eBay UK are launching a new, simplified version of the Sell Your Item form, aimed at people who want to list super-fast. They approached TameBay to see if our readers would be interested in testing it: you can check out Easy Sell for yourself.
Jamie, eBay’s Seller Programmes Manager, told us “Easy Sell is currently a beta version, which means that whilst it’s in pretty good shape, it’s not 100% finished. What it needs is for some experts to try it out and tell us what they think – people like your Tamebay readers.” Happy to help, Jamie 😉
If you’re interested, take a look, have a go and tell eBay what you think. You can email them your thoughts directly at [email protected] or PowerSellers can post their feedback directly on the UK PowerSeller Board. It is worth adding that once listed your item will go live to site, and from that point on can be treated as any normal item with the ability to make revisions available via My eBay.
I’ve had a play this afternoon and I like it *very* much. The new interface is bright, cheerful and very primary: it’s really inviting and looks like it will be easy to use. Once you’ve put in a title, the form suggests categories for you – for all the items I tried, it came up with reasonable categories too. I very much liked the “costs as you go” feature, where the fees for the listing you’re about to launch are updated live at the bottom of the listing.
The simplicity of the form won’t suit all sellers – for example, pictures have to be eBay-hosted ones, and the only upgrade available is Gallery (which, rather naughtily, is preselected), but those using self-hosted pictures and bigger listing upgrades are likely to be outside the target market for this new feature. Listing types are restricted to auction only, or auction with BIN – again, something that more experienced sellers won’t like. But for the new and/or occasional sellers at whom this is aimed, it’s a massive improvement on the current SYI form.
Why not have a play yourself and let us, and eBay, know what you think.
21 Responses
I like this a lot – it’s ideal for when you have something you forgot to list and just want to get it listed in a hurry! Nice one eBay 🙂
I really like the one page format. So far it looks very promising! When they have ironed it out maybe that can offer it in two versions – Pro and Standard ( pretty much like you see in the beta version). The pro could have all the bells and whistles.
I wonder if more people will start using this from today as the old Sell Your Item form is now officially defunct and redirects to the new one!
I noticed the pre-filled form a while ago on ebay.co.uk but didn’t realise it could be edited so didn’t use it. I’ll have a closer look now.
Will this allow seller to get payment faster than 30 to 90 days?
Jimmineycrickets, if it’s taking you 30 days to get payment, there is something wrong. Even the slowest PayPal payment should be cleared into your bank account in 21 days. So either you need to work more closely with your buyers, or there is some more story behind your comment.
Come over to the forum and tell us what’s going on.
Who designs these new Ebay listing systems: Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckweat? What’s their motto? “If it ain’t broke break it?”
One shipping service – No picture enhancment – No photo pack. I can’t find the “opt-out” button and I want out. You just can’t leave well-enough alone.
It is certainly an improvement but it appears to only be for the UK and Europe. Do you know if the US will be getting the same selling page? I really think it is extremely better than what we have currently. In fact it is so bad I don’t use it myself.
Sammi, you’ll be getting it in the next week or so – they announced it on The Chatter the other day.
WILL THIS NEW SITE BE AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL SELLING OR IS THEE SUCH A DEAL. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION E-BAY WAS GOING TO SET UP A SELLING LOCALLY IN LIEU OF CRAIGPLACE..IS THIS TRUE? IF SO THAT WOULD BE GREAT!
POLLY
PS THE NEW FORMAT IS MADDINGLY SLOW AND I AM 78 AND SLOW ALLREADY!!!!!
Hi Pauline, as far as I can tell it’s simply available for listing auctions on the main eBay site. It won’t be for listing on Craigslist or similar.
eBay actually have three classified sites – Craigslist, Kijiji and Gumtree, lthough they don’t all cover the whole of the US at this stage. The newest to be opened in the US is Gumtree
Guys-
To you eBay employees and programmers, all this new stuff is cool, I’m sure. To longtime users like myself (almost 9 years), it sends shivers down our collective spines. Ok, you ask: “Why”? Fair question, Here’s some answers:
> We immediately know that all this new fancy stuff means that eBay is again getting fatter and more bloated — increasing overhead / fixed costs. We know that this will translate to fee increases, which have increased from four to over tenfold in the the years I’ve been using eBay — a rate many times higher than inflation. Higher listing fees mean higher prices for buyers, which equals fewer sales. Which means I make less money.
> The new features will assuredly increase bandwidth, slowing page loads and the entire buying and selling process. I know you guys are sitting in your ivory towers with T3 connections…however, my customers, at least 50%, are dirt farmers with dialup. More graphics craps, slower loads, etc. = dissuaded buyers = less money in my pocket.
> Similarly, despite your undoubtedly well-intention “beta” testing, many of the new features will hang, crash, perform in unintentioned ways, or lack critical features. EVERY SINGLE TIME you have done something “new and improved” it has wasted a ton of my time. The last “new” SYI forms were an unmitigated disaster. The new “show all feedback to be left” page was a mess for months, with several new steps required to go back to it after leaving one feedback comment; it still has, for me, major problems.
