The web is not new and over the years, everyone has learned about those things that users of your website can not stand enough to make them not want to come back for a future visit. You know things like auto-playing videos, pop-ups, pop-outs and even poor navigational issues that prevent someone from finding your content that you wish to share.
Well… I should say some have learned.
On a typical day, I am ‘logged-in’ to ebay for about 5 hours and buy about 5 items a week and also use to sell about 2 items a day, now down to about 2 items a week. I have been buying and selling items on there for well over 10 years.
So… can someone, anyone explain to me why it is necessary to tell me in a pop-out that I was just outbid on a item that I just bid on and was immediately outbid. To be followed by a item in my ‘ALERTS’ that I was outbid on that item. That alert will be repeated as many as 10 times over the coming days for the same item. And for every item that I may have bid on. Kinda makes you not want to bid for the ‘nagging’. Just the tip of the iceberg for the nagging.
The same goes for items in my ‘watch list’
Now, eBay has included a emoji in the subject lines of their automated emails that prevent me from seeing the text of the truncated subject line for me to know if it is something I need or want to read/open. I do not like opening emails that could be a phishing expedition and so I don’t. But that by itself is so annoying since I can not stop these emails from ebay based on user messaging preferences. Only the sellers have control of that if they wish to send them to you and are all turned on by default for acknowledging the sale, making a label for shipping and delivery of item. Why do I need a message to tell me the package was delivered 2-4 hours after I opened the package. …NAG …NAG …NAG ! I now auto-delete emails with emoji’s in the subject line so if you want me to open and read your message, get to the point and don’t puff-it-up with crap I don’t need to serve any purpose except annoy me.
I’m sure there is some bean counter somewhere that can justify what they do. But the hard truth is how do you calculate future lost customers that shop somewhere else. Something you don’t realize until it gets you past the point of no return ?
All the changes that have occurred as of late have kept me from finding the items I want/need. Because they have been buried by results of non-relevant items. Mainly in the area of accessories for the product. And nobody is enforcing the sellers to put the items in a proper category since it is now so important. Your searches no longer are limited to the title of the listing and if you think you are going to find a item quickly, think again. Oh.. you might when using ebay’s ‘best match’ method. But that will keep you from finding the best deals since it is a way for ebay to legally control what is in front of you (skewing the results) without rebut from the sellers.
So if you sell and don’t offer FREE SHIPPING and ONE DAY SHIPPING or have SOME KOOK that left you bad feedback for a reason that you can not control like he/she did not read the listing that says what color it is or that the item was delivered to their mailbox (tracking) but they did not get it just the same. Well these things will keep you from being found in ‘BEST MATCH’ among the other listings that probably should not be shown in your search results. It seems now they want everyone to become a ebay ‘store’ and are giving preference to those that do have them. But the fees outweigh the profits for me and come with a new set of rules that are adverse to me.
Well, I for one find it hard to believe that I must offer same day shipping on items that have to be manufactured or modified to the customers specs. I state a 48 hour handling time but get them out in 6-18 hours and I would say that is pretty darn fast for a person that has to ‘make’, ‘pack’ and ‘ship’ that around their day job. It just seems that they feel everyone is some kind of big box store. So what I try to do is exceed buyers expectations as that is all that is truly needed. ebay just wants to create unreasonable expectation that will only lead to disappointment. It seems it is trying to be Amazon while it should work around and ‘dig-in’ to the things it does best.
But in any case, even though I find it a bit more expensive, probably caused by higher seller fees, Amazon allows me to find what I am looking for very quickly. A small price to pay for a good bit of your time the way I see it. I may start selling my trinkets there as well but it is starting to be more advantageous to set-up my own web page and store for if I have to spend all the time to figure out how to get noticed on ebay without result, I might as well just be doing a Google SEO work to my own site where I control the results and I receive direct benefit for my good efforts and at the same time find out who is actually noticing me and WHY ! That allows me to make better decisions for my little operation. The time it takes to keep up with changes that occur twice a year at ebay almost require a full time position and a lawyer. Which is why I will not sell overseas nor except moneys from non-US accounts. I could not begin to understand the additional implications of things going wrong in some countries where the rules are different than the US.
So that’s my NAG on ebay’s NAG. I really don’t wish to use it anymore. It is not a enjoyable experience to say the least. Just a NAG. And they want my cell phone number to continue the NAG ? fat chance I want nag’s texted to me 24/7 in the future.