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Obnoxious eBay "please use our app!" popover

SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
4,441
Location
Marietta, GA
stupidebayshit1.png
So lately, when I have been browsing eBeh, I have been seeing this obnoxious popover.

Normally, when I see a popover like this, I just close the entire page, because obviously they don't actually want me reading their content, they just want to litter up google search results instead.

At first, I thought it was something that some scummy seller had opted in to, but I keep seeing this crap. I should only have to dismiss something like this ONCE and never see it again.

So what is this that is so important that they want to block me from possibly baying something and making them money?

They want me to step away from my powerful desktop computer where I am already logged in and perhaps ready to buy something and use some stupid toy smart phone to make the purchase instead! And they are SOOOOOOO desperate to get me to do that that they offer a 5$ discount to do that!

First of all, I don't own a smart phone. Second of all, I don't freaking want one. And even if I did have one, why would anyone other than a teenage girl want to fiddle with a tiny little cell phone to buy something? Some people on this planet actually want to carefully research a topic and read things, perhaps zoom in on a photo on a nice large screen.

Well, if they are so desperate to get people to use their "app" then not a lot of people must be using it.

Of course, it is an "app" so it probably watches you and otherwise monetizes you in ways that a simple web page won't. Especially with an ad blocker.

Offering a discount like that is just pathetic. Same goes for "rewards" garbage. Even Microsoft was trying to get in on that action somehow with Microsoft Windows. What next, do like Walgreens and Kroger and charge twice the price if you don't use their tracking card? Or do they just want to go all cell phone because glorious cell phones?

Anyway, eBay... NO. Now go away!
 
Omg so glad you commented on this. If i block it with adblock.. evay stops working. Its the absolute most annoying thing ebay has done yet!!!


I hate cell phones.. smart phones have made mongoloids of the masses. I use ebay on a real computer as your meant to.. but this is just like forcing you to use it on a phone. I cant even tell you the countless issue si have on ebay from buyers who bought my items on thier phone.

I have nevwr used a qyuu arghh code and never will!! Ever go to a restaraunt where ther eis no menu and they eant you toscan thier qr code?? Getup and leave.
 
Annoying as hell, yes, but this is only the beginning I'm afraid. Wait 10 years when eBay will start offering "$5 discounts" for those willing to sign up for their implantable microchips, and another 10 years after that when the microchip will become mandatory to purchase anything on eBay.

And then another 10 years after that when microchips will become government mandated and required to purchase ANYTHING at all...
 
SomeGuy said:
Of course, it is an "app" so it probably watches you and otherwise monetizes you in ways that a simple web page won't. Especially with an ad blocker.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's the purpose of it.

TH2002 said:
And then another 10 years after that when microchips will become government mandated and required to purchase ANYTHING at all...
Click to expand...
I have never quite figured out the American mistrust of government. Not that what your government does shouldn't be watched carefully, but that Ebay pop-up, Google and Facebook tracking you across every web site you visit, companies selling your personal data to anybody and everybody, that's all stuff where you have two choices:
  • Individually negotiate with Google and these other companies and convince them not to track and monitise you. Good luck with that.
  • Get together with a lot of other people and make some rules as a group about what you will and won't accept as reasonable for these companies to do.
All this tracking you dislike is your "freedom," which I suppose you should be celebrating. Just think of those poor unfree people in the EU who can't get tracked (as much) like this, who are forced by the government to be the effective owners (to some degree, at least) of data about themselves, those poor unfree companies operating in the EU who can't properly own consumers' personal data are forced to delete personal data if requested by the owner, and so on. Surely you wouldn't want impingements on your freedom like that.

As far as practical suggestions about dealing with this, I've found that it's actually not terribly inconvenient to disable cookies by default in Chrome, and enable them explicitly only for particular websites that need them. (Clicking on the icon to the left of the URL will bring up a menu with a "Cookies and site data" option; clicking on that and then choosing "Manage on-device site data" will bring up a list of all the sites trying to set cookies for that page, where you can enable just the individual sites you want to allow. You need allow only the "top" level site; in the example below if you allow vcfed.org, that will add an entry for [*.]vcfed.org to your "On-device site data" settings page (chrome://settings/content/siteData) that will allow cookies for e.g., forum.vcfed.org as well.
 

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I see "apps" being promoted for just about everything nowadays. My trash collection service publishes an app. I wrote them and asked them to send me the usual calendar that identifies pickup dates and types. They complied.
The whole point, I think, of apps for purchasing purposes appeals to the impulsive purchase, which is probably why they're being heavily promoted.
I've got a smartphone for emergencies; it has no apps installed, mostly because cellular service really sucks near my home. It's halfway okay for voice, if you're standing in the right place, but internet connection stuff really requires wifi service. I don't think the picture is likely to improve--the population density in my area, combined with the hilly terrain would make real 5G service a money loser.
 
SomeGuy said:
View attachment 1273532
So lately, when I have been browsing eBeh, I have been seeing this obnoxious popover.

