways and
other dull drags, at least there is here for the
computer related parts, and oh, by the way, if
you guys need links to other free operated trades
of hobby items, vacuum tubes, circuit diagrams,
etc., e- mail me or give me permission to post
them since their topics are too far out of "CPUs
and chips". I`d be too happy to oblige.

[Fred Jodry]

The post I just made was sensibly not intended to be
annonymous, but the log- in malfunctioned. Here`s
my name and log- in, Fred Jodry.

[gshv]

[el_gecko]

[hugo929]