eBay Has Me Totally Spoiled for Regular Shopping

I've always shopped on eBay, at first buying things like vintage handbags or décor. Over the last year — with two rodeo queens in the house — I started buying more and more western wear for the girls on eBay (it's not unusual for rodeo queen dresses and outfits to run in the thousands of dollars, so buying used is smart.)

Before, I was more of an occasional shopper; It's gotten to the point where I'm checking eBay daily for good rodeo queen clothes. And I was always good about separating the reality of online auctions from shopping in a "real" store. But now, 15 + years after the dawning of eBay, I keep wishing that every shopping experience was as easy as eBay.

My favorite eBay feature is the "Watch This Item" button. My iPhone goes off at all times of the day reminding me about my watched items and when the auction is closing. Is it too much to ask for retailers to have an app that lets me watch items (even better – an app that lets me watch items from ANY store) and lets me know when the item is about to sell out in my size or color if it is marked down (I know there are services on the likes of Shopstyle.com that alert you to sales on favorite brands, but what if I'm only interested in a specific piece in a certain color or size?)

Just the other day, on the Neiman Marcus site, I was checking out shoes and bags and thinking to myself:  Hmm, that's too much, but I'd pay XXX. Oh, dear. That's the eBay "Best Offer" button creeping in (which, BTW, is not a terrible idea, dear merchants.)

And then a few days later, as I was doing a whirlwind scoop up of school clothes, I noticed a definite let-down when I didn't "win" the item (my 9 year old still thinks eBay is more of a game than a shopping site.)

It's not just the idea of naming my own price that appeals to me.  The customer service on eBay is personal and you often carry on a conversation with the merchants. I bought a dress that a woman had made for her granddaughter and she asked me to send a photo of my daughter in it. We exchanged warm emails, and it must have been much like small-town merchants used to do with forming personal relationships with their customers.

I realize that some articles in the media have told eBay horror stories, but that just hasn't been my experience. For example, recently the 17-year-old spent all of her birthday money on a western show top she needed for an upcoming horse competition and it arrived damaged. I contacted the seller – who had listed it as final sale – and asked what to do. Immediately, the seller offered to pull another one and send it to us. No questions asked. When I said I'd return the damaged one, the seller told me to keep it or donate it to charity (people, this is a $350 western show shirt, so it's not cheap.)

I was blown away! I've been a dedicated Nordstrom shopper (which is the gold standard for retail customer service) for years and have returned my fair share of clothing. Once I returned a cashmere scarf after one wearing because it had a hole. They gladly took it back – no questions asked – but they didn't replace it and tell me to keep the original and donate it to charity.

The name-your-own-price thing (which, funny enough is a throwback to the haggling days before merchants put pricetags on everything) never took the world by storm like it was predicted when it first came out. And there are many competitors for our bargain-shopping dollars like the flash sales (Gilt.com) and deals of the day (like Groupon.com). But in my mind the combination of price control, service and technology still puts eBay at the head of the pack.