Post by chapeaunoir on Jul 23, 2018 19:13:39 GMT
The catalog actually is a good idea because due to their drive for all new merchandise, eBay is loaded with replicate stuff, particularly in electronics, industrial and home goods. A lot of businesses use eBay to dump their overstock and discontinued stuff, and a lot of resellers sell from their own warehouses. Not to mention media. I sell in electronics and it's a real slog getting through that mess - fortunately, I sell all old tech (mostly used) so it's easier for me to drill down, but if they want to get the buyers of new commodities coming back, the site has to be organized better. Also, with the ability now to handle huge amounts of data, a catalog system becomes more viable because it works better with a relational database rather than the old, simpler literal DB (but which can't shuffle through all the data fast enough).
Unfortunately, they're trying to do it on the cheap. It's a huge effort getting something like that up and running and it has to be handled professionally. Amazon grew its catalog organically with their site - eBay is having to do it mid-stream, which makes it even more imperative that they do this once, and do it right. I'm just flummoxed by this company lately - they want to be like Amazon, they want all the brands here, they want everything new and shiny, but they don't want to pay the money to build and maintain it correctly. Amazon has problems with its catalog, but it's something that in spite of all is well maintained (nothing will be without problems or glitches). All of this costs money.
Unfortunately, they're trying to do it on the cheap. It's a huge effort getting something like that up and running and it has to be handled professionally. Amazon grew its catalog organically with their site - eBay is having to do it mid-stream, which makes it even more imperative that they do this once, and do it right. I'm just flummoxed by this company lately - they want to be like Amazon, they want all the brands here, they want everything new and shiny, but they don't want to pay the money to build and maintain it correctly. Amazon has problems with its catalog, but it's something that in spite of all is well maintained (nothing will be without problems or glitches). All of this costs money.
Thanks for the explanation Chap. On the surface it doesn't really apply much to me and what I sell but it sorta does in that eBay gets a bad rep for being difficult to navigate in those instances and that reputation 'ripples' thru the rest of the site impacting everything. I wish management had a clear vision and the gumption to follow it thru to completion. It seems like they start things and get distracted by new/sparkly/sexy ideas, leaving rather a mess in their wake. 
