eBay fiddle while site burns

by Sue Bailey

This post was written in March 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Sometimes when I try to post here, a wave of sarcasm threatens to sweep away any perspective I might have on what’s important and what isn’t. This is one such time. So, with the list of things that just. don’t. work. getting longer and longer, with Checkout having been broken for well over a month with no sign of a fix, what have eBay done? They’ve “enhanced” the header.

  • The search box has gone back to being the same size as it was before they made it weeny with the last “enhancement” they did.
  • Some kind of Javascript drop-down thing has been created for Categories: I’m not sure what this does, exactly, but nothing that eBay ever make with Javascript works properly, so I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.
  • They’ve moved the buy/sell buttons, just to confuse users even further - because hey, if they can’t find the buttons, maybe they won’t notice that the rest of the site doesn’t work!
  • And they’ve given it a “fresh new look” - I think this means “made it yellow”.

I know, of course, that the teams who make new bits of the site are not the people who fix the old broken bits. (*Is* there anyone who fixes the old broken bits? I’m finding it hard to believe.) But frankly, this rash of un-needed fiddling - the blogs, best offers and the bloody blue buttons - shows eBay’s priorities: they’re building a feature-saturated over-complicated site on a foundation that could sink at any minute.

If the new-build teams need work, then can we please have them rebuilding the site from the absolute ground up, create an eBay that works, and then buyers and sellers might even be able to get on to the site to use the bells and whistles too.

Tags for this post: ,
Author: Sue Bailey
Posted at: Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Filed Under Uncategorized
 

Comments

2 Responses to “eBay fiddle while site burns”

  1. Chairman on March 29th, 2007 12:15 am

    The blue buttons are a welcome change ;-]

    Its one of the few changes lately that didn’t mean a revision of my selling strategy or hurt my eBay biz hehe

  2. Out with the old, in with the new : TameBay on May 30th, 2007 9:42 am

    [...] Anyone waking up this morning can’t have missed the new eBay header as soon as they logged on! Colourful, bright and new functionality such as the drop down for fast navigation to top level categories. Click to embiggen Of course we’ve been expecting this ever since eBay.com got it’s new header. The eBay.com header has the facility to search a category but that’s missing on eBay.co.uk and we just have a longer search box instead. Also missing are links to eBay Motors and eBay Express, it’s a real shame they didn’t go one step further than the US and add them in along with a link to eBay Shops. [...]

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