Hi Amazon? Oh no, sorry.. It's eBay. (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: Wheelchair-Wiz

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	19/02/09 (311 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I love eBay so much, but what I love, eBay doesn't seem to care about any more.

Disadvantages: More shops, less bargains, navigation going down the drain.

I have been a member of eBay now for almost 9 years, I believe I joined 7 or 8 months after it first launched in the UK. Using it every other month for nine years I guess should really make me an expert, but sticking to mainly buying and selling second-hand goods, I guess there is a lot on eBay I truly don't know about.

I do not understand eBay shops, or their fees, I have never really tracked the costs of selling things either. I use eBay the same as I did all that time ago when I first registered, to buy and sell second-hand goods. I don't buy new stuff there, I don't often look at what the shops are selling and basically I use eBay like an online version of Cash Generator. Sometimes I buy stuff from abroad and I have also been known to sell things to overseas eBay members.

Even though I don't really keep track of the eBay shops I see how it is affecting eBay today. When I first log on to eBay after a cache wipe, or on a different computer than I predominantly use, I get directed to 'shop.ebay.co.uk' layout. Now I personally find this layout totally useless and completely unfathomable. I am forced to opt-out as this now seems to be the standard search, the problem is this is a shop search and I do not understand why eBay is using it as default?

As far as I was aware eBay is a marketplace for everyone to sell their goods and it was designed for normal people like me, not for shops. Shops seem to be an addition that eBay has added and then realised that they aren't getting enough traffic, so they seem to be trying to force people to see the shop products first. Now this is annoying for me, I understand that shops have become a massive part of eBay but I would prefer if they just chose one route to go down and not some mishmash.

Now obviously this isn't going to happen. I can understand why eBay are trying to push their shops, they clearly have a lot of traffic hitting their website and if they can get shops selling products there and then using Paypal... It is win, win, win for eBay.

They seem to be going after these little shops that have their own website, saying "come to us, we will get you traffic" which is fine. It is probably cheaper using eBay to run your small to medium sized business than it is having your own website and paying for your own advertising. I understand the fee's are high but I am sure the quantity you will sell due to the traffic improvement will offset if you do your sums right. The problem is, if they keep on alienating people like me for profit, it is only a matter of time until they lose the traffic, and once the traffic starts dropping, everything will fail.

I am not even going to start to discuss scammers, or Paypal or anything like that, I do not think there is any point. It doesn't matter what website I use whether it is eBay or another auction site, I am sure I will run into the same problems and problem people. My biggest heart-ache is how I am feeling less and less welcome on eBay even though I have been a member for such a long time.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that eBay shops are a good thing and it allows normal people like myself to actually start a business from home (or at least it use to?). I just don't like how eBay think, they believe they are so big now that it doesn't matter what they do. They believe that the traffic they get cannot leave, that these other auction sites aren't enticing to us... I think they are wrong.

I have seen some miracles happen before and I don't think eBay are safe if they continue with their dodgy business practices. I have watched the rise of Google, how it obliterated the competition, I have seen manufacturers like AMD rise from nothing, I remember the days when nobody believed Linux would be sold on any computer at any retail shop because of Microsoft's domination.

History tells us that it doesn't matter how much of a big boy you are, a simple mistake can cost you everything. A recent example would be Firefox and how it managed to steal so much thunder from Internet Explorer.

Summary: I just hope eBay goes back to how it once was before they get sucked down the plug hole.