To me, again, all this added complexity is garbage — just busywork to justify your existence and salaries. To me, you guys are going against the wind. Simplify! Pare down! Speed up!
I agree with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school of thought. I also second the complaint about bloated, graphics-intensive pages. I live in Montana, and much of my selling is to fellow Montanans. The majority of people in this state are still forced to use dial-up connections because DSL, T-3, and satellite connections are non-existent here. (Remember–more cows than people in Montana? It’s true.) All I want to do is sell and buy. Having my screen held hostage while a page loads . . . and loads . . . and loads . . . infuriates me. Some of my former favorite sellers learned how to use wallpaper, animation, and other graphics tricks, along with sound, and as a result, I no longer look at their sites. It takes too much time and frequently results in a screen freeze before the page is fully loaded anyway. If eBay wants to “pretty up,” fine. But please, please, please continue to offer the option to list and look without all the bells and whistles.
I have to agree with those who are not impressed. I found myself so frustrated with the “new and improved” selling page this evening that I decided not to list my item. My pictures will not load. I have wasted an enormous amount of time. There is no apparent way to bullet point my description. Where is the space to set a reserve? I am new to ebay, but I agree that it was absolutely fine the way it was. I did not have any problems before now.
I find the new “eaiser to list ” more difficult. The “new” item link would not change and there was no other option, I loaded my description then realized after scrolling down I could go to my old friend the Sell your Item Form. After selecting that option listing life was easier. However much of the info had to be redone, none of my info that usually copies over listing to listing was there including shipping info so like Ms Greenwood I gave up on listing anything. This whole experience took 1 hr, TOO MUCH TIME> Please give your sellers the option with a drop down box on the listing form they want to use. At my age I’ve had all the new experiences I want and If it ain’t broken don’t fix it!!
Well once again, more bull to deal with. I liked the old input form and now I have to deal with learning a whole new deal. I can’t get my pictures to post. Several things I try to input are lost and why in the world would you change something that worked so well in the past. I agree that you broke it instead of making things simpler you increased frustration to your sellers. I enjoyed selling on ebay but now am seriously rethinking my options.
Very dissatisfied patron.
I think I need to point out (again!) that this blog isn’t eBay, it’s not run by eBay and that messages left here aren’t necessarily read by eBay. It’s great to have people’s comments, but I wouldn’t want anyone to have the false impression that this is some kind of customer service comment box.
SORRY, But I have to agree with the rest of the majority. I DON’T LIKE IT! It does not give me any photo enhancement. There is no shipping insurance. There is no links you can add on like MY STORE LINK, OR SELLERS OTHER ITEMS… Sorry but I really don’t care to use it. But thank you anyway. I DO HAVE A SUGGESTION: Why can’t you come up with a new tool that will allow your Ebay fees to auto deduct as soon as they are paid into our account. That was we will not have to go in and pay each month. The fee will be deducted per each item we sell. JUST LIKE PAYPAL ALREADY DOES. This way when we see the amount in our Paypal we know it is all ours. And I know you said you couldn’t but I just don’t see why you can’t. This is one service that would make everyones life on Ebay so very much easier. SO WON’T YOU PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO SOMEONE HIGHER UP AND TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT??? In this day and age there has got to be a way. At least this way it would not seem like we would have to turn all our profit right back to you. It would trickle to you and we would not notice it as bad. PLEASE TRY AND DO THIS! Thank you very much, Tammy Kline
Tammy, if you want all the extras that you’ve listed above, the simple listing form is not for you. It’s for new, casual or inexperienced sellers. If you’re a full-time or professional seller, you need to use – well, I was going to say the normal SYI form, but probably you need to use Turbo Lister or similar.
As for the suggestion that eBay fees be deducted one by one from my PayPal account: :O no thanks! If you’re selling professionally, you “MUST” be able to keep track of your eBay fees. You should know what your fees are likely to be anyway – and if you don’t, you can always check your seller account. Other business costs aren’t charged piecemeal – I’m thinking for example of your tax bill. If you need to pay your eBay fees more than once a month, then you can easily make one-off payments with PayPal on a weekly basis or whatever, but to have every single eBay fee, 5c at a time, taken out of my PayPal account would frankly make it absolutely impossible to 1) find the important things like payments in my PayPal account, and 2) keep proper track of what I was spending on eBay fees.
I’m a ten year ebayer and I would use this form if it allowed html & self photos. It takes me back to the early days when on a good day I could list 100 auctions.
I can’t decide if I just got old quick or the selling interface has gotten so convoluted as to change me from a hare to a snail. I’m lucky to get through it in less than ten minutes.
I’ve tried Turbo lister and some of the others and I don’t find them faster or easier.
I wouldn’t mind a once-a-week ebay fee deduction. But I don’t have any problems with the once-a-month as it is now.
same here,
we are ten year ebayers too.
by the time you bugger around with a trillion categories , feuture upgrades, then ,item specifics and bung postal options to half the universe,, etc,etc etc
unless you sell stock items ,your donald ducked