Dinah Balk

eBay Watch: Holiday Cheer, P/E Hits All-Time Low, Korean Market

Why did this happen? In a word - Donahoe, ebay Marketing Director. From the onset of his appointment Donahoe vowed to do whatever it took to reshape ebay into his vision of an auction site by concentrating on buyer experience. He performed guinea pig tests on millions of unsuspecting visitors to the site but this did not go unnoticed as many could not opt out. Sellers were also effected by Donahoe's great experiment due to the implementation of Best Match dubbed worst match by members as a replacement for keyword searches. As it stands, not even God could find IT and ebay doesn't care as evidenced by thousands of posts on ebay's search discussion board.

eBay Watch: Bullish Downgrade, S&P Prediction, Kijiji's Aggressive Marketing

Had Zacks analyst Robert Preston taken the time to visit ebay he might downgraded ebay for a whole new set of reasons. The site is a shambles filled with bad script, pages that don't work or are different sizes, links that don't work, and guinea pig tests customers cannot opt out of because the opt out links are hidden or simply not there.

Why? Ebay's Marketing Director, Donahoe, took away KEYWORD SEARCHES and replaced them with best match, dubbed worst match by members and Finding 2.0 (Playground). Ebay has received thousands of complaints from both buyers & sellers as evidenced by their Search Discussion Board but has decided to ignore members pleas to return keyword searches.

So naturally there will be a big "buyback" of shares, especially from eBay's executive office, because they can see the writing on the wall and it isn't pretty.

Will eBay's Meg Whitman Take Leave of Absence in '08?

Meg's got my vote for worst CEO in history! Nearly everything on ebay seems to bare the mark of a juvenile presence including site design, an endless stream of script errors, advertising, and the infamous Playground. Perhaps the loss of 9.1M listings since Dec 15 will finally convince both Meg & Donahoe (the heir apparent) that Finding 2.0 (aka Playground) doesn't work because sellers are leaving. Buyers aren't far behind because no buyer should ever be subjected guinea pig tests every time they visit a site.

eBay vs Amazon: My Take

Shopping on Amazon is a real pleasure. You can always find what you're look for with ease and the site is virtually glitch free.

Shopping on eBay is nothing short of a nitemare. It is filled with bad script and bad cookies that opt unsuspecting buyers into an endless stream of guinea pig tests from which there is no escape. To make matters worse, Meg Whitman has decided that buyers don't know what they want or how to find IT. The new & improved search ignores buyers keyword searches and buyers are expected to "drill down" until they find IT based upon what eBay "thinks" a they want. This process takes forever & search results are a joke!

Shop on eBay? Not in this lifetime. Any site that deliberately invades my privacy by trying to download tracking cookies to study their "metrics" isn't worth visiting.

eBay Watch: Share Price Pressure Continues, Traffic Identical to Amazon

What happened to the sellers? Meg let a group of kids (her Findings Team) run wild and introduce one change after another over the last year and a half that didn’t make sense, was never tested, and riddled with bad script. The team’s latest decision to replace keyword searches with Best Match (aka Finding 2.0) and the addition of item specifics (now a high priority error) has been
nothing short of a catastrophy. It’s supposed to “think” for buyers but seems to be suffering from an extremely advanced stage of alzheimers. It didn't work in Express either.

If Meg wants keep the sellers that are left she needs to reinstate keyword searches, stop manipulating the market & fire the Findings Team. She also needs to decide whether or not she wants stores.
When stores were first introduced Meg embraced us. Then one morning she woke up, decided she hated us, and immediately devised a plan to get rid of us. She raised our fees, decreased our search exposure down to slim to none, eliminated our gallery pics & keyword advertising, added rolling server blackouts, and added a ton of advertising that sends buyers OFF eBay.

Now Meg has discovered she needs stores but do store owners need Meg? Many have discovered they don't because there are many alternatives and stores need a business plan with a lifespan greater than 2 to 3 weeks & a site that works!

Does Meg want ebay to be an auction site, a social network for myspace kids, or a search engine for advertisers? She needs make up her mind quick before the last seller leaves and turns off the lights.

eBay Watch: Share Price Pressure Continues, Traffic Identical to Amazon

What happened to the sellers? Meg let a group of kids (her Findings Team) run wild and introduce one change after another over the last year and a half that didn’t make sense, was never tested, and riddled with bad script. The team’s latest decision to replace keyword searches with Best Match (aka Finding 2.0) and the addition of item specifics (now a high priority error) has been
nothing short of a catastrophy. It’s supposed to “think” for buyers but seems to be suffering from an extremely advanced stage of alzheimers. It didn't work in Express either.

If Meg wants keep the sellers that are left she needs to reinstate keyword searches, stop manipulating the market & fire the Findings Team. She also needs to decide whether or not she wants stores.
When stores were first introduced Meg embraced us. Then one morning she woke up, decided she hated us, and immediately devised a plan to get rid of us. She raised our fees, decreased our search exposure down to slim to none, eliminated our gallery pics & keyword advertising, added rolling server blackouts, and added a ton of advertising that sends buyers OFF eBay.

Now Meg has discovered she needs stores but do store owners need Meg? Many have discovered they don't because there are many alternatives and stores need a business plan with a lifespan greater than 2 to 3 weeks & a site that works!

Does Meg want ebay to be an auction site, a social network for myspace kids, or a search engine for advertisers? She needs make up her mind quick before the last seller leaves and turns off the lights.