Question
So, like the rest of you sellers, I just received the message from eBay that they are going to do away with the original "Sell Your Item" form in early May.
I have had nothing but problems with the "NEW" form, and have not listed anything with it, always having to bail out of the listing process before I could complete it. I know I tried several times (it has been so long since I tried, I forget what the problems were, but they were VERY fundamental.)
Thanks for fixing something that was not broken, eBay!
Between that, and eBay allowing buyers to send me funds via Paypal when I DO NOT F'ING TAKE PAYPAL, AND IT SAYS SO IN MY LISTINGS, AND I DO NOT CHECK THE "ACCEPTS PAYPAL" BOX ON MY LISTINGS I am ready to retire from the eBay arena. When I am rocking and rolling with listings, I see maybe $300 a week profit from eBay. When things are slow (like now), I only see maybe $100-$125 a week profit. It is not worth the effort when I could be spending my time on more profitable ventures.
But, ask me how I REALLY feel!
Answer
I just got it too.
This could be the end of my ebay selling as well. I just went to RE-assess the new form and it's as counterproductive as I remember from trying it before.
There are at least two extra pages I'd now have to go through. I've always hated trying to navigate through the list of categories to choose one, so for years, I've adopted a method of filling in the category numbers on the category page. I always have them researched and ready when I list and it takes only seconds to enter them. I almost always use 2 categories when I list unless there simply is no appropriate 2nd category. On the old form you could enter category numbers for both on the same page, too simple. The new form is RIDICULOUSLY cumbersome. First I have to type in a word or two to describe the item (on a page designed for new sellers who know nothing about selling on ebay). I'm then taken to a page that has ebays "suggestions" for appropriate categories. If the category I want isn't among them (and it wasn't), I have to click a link to further search for the right one (bear in mind, I already know what categories I want and have the numbers ready).
So I click a link to "browse categories" and go to another page with browseable categories (and finally a box to fill in a number!). But, alas,I now have to click a link to choose a second category, BUT WHAT'S THIS, a window pops up with more of ebays "suggestions" for 2nd categories! No other choices, no box to fill in a cat. number, just a take-it-or-leave-it choice of ebay's suggestions! UNBELIEVABLE! The suggestions of course are based on the original "pre-desciption" (I think) and not even be close to a category I intended.
Now, mind you, I'm 3 or 4 pages into this peice of crap and haven't even got to the "enter description" page yet, and I can no longer use two categories (ebays 2nd cat choices were unacceptable for the item I was testing, and as far as I could see there was no way for me to pick a 2nd cat of my own choosing).
Well, I didn't go any further, It was already a nightmare, and that just to list a single item. I'm sure there were more hoops to leap through and "opt outs" to beware of on the next half dozen pages.
Are they trying to drive everyone back to fixed price format?? It's just getting unbearable.
This could easily be dumbest assembly of human beings that ever ran a company into the dirt.
Answer
I CANNOT believe how ridiculous the new form is!!
It takes forever to load, and as long-gone mentioned ...no place to enter the cat #. I do my own HTML and in the final preview box, all it shows is the upper and lower parts of the auction as they will appear once the item is listed, my HTML still shows as HTML. They also try to force you to use the shipping calculator, or else choose "all my buyers will pay the same flat rate" option.
I can't even remember all the other crap - argggg ...I could spit nails!!
eta ...long-gone, I had the same problem with the 2nd cat. - they give you 3 or 4 choices based on the original cat. NONE of them were appropriate.
Answer
Someone named Terry has posted a "how to" manual for the new form. Here's the link ...
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...1700 95944114
Answer
The new form couldn't possibly be designed by anyone who has sold more than a couple household items on ebay.
Somethings up. That form is CLEARLY geared toward the casual seller of common goods. It's plain that this form is merely suitable for begginers and is too dumbed-down and inefficient for experienced sellers. Surely they understand that more experienced sellers NEED a streamlined form, not a handholding, fuzzy, how 'bout a few suggestions, basic primer.
They MUST be up to something. Seems like yet another ebay style manipulation. If I was to think like ebay, I might foist this useless tool on my members, if say, I wanted to more sharply segregate the user base between casual/occaisional sellers and regular sellers by forcing the hobby or part-time sellers toward a more efficient system, like using a listing program, accepting paypal (with a business account), Which was just pretty much made mandatory, and in essence elevate such sellers to a more business-like "vendor" status.
Could it have something to do with the IRS? ie: pushing for ebay to demonstrate a clearer definition of it's "business" user base. Just groping for reasons that they would force this on us.
Yep, they must be up to something. Unless they are actually mindless enough to really believe that that ineptly disigned new form [quote] "...makes it faster and easier to list your items."
Answer
Wow, thanks for that link toystover.
Apparently the first few pages look like they're designed for newbies, but once you get involved it could quickly get a little confusing and prone to some bugs, especially if you write your own HTML. A bit of a learning curve to digest. I think that info will be a big help. The new form is still going to be a nightmarish piece of crap but those hints will help. Apparently the ebay pinks were studying his synopsis to help answer the deluge of questions they've been getting about the new form. What a joke.
There's a link at the end of his help post leading to an ebay board discussing the new form. I only read the last few pages, but the prevalent point of view is that the new form is DETESTED among most users (at least those posting). Most interesting to note is the amount of dissent from users with high feedback (AKA experienced longtime sellers).
Answer
Originally Posted by toystover
Someone named Terry has posted a "how to" manual for the new form. Here's the link ...
