Over 1000 Frustrated Sellers Sign Petition Asking eBay to Support Firefox

[amy]

A petition being circulated by Mozilla Firefox users highlights the problems faced by eBay users who don't use Internet Explorer (IE) as their default browser. The online petition, currently with over 1,000 signatures, urges eBay to support alternative browsers

http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m10/i03/s02

sign the petition here:  http://www.petitiononline.com/esupport/petition.html

eBay sellers on Tulip Tools complaining about eBay's lack of support for non Internet Explorer browsers:

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=617.msg2362#msg2362 date=1128280518]
[quote author=scarboroughseaashells link=topic=617.msg2342#msg2342 date=1128226826]
I also noticed that due to whatever coding they've used, the whole damn page hugs the left side of my screen if I use Netscape.  It's ugly too.  Have some more, it'll get better looking...
[/quote]

That's because only Internet Explorer users are able to apply for a job at eBay and so they don't have anyone who is familiar with Firefox..  :twistedevil:

This section of the site is compatible with Internet Explorer only. If you are a Netscape 6.0 or 7.0 user, and do not have Internet Explorer you can click here to learn more about downloading Internet Explorer to your computer.

Umm, yeah, the eBay jobs site is only compatible with IE...been that way for years.  :

http://www.ebaycareers.com/jobsearch/index.html
[/quote]

[DecorativeDishes]

Of course eBay is still recommending all browers on their help pages  :-\  Kim:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/bro...tions.html

P.S. This is a very nicely laid out forum. I like it. Very interesting. Cute smileys too.

[catholicemporium]

I'm sorry, but please tell me if I learned things the wrong way:

In designing a website, I try to make as many pages as possible to be compatible with as many browsers as possible.  HTML validation tools are a place to start.  This extends to many different issues including the selection of the Certificate Signing Authority for my SSL certificate (I.E. select an authority that is widely recognized by browsers like Geotrust or Thawte or Verisign)  Is this the wrong way to do things?

In other words, should I start taking eBay's approach and expect everybody in the world to upgrade their browser or install Flash version whatever(which, by the way is WORTHLESS to search engine optimization....search engines do not read Flash)?  I hope not because if so, I have wasted an awful lot of time over the past year. 

Of course, a lot of our buyers look at the website and call in their order on our toll-free number.  Many are older people (and I might add younger people too) who are just uncomfortable entering a credit card number over the internet.  I really doubt these people would be willing to download a new browser version via their dial-up modem or install Flash whatever to view our websites.

I even avoid Javascript and instead parse the RSS feeds we use via a PHP script that runs on our server because of the number of people that disable Javascript on their browsers.  My dad thinks that anything that runs Javascript is a potential security threat to his computer.

I sure wish I knew that I could force my traffic to conform to my standards rather than the other way around.  No wonder eBay continues to loose grow traffic month over month and the bidding wars are over constantly drive up prices.

[bargainbloodhound]

In other words, should I start taking eBay's approach and expect everybody in the world to upgrade their browser or install Flash

Not unless you have eBay's advertising budget to make up for the traffic you'll lose by doing that. 

Is this the wrong way to do things?

No its the right way to do it (confession time: TulipTools has big problems with Opera 8.5  ), but eBay's designers obviously skipped that lesson.  eBay has driven people off over the past few years because buyers and many sellers aren't willing (or able to) change/upgrade their computers to fit eBay's requirements.  My sister used eBay for about 2 years (buying and selling) but hasn't "set foot" on the site since the summer of 2003 due to this very reason.