eBay Community pages update for better mobile & faster load times

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eBay have updated the Community pages and as always the improvements have been met with a robust response from eBay users who, as always, just love change!

The boards are not only much more aesthetically pleasing, bright and welcoming, but also are technically better on the back end. The mobile experience has been enhanced, load times have been reduced and navigation through the site has been tweaked to make it quicker to get to where you want to go.

Complaints from users are ‘interesting’ with the one that caught my eye as perhaps most amusing being that Avatar images are now circular rather than square. Circular avatars look great if you’re using a face image as they’re much more pleasing to view (anyone seen Facebook or LinkedIn avatars recently? Circular is practically industry standard!). But of course if you had a carefully constructed logo image which now has the corners cropped it won’t fit and you’ll have to upload a roundel version.

The changes rolled out in the US at the end of last week and in the UK slightly earlier. It’s fair to say that I’ve never seen a single website update (eBay or anyone else) that didn’t get some tweaks after it went live, and eBay have been monitoring the comments and continue to tweak the new Community pages, for instance since the boards went live in the UK they have:

  • Added a darker colour to the text you see in the body of a post.
  • The latest activity section on the home page will now show 15 instead of 5 to show more posts to you.
  • The jump to top button will now float on the bottom right of the page as you scroll so you can return to the top at any point.
  • Reintroduced spellcheck.
  • Ensured the photo icon appears in the text box for to you add images within the text.
  • Readded the titles under your username to show level of experience. These are not new to Community UK but we have simplified the titles and readded them.
  • The feedback score and link to “View Listings” will now show on the threads under a members username. This also appears on the profile page.
  • Message numbers have been re-added and we will be looking into the ordering of this as mentioned in some feedbacks.
  • The member to member answer centre board is now restored and members can get support from Community Experts, even if they arrive via the eBay help pages.

“This update to our Community pages is not only an overdue aesthetic improvement, but also a crucial enhancement of mobile accessibility. The Community is now easier to use when on the move – whether that’s when you’re out sourcing products, dropping off parcels or, when the time comes, sitting in a coffee shop with friends. It enables sellers to reap the benefits of being a part of a marketplace where tips on any aspect of eBay are at their fingertips, and can help to boost their success.”
– Hannah Hardiman, Director, Global Content & Channels, eBay

5 Responses

  1. Yes i know we all hate change… but mainly when it is a step back or not needed. I know the boards started to run slow late last year, but i fail to see how a complete make over was needed to address it?
    The boards weren’t perfect but i always found them easy to follow and no real issues. So all these so called improvements have actually made them less easy to follow in my eyes.
    But the real point that is missing here is this, with so many site wide glitches, updates that simply don’t work, page not founds, scammers, MP issues, search issues, regular font changes etc…. why did ebay see this as a priority when many of the big issues have been there for years untouched?
    I mean try reportinga seller who is posing as private seller yet has over 800 listings all of it new and similar…. look at the options? That is right they removed almost all of them. Look at those blatantly showing all their business info in the item image… look for a way to report them? Nothing.
    I know ebay never acted on reports anywya, but atleast you felt you had done all you could. Especially when ebay hauled you over the coals for one tiny error, which somehow they found while missing all the big stuff spread everywhere across the site.
    Nope…. you can big it up all you like, it wasn’t really needed, isn’t that much better, if at all for many, and is just another glaring example of ebays complete inability or desire to deal with the real issue. Then again, fakers, scammers and all that… still ring in the tills for ebay, it is the sellers that pay.

  2. Hi Toby, ebay have zero interest in doing anything about the 100s of private accounts clearly running a business and have been doing so a number of years. Different to someone having a big clearly of used clothing and few unwanted gifts. But many have been listing 100s of brand new or nearly new items for years. Have reported loads but nothing has ever been done or get told the line you only need to register as a business when you reach 85k

    ebay don’t want to listen or do anything about it so going down a different route now with some, passing the information over to trading standards to see if they have any interests in tackling the problem of sellers not displaying any contact information as a business or offering returns.

  3. Complete rubbish 🙁 as always 🙁 they change things just to show that they are “evolving” 🙁

  4. Over 200 posts on that thread and all you can say is …”Complaints from users are ‘interesting’.

    It would have been easy for you to have dug deeper with ebay on several points, you had enough time , after all the thread was running for ……………… Damm , I cant say because there is no start date , is there ? . And if there is , I cant find it .

    So how about you go back to the thread and take a long hard look at what we had all posted .

    Also , out of interest Chris , why dont you ask ebay for an official statement on why they do not remove business sellers pretending to be private sellers .

  5. The new ebay Business Seller board is that popular that there is a Dutch Drug seller using the board to advertise his products .

    Dont you just love ebay !

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