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.js...1700 95944114
Huge Help! I normally use TL but for a few relists and revisions this will be most helpful. Thank You! and many thanks to Terry who took the time to write "SYI3 for Dummies" and publish it. If you want to print it out set your printer to print 12 pages and that will cover it. I set mine to 2 pages to a sheet, print both sides. If you don't have bad vision problems that is a nice readable size while only using 6 sheets.
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You know... it says much about Ebay when a replacement listing page which is billed as easier, and should be more intuitive, requires a 12 page manual of instructions, even for some long experienced Ebay sellers.
When I tried to use the new form it would not load the category selector, and I could not change categories at all (it was the first time I tried to use the new technology early) - since then I have bought a new computer but have never been diverted to the new listing page since, so don't yet know whether I will have problems. I guess I will find out in May.
Hmmm, Kevin
Answer
The new form couldn't possibly be designed by anyone who has sold more than a couple household items on ebay.
Somethings up. That form is CLEARLY geared toward the casual seller of common goods. It's plain that this form is merely suitable for begginers and is too dumbed-down and inefficient for experienced sellers. Surely they understand that more experienced sellers NEED a streamlined form, not a handholding, fuzzy, how 'bout a few suggestions, basic primer.
They MUST be up to something. Seems like yet another ebay style manipulation. If I was to think like ebay, I might foist this useless tool on my members, if say, I wanted to more sharply segregate the user base between casual/occaisional sellers and regular sellers by forcing the hobby or part-time sellers toward a more efficient system, like using a listing program, accepting paypal (with a business account), Which was just pretty much made mandatory, and in essence elevate such sellers to a more business-like "vendor" status.
Yep, they must be up to something. Unless they are actually mindless enough to really believe that that ineptly disigned new form "...makes it faster and easier to list your items.
Your first statement may well be true. I'm sure whomever is designing the form probably hasn't sold much on Ebay if ever. And your last statement is also probably true, they actually may well be delusional enough to think the new SYI is better than the old (probably because its "prettier" looking, not because its actually better, faster or more useful).
I can imagine two reasons (aside from the above) why it is going down this way. No, make that three. One, and this is by far the dumbest reason, is so that amongst the many "advances" Ebay can tout to shareholders at the next quarterly or annual meeting is an update of the SYI form to be faster and better. Most of those shareholders probably haven't a rat's *ss idea of what the old SYI looked like, much the new one, much less how well they respectively perform. But it sounds good as a bullet point in a shareholder or board of directors power point presentation.
Now I've thought of a fourth reason. Perhaps Ebay found that there was some room for manipulation in the old seller form, a way an unscrupulous seller could manipulate say FVF or listing fees, and had to rewrite substantial sections of the code to prevent this fraud/manipulation. Of course, they wouldn't want to *admit* that's why, just give you a shiny new look and tell you its newer and better and hope everyone swallows it. I don't think this particularly likely, but it is a possibility. People have gotten around ebay and paypal in various ways before, maybe someone came up with something fiendishly clever.
My first two thoughts are probably the most likely. One is, that with the flight of so many experienced sellers, which will undoubtedly increase every time Ebay and Paypal raise fees, that they are going to have to assiduously court newbie sellers, including ones who need help finding their way out of a paper bag, and one way to do that is to dumb down the form. The best possible analogy I can think of is the tobacco industry introducing Joe Camel and other children-appealing promotions designed to appeal to the kiddies, since they are killing off their older more established customers with things like lung cancer. They need to appeal to a new generation since they are killing off the old one.
Second is, for those who are still determined enough to continue selling on Ebay, the Powersellers and those who can't or won't go elsewhere, but who find the new SYI too time and energy consuming, what better way to essentially strong arm them into forking over some additional cash for say, the brand new and improved TurboLister, or some super duper multiple listing program that may show up any day now? What better way to extort additional sums from those who sell in bulk on Ebay (aside from raising fees directly again) than to make it so wasteful and timeconsuming to list and manage your listings manually, then offer them a super new tool or program which enables them to get around the problem which you've just created? Kind of like shutting down a major thoroughfare for road repair, then setting up a toll booth on the only detour route available.
Answer
Hey Colorscape, your 2nd reason is kind of what I meant by ...if I was ebay it'd be a good way to push part time sellers toward a regular "vendor" status, by making it so cumbersome to list that stuff like turdolister, and just letting ebay handle the templates, pics, etc. start to look more efficient and appealing.
To articulate a bit better what I mean by dumbed down yet thoughtlessly complicated, it seems that overall, the new SYI appears to be a fairly smooth (though protracted) hand holding form if your NEW to the ebay experience. It's carefully crafted to cater to new sellers who want to make their auctions LOOK like they're those of an experienced seller. Furthermore it's designed to promote (foist) "pay for" services and extras on newbies and experienced sellers alike.
Conversely, if you are an experienced seller, who uses your own HTML, templates, pic hosting, have your own system in place for shipping, handling, payment methods, communication, fulfillment etc., It's a very frustrating, buggy, "careful what you do and don't click", protracted and inefficient form. More so if you're on a MAC.
Additionally, it's a SHAMEFULLY "independence-unfriendly" product. It's too apparent that another blow is being struck at autonomous, self reliant sellers. They want EVERYONE to be at their mercy and use all THEIR poorly designed "pay for" crap.
They want to suck every penny out of every hole in your body! (eeeeww!)