I know there are many here that avoid eBay at all costs and that’s fine. To each his own. As for me, I’ve bought and sold there for years and use it to find things that aren’t readily available from the vendors we love like WCCC.
Recently eBay has implemented a new ‘feature’ that allows for AI generated descriptions. Unscrupulous sellers are using this to keyword spam at levels not previously seen.
As some of you know, I am on a never-ending quest for the holy grail - 1970 Decor door panels in white that are pristine. For over 5 years I’ve had a daily search running that rarely returned more than 20 hits which, while not exactly what I was looking for, were at least Cougar door panels. That same search now returns over 1,000 hits and virtually none of them are parts for Mercury cars, let alone Cougars, and certainly not door panels.
I’ve worn out my keyboard reporting these sellers and nothing is ever done. One of them, 67-corvette-327 (one of many accounts this guy runs), actually gloated to me in PMs that he’ll never stop and he teaches others how to do it.
There’s nothing to do but move on, but it’s certainly frustrating.
…but the future looks bright! We will have multi-sensored headsets that will absorb data from our neurons and AI will sort through them to bring us exactly the product we had hoped for, and ridiculously cheaper than we ever expected!
I quit selling on Ebay last winter. I was finding shipping payments deducted twice from my paypal account. I could not get a human to look in to it. Also as bmwhd1 was saying the AI bots were making it harder to tell who/what I was dealing with. The platform had become a place for retailers to sell rather then hobbyist and home makers to move there unwanted or not needed items. It’s too bad most of the attempts to start new auction platforms have mostly failed. BAT seems to be working well for selling your car, but not your extra console.
I dropped EBay as a seller when they “required” my bank account. I don’t even give my WIFE access to my bank account! As far as “a platform…for retailers to sell” - even Craigslist and FB Marketplace are going that way. We need an entrepreneurial type to set up something for Joe Shmoe.
The eBay search tool was corrupted long ago…several years ago! Now you’re seeing algorithms that are throwing stuff in front of your eyeballs “for your consideration”!
I can begin to understand this if I was shopping for clothes, but for car parts? When you ask for specific items? Nope, these companies will NOT let you have that!
I bought a transmission for our Maytag washer a few years back…I STILL get notices asking me if I want to buy another!!! AHHHHHHH! There is no intelligence in the results, only that they found something that you were interested in once…and that is a win for them.
Amazon was/is the worst… I think eBay is certainly tied or just behind… Home Depot is a disaster… and so many others now do the same, hell, even Google has gone TOTALLY commercial now, trying to sell you something at every search you type in, rather than provide you with accurate meaningful results to your searches! The results you get are simply robots that regurgitate duplicate responses back to you from MULTIPLE websites that are obviously paying Google to let them partner in order to provide you the user a better experience. Hmmmm. I think not! I’d bet that if you shopped for a 68 grill half that Walmart would say that they could get you one!!! They seem to offer every other oddball unique part I ask for! …and they will even have it delivered!!!
eBay and all their crap, is still the go to for selling IMHO. LOTS of eyeballs. You don’t need to use the AI to enter your description of your item. I wouldn’t recommend it! WAY TOO WORDY…NERDY!!! You also don’t HAVE to offer refunds! As long as your stuff is good and your descriptions and pictures are clear, then it is “buyer be not stupid!” LOOK before you bid!!!
Facebook Market is now overtaking Craigslist IMHO but I hate FB WAY too many ads and “like me” requests from strangers, and I couldn’t even make entries for some silly reason, so I just killed my account. Don’t need more time sucks and rabbit holes! I have enough ground squirrel holes out back to worry about!
C/L is still good for generic stuff you don’t want to ship, furniture etc. With eBay you simply need to set up a separate bank account for selling. Pay for things that you buy with your credit card and at least get air miles or such out of the deal! Paypal still works for other transactions with friends. Again, use your credit card if your account is empty to pay for things. You should get protection that way.
For those of you with TV’s you are feeling the pressure of your streaming rates going up and up and up and pay more for less commercials…this crazy carousel is only just starting to turn baby!!! Just wait… The internet businesses will likely start charging as well…“subscribe to Google now” “Pay more if you want less!”
Anyone remember MTV when they actually played videos all day long for free? That didn’t last long…I know there are multiple video based MTV variants, but they are not free either. Only free version is crap…reruns of Dukes of Hazards and other such drivel …
So be ready to pay more for every channel you want to stream!
This site has always been for the benefit of the terrific people who make up the global Cougar community. As time goes on the difference between what we have here and what is available everywhere else becomes more apparent.
To be perfectly crass, China has SWAMPED ebay with listings for stuff. Now, you have to be extra vigilant and look to see where the product is from / located. Shame on you, ebay, for allowing this country to swell your profits.
I don’t know how to quote another post, but just wanted to echo Cougar Bill’s comment that NPD search is awful. Like comically bad. Great company, I have one local which comes in handy. But I have to use google to find their parts. I can’t believe they’ve never done anything about it.
I miss those. Just don’t have the bandwidth to drive around for them now.
I’ll never forget back in the '80s going to a single swap meet and finding all the OEM parts I needed to swap my '66 GTO to a 4 speed for money a college kid could afford. Like under $500 for everything -an M22, bell housing, Hurst shifter, pedals, etc. Those were the days.
You also don’t HAVE to offer refunds! As long as your stuff is good and your descriptions and pictures are clear, then it is “buyer be not stupid!” LOOK before you bid!!!