eBay Community Forums Return On New Bevy Platform With Mixed Early Reviews
The eBay community forums are back up and running with early sentiment mixed as buyers and sellers learn to navigate the new platform powered by Bevy.
eBay announced the migration to a new forum provider 2 weeks ago, advising users the community would be read only for several days as posts and replies from 2023 onward are moved over.
Liz Morton
The US community forum was the first to open back up, and it appears that eBay may have decided to extend the cut-off date and import at least some posts and comments older than 2023.
A welcome post also says that it may take a few weeks for pictures and other content to be fully migrated.
seller_news_team
Please note: as we complete the migration, some content - such as reactions and images - may not appear right away and will load gradually over the next few weeks.
This is expected, and all data will be available once the process is finished.
Early reactions are mixed, but many users are not big fans of the feature that provides an AI summary at the top of discussions in the new forum.
kensgiftshop
Other complaints about the new platform include no native dark mode, no private messages, too many notifications and difficult navigation - though it's still possible some of those issues may be resolved over the next few weeks as eBay completes the migration process.
One major drawback to the new forum set up is the navigation design appears to be directing many users to post in the "Ask a Mentor" section, where replies can only be posted by the select few volunteer forum members who eBay has designated as mentors.
meme6253
One thing I am noticing is that people are posting quite frequently in Ask a Mentor. People who aren't mentors are locked out. Some of the questions are easy but regular community members can't respond.
I think others have mentioned already, but if you click Help & Contact, then click on Ask the Community, it takes you directly to the Ask A Mentor page.
I think ebay created this new forum so the Mentors (who agree to only say/ do certain things and sign NDA's) could basically be their free customer service agents.
I think it’s safe to say that having “Ask A Mentor” be the most prominent forum yet have the fewest users able to respond is a stupid decision.
The Mentors program has drawn criticism in the past, raising questions about whether non-disclosure agreements, exclusive access to eBay staff, and special perks offered to Mentors ultimately hurts trust in the platform.
Liz Morton
Sellers also express mixed opinions on the way Bevy appears to force threaded replies, with some finding that formatting annoying while others prefer it.
Notably, Bevy is the same platform that Etsy migrated their seller forums to last year.
That means eBay could at some point in the future decide to make some or all of the forum private and unreadable unless signed in with an active buyer or seller account - though they have not yet publicly expressed any intention to do so.
Liz Morton
The new eBay forum also prominently features Seller Circle events, likely indicating the company will continue to lean heavily on seller-to-seller engagement rather than official eBay-hosted events or discussions.
Liz Morton
Community forum users can provide feedback directly to eBay by taking a survey:
What do you think of the new eBay community forum? Let us know in the comments below!
