On Wednesday last week we reported a bug where eBay images go missing from sellers’ listings. Sellers told us that upon reporting the missing eBay gallery images glitch to eBay that seller support confirmed it is an issue that they are aware of and were working to fix.
This is a major glitch for any sellers affected as without an image you’re highly unlikely to get a sale. There was once a time when eBay sellers had to pay to have an image on their listings but on the 1st of August 2013, eBay made the decision to make all 12 gallery images free across the entire eBay UK site.
In his Mid-Year Check-In, eBay’s Bob Kupbens acknowledged that the eBay site is buggy and called it unacceptable but also said that eBay value sellers informing them of bugs. He specifically said of the gallery image bug that it happened on a Friday, was escalated to the tech team on Saturday, was resolved by Sunday, and that eBay are in the process of trying to work to restore missing eBay gallery images.
Bob went even further than addressing this particular bug and said that they hear complaints from sellers a lot that the site isn’t stable enough and admitted that it’s not acceptable.
Regarding tech problems on eBay:
“We hear this a lot and it’s real and one thing I will say is that there are too many. There are too many and it’s unacceptable that at times we put out a platform that doesn’t work in the way it’s supposed to.”
– Bob Kupbens, eBay Mid-Year Check-In
eBay summarised by saying that they are working hard to prevent glitches, but that they are also working hard to get them corrected when they arise.
8 Responses
Whilst it’s great to hear Mr Kupbens admit what sellers have been telling Ebay for years, the problem is lack of investment.
There was an infamous picture some years ago showing a small room with an industrial size computer in it, surrounded by mops and buckets, purporting to be Ebay’s main server.
Complete shutdowns are now rare, but the ongoing system issues face sellers on a daily basis.
Given the ever increasing shop fees sellers are being asked to pay, it really is not too much to ask that the site should work smoothly all the time. It’s the very least they are entitled too, in fact.
Sellers will welcome this admission, but unless the money is invested it won’t change. Ebay still somehow makes huge profits, so why not spend some on the site.
Even the “new hub” betrays the problem, Superficially it looks different, but when there are problems, the old style Selling Manager pages re-appear, so its basically just a makeover, with the old underlying system from 10 years or more still powering it.
Perhaps they should be recruiting more tech people at Ebay, rather than axing staff.
I am a Ebay seller for 3 years with perfect record. Some of my items pictures have been incorrectly censored as “adult image”.
Nothing about my item is adult. Funny as you can see dildos, sex tapes etc all over Ebay site and those photos are not censored.
Brought this to thier attention many times with no results. They take my money for a store subscription but don’t provide basic customer service.
This is one of many glitches that go unresolved.
Bob is right, it’s unacceptable. It’s been unacceptable for years and no doubt will continue to be unacceptable for years to come.
If you report a bug to CS over the phone you usually get told ‘nobody else has reported it’ when the forums are full of people with the same problem. Or you get platitudes on the forums from the eBay community people that it will be ‘passed on to the team and I’ll give you an update’, and nothing ever comes of it.
It’s one thing to admit it’s unacceptable, but doing something about it is an entirely different story.
“He specifically said of the gallery image bug that it happened on a Friday, was escalated to the tech team on Saturday, was resolved by Sunday”
Nope- had the same issue this week with Drafts and missing images – not fixed (most likely never will be as it`s been going on for at least 6 months).
ALL YE disbelievers in eBAY WILL BE BURNT AT THE STAKE, ?
!
Why is the clown not called out on this trash! its terrible service – end of!
We hear customers buy with their eyes, heavens the item descriptions were buried a long while back or on “mobile” are beneath the ruddy cushion youre sitting on if you use ebay!
Get this from the article ” the eBay site is buggy and called it unacceptable but also said that eBay value sellers informing them of bugs. ”
So how many can say; they, as sellers, have been informed of the bugs by their service provider….? utter crap ebay, pure contempt and you need to stop taking the proverbial…
Have you looked at your watch list recently? The place your customers hopefully save your item to buy later or or or.. I have checked mine over the last few weeks.. and noticed on occasion, the BIN price is not showing against any listing, auctions are showing prices, but not BIN.. so how many of your customers move on and dont buy due to this hick-up…. then there is the watch button.. missing from time to time.
As a seller, i am well aware how the ebay glitches affect business, and thats just the ones I can spot.. I have a business to run and no time to spend checking over this shower… and then their cheek when calling into CS to discuss tech issues..
I blew a gasket (surprise surprise) after the last update when all reviews went missing.. I was given the usual crap, no one else etc, not all products yadda yadda, can you show us a picture of your item and their reviews showing..
Lets just say, after a 48hrs I got an apology and the reviews were back on .. no mention of compensation for the failure of the platform and its affect on my sales…
Fundamentally, we pay for a product, when it doesnt work, just why are we not refunded… ?
Any answers??