Question
I am soooooooo glad they have the priorities straight in San Jose.
From the annoucements page today
Hi everyone, I'm Scott Mencken with eBay's Marketing team. I'm here to introduce two new features that recently launched that will help you learn about what's hot on eBay and find some great deals.
eBay Pop
eBay Pop is a fun new destination to learn what's hot on eBay, with a dash of pop culture. Check out which items have been big "Movers and Shakers," cast your vote in "Head to Head," or play "How Much Is It Worth?", (perfect for fans of The Price Is Right). There's plenty more, plus we'll be adding new content and features as time goes on, so check back often.
Check out eBay Pop at www.ebay.com/ebaypop.
eBay Deal Finder
eBay Deal Finder is an easy to use new way to discover great deals on eBay. It searches the eBay marketplace and finds items that are within the total price range that you specify (including shipping) and:
...are ending soon (in less than 4 hours)
...have yet to receive a bid
...do not have a Reserve price
...have a flat shipping rate (including free shipping).
In addition to the search criteria noted above, eBay Deal Finder also presents search results in an exciting new way, including a dynamic countdown clock to let you know how much time is remaining for each item.
Check out eBay Deal Finder at dealfinder.ebay.com.
More games & non-productive diversions and a bottom feeder sevice!
WTF are they thinking out there!???!
Answer
I think they need something like this. ebay has geared itself so far into high fees and higher everything, they need to reballance the core of the listings in an effort to being value back to site, let the low ball buyer have a chance to score a deal. I like that value search.
The fun and games part is repulsive, but nothing wrong with some no-bid items (closing soon) coming up in a search just for that. I might even sell a few extra things since I always state shipping clearly in the fields.
Answer
Not as well thought through as this one:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200610....06-10-31142611
Average Selling Price for Items with Pre-Filled Item Information. We'll display the average selling price for that item when the buyer’s bid is significantly below the average. This will only be included on items where the seller’s listing was created using Pre-Filled Item Information. (Items listed with the same Pre-Filled Item Information are close or identical products and can be compared to determine a reasonably accurate average price.)
I get the idea behind this - "when the buyer’s bid is significantly below the average" you are trying to coax them to leave a higher bid, BUT this does not allow for many early bids being bookmark bids - thus you can end up warning serious bidders not to bid too high, and instead of coaxing the price up, you may end up lowering the final/later bid price. Duh!
Kevin
Answer
Ebay is akin to handing out credit cards to college students... no responsibility anymore. Only to the shareholders. Sellers/buyers are just casualties along the way.
Answer
Seems they are trying to keep up profit in a changing market.
Looking more and more like them old flea markets which ended up all new and repo junk.