Products · Product
eBay
Raised as a usability problem by 146 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 106 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Price sorting shows multi-item listings first, hiding real costUnreviewed
20082026- Keyword search matches substrings and sort by lowest price ignores shipping2026-07-01
- Positive searches return so many irrelevant items that saved searches need many exclusions2026-05-04
- Multi-item listings flood search results with misleading cheap items, making search useless2022-06-26
Forced password changes after suspicious login checks, unnecessaryUnreviewed
20082026- Gets flagged as a bot and has password reset forced every login, repeatedly2025-10-18
- Forced password change requests triggered by suspicious login detection, which the user finds annoying and unnecessary2019-12-14
- Logins randomly accept old or new passwords inconsistently for months, with no explanation2019-08-11
Every page has a different design, inconsistent and hard to useUnreviewed
20082026- UI is confusing and mixes old and new pages2021-05-20
- Pages mix old and new designs, so the site feels inconsistent and unfinished2019-07-18
- Every page has a different design, making the interface inconsistent and hard to use2018-03-01
Account suspended with no explanation and no way to restore itUnreviewed
20082026- Account suspended with no explanation and no way to unsuspend2023-02-23
- No easy way to reach decision-makers about a suspended account2022-11-04
- Locked out of account with no working support channel or recourse2021-12-04
Site unusably slow with ad blocking enabledUnreviewed
20082026- Site became so slow it was unusable with ad blocking enabled2022-01-31
- Site is so inundated with ads it feels almost unusable2012-08-31
- Site is slow and loads ads, showing little content in the center of the screen2009-02-07
Search shows items from other countries despite local region settingUnreviewed
20082026- Region filter on eBay.ie still returns pages of American items2025-08-02
- Search results filled with items from other countries despite a set local region2020-07-24
- Search defaults to overseas sellers, forcing users to change a setting to see local items2018-06-25
Search mixes results with search phrases, can't find wanted itemsUnreviewed
20082026- Search silently rewrites uncommon search terms, showing irrelevant results instead of exact matches2024-01-21
- Search mixes results with search phrases, so the commenter can't find what they want2017-10-26
- Search is poor and results are cluttered and overloaded2017-06-21
Sellers forced to refund buyers despite proof of deliveryUnreviewed
20082026- Seller forced to refund buyer without return, despite proof of delivery, with no real recourse2022-05-08
- Dispute process is slow; seller ignores responses and refund takes weeks2021-06-30
- Never saw the option to claim money after seller didn't respond2021-03-26
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- New layout made it too difficult to screen out scam sellers2026-10-14
- Keyword search matches substrings and sort by lowest price ignores shipping2026-07-01
- Unpromoted listings get buried and hidden, forcing sellers to pay to be seen2026-05-04
- Positive searches return so many irrelevant items that saved searches need many exclusions2026-05-04
- Quotes and minus operators behave inconsistently, so searches return unexpected results2026-05-03
- Can't turn off marketing notifications while keeping auction alerts, so useful alerts are buried in spam2026-01-22
- Popup pushes users to the app while they are searching to buy2025-11-07
- Gets flagged as a bot and has password reset forced every login, repeatedly2025-10-18
- Auto-translation gets in the way and introduces mistakes before paying, with no way to turn it off2025-09-10
- Region filter on eBay.ie still returns pages of American items2025-08-02
- Auction and buy-it-now options are mixed on the same item listing2025-08-01
- No way to contact seller or company without creating an account2024-10-11
- Can't tell orders are dropshipped via Amazon until tracking appears, too late to cancel2024-02-10
- Redesigned seller pages are cluttered, buggy, and hard to use for sellers2024-01-24
- Selling a small item requires many verification hoops and still gets declined2024-01-24
- Seller tools are so hard to use that sellers resort to the mobile app to track orders2024-01-24
- Search silently rewrites uncommon search terms, showing irrelevant results instead of exact matches2024-01-21
- Multiple repeated authentication steps (passwords, SMS, TOTP, bank app) make a simple purchase tedious2024-01-16
- Default view shows paid ads first, so unrelated items clutter search results2023-10-04
- Large autoplaying Flash banner made browser grind to a halt2023-06-19
- Deeply hidden setting defaulted to letting buyers edit invoices, removing seller's shipping charge2023-02-23
- Account suspended with no explanation and no way to unsuspend2023-02-23
- Website failed to accept payment info and SSN, locking the user out2023-02-23
- Messaging was down the whole time, so buyers' questions couldn't be answered2023-02-23
- Can't cancel an unpaid transaction after 30 days; stored search keeps reappearing after deletion2023-02-23
- Support kept requiring a text link for a user with no cellphone, blocking account recovery and deletion2023-02-23
- Users set up an account and then get cancelled, wasting their time2023-02-23
- Seller forced to give SSN to process refund, then account suspended with no clear fix2023-02-10
- Interface is very hard and unpleasant to use2023-02-08
- Can't correct return tracking number; support callback link hidden after repeated calls2022-12-26
- Advanced 'preferred locations' filter is ignored, so unwanted far-away listings appear2022-12-22
- No easy way to reach decision-makers about a suspended account2022-11-04
- Can't log in without a mobile number, and SMS fails on rural/VoIP setup2022-08-08
- Site is significantly more difficult and annoying to use than Amazon2022-07-22
- Multi-item listings flood search results with misleading cheap items, making search useless2022-06-26
- The whole site is described as unusable for shoppers2022-05-31
- Verification fails with an unhelpful error message for smaller banks2022-05-09
- Support gives no phone number; user must keep refreshing help page hoping one appears2022-05-08
- Seller forced to refund buyer without return, despite proof of delivery, with no real recourse2022-05-08
- Site became so slow it was unusable with ad blocking enabled2022-01-31
- Listing form shows endless spinner on submit, then loses all entered data on refresh2022-01-25
- Website feels hostile to use, with no specific problem described2022-01-25
- Account gets blocked for suspicious activity every time user posts2022-01-23
- Locked out of account with no working support channel or recourse2021-12-04
- Phone verification code only appears on desktop, not mobile; no easy way to reach a human2021-12-04
- Dark patterns make it impossible to reach a human to resolve account problems2021-12-03
- EBay app is awful to use as both buyer and seller2021-11-22
- Sellers couldn't understand the difference between developer-unlocked and carrier-unlocked phones2021-09-12
- Gets repeated captchas when viewing sold items, sometimes endlessly2021-08-08
- Dispute process is slow; seller ignores responses and refund takes weeks2021-06-30