Normally, when I see a popover like this, I just close the entire page, because obviously they don't actually want me reading their content, they just want to litter up google search results instead.

At first, I thought it was something that some scummy seller had opted in to, but I keep seeing this crap. I should only have to dismiss something like this ONCE and never see it again.

So what is this that is so important that they want to block me from possibly baying something and making them money?

They want me to step away from my powerful desktop computer where I am already logged in and perhaps ready to buy something and use some stupid toy smart phone to make the purchase instead! And they are SOOOOOOO desperate to get me to do that that they offer a 5$ discount to do that!

First of all, I don't own a smart phone. Second of all, I don't freaking want one. And even if I did have one, why would anyone other than a teenage girl want to fiddle with a tiny little cell phone to buy something? Some people on this planet actually want to carefully research a topic and read things, perhaps zoom in on a photo on a nice large screen.

Well, if they are so desperate to get people to use their "app" then not a lot of people must be using it.

Of course, it is an "app" so it probably watches you and otherwise monetizes you in ways that a simple web page won't. Especially with an ad blocker.

Offering a discount like that is just pathetic. Same goes for "rewards" garbage. Even Microsoft was trying to get in on that action somehow with Microsoft Windows. What next, do like Walgreens and Kroger and charge twice the price if you don't use their tracking card? Or do they just want to go all cell phone because glorious cell phones?

Anyway, eBay... NO. Now go away!
Click to expand...

Never seen that popup. uBlock Origin is your friend.
 
cjs said:
I have never quite figured out the American mistrust of government. Not that what your government does shouldn't be watched carefully, but that Ebay pop-up, Google and Facebook tracking you across every web site you visit, companies selling your personal data to anybody and everybody, that's all stuff where you have two choices:
  • Individually negotiate with Google and these other companies and convince them not to track and monitise you. Good luck with that.
  • Get together with a lot of other people and make some rules as a group about what you will and won't accept as reasonable for these companies to do.
All this tracking you dislike is your "freedom," which I suppose you should be celebrating. Just think of those poor unfree people in the EU who can't get tracked (as much) like this, who are forced by the government to be the effective owners (to some degree, at least) of data about themselves, those poor unfree companies operating in the EU who can't properly own consumers' personal data are forced to delete personal data if requested by the owner, and so on. Surely you wouldn't want impingements on your freedom like that.

As far as practical suggestions about dealing with this, I've found that it's actually not terribly inconvenient to disable cookies by default in Chrome, and enable them explicitly only for particular websites that need them. (Clicking on the icon to the left of the URL will bring up a menu with a "Cookies and site data" option; clicking on that and then choosing "Manage on-device site data" will bring up a list of all the sites trying to set cookies for that page, where you can enable just the individual sites you want to allow. You need allow only the "top" level site; in the example below if you allow vcfed.org, that will add an entry for [*.]vcfed.org to your "On-device site data" settings page (chrome://settings/content/siteData) that will allow cookies for e.g., forum.vcfed.org as well.
Click to expand...
Dude, my post was satirical. I'm not actually expecting microchips to become government mandated anytime soon, for such an act would be completely unconstitutional and met with plenty of backlash.

At the same time, I'd be lying if I said something like that happening within 30 years would surprise me.
 
cjs said:
Yup, that's the purpose of it.


I have never quite figured out the American mistrust of government. Not that what your government does shouldn't be watched carefully, but that Ebay pop-up, Google and Facebook tracking you across every web site you visit, companies selling your personal data to anybody and everybody, that's all stuff where you have two choices:
  • Individually negotiate with Google and these other companies and convince them not to track and monitise you. Good luck with that.
  • Get together with a lot of other people and make some rules as a group about what you will and won't accept as reasonable for these companies to do.
All this tracking you dislike is your "freedom," which I suppose you should be celebrating. Just think of those poor unfree people in the EU who can't get tracked (as much) like this, who are forced by the government to be the effective owners (to some degree, at least) of data about themselves, those poor unfree companies operating in the EU who can't properly own consumers' personal data are forced to delete personal data if requested by the owner, and so on. Surely you wouldn't want impingements on your freedom like that.

As far as practical suggestions about dealing with this, I've found that it's actually not terribly inconvenient to disable cookies by default in Chrome, and enable them explicitly only for particular websites that need them. (Clicking on the icon to the left of the URL will bring up a menu with a "Cookies and site data" option; clicking on that and then choosing "Manage on-device site data" will bring up a list of all the sites trying to set cookies for that page, where you can enable just the individual sites you want to allow. You need allow only the "top" level site; in the example below if you allow vcfed.org, that will add an entry for [*.]vcfed.org to your "On-device site data" settings page (chrome://settings/content/siteData) that will allow cookies for e.g., forum.vcfed.org as well.
Click to expand...
Your ignorance is staggering.
 
TH2002 said:
Dude, my post was satirical. I'm not actually expecting microchips to become government mandated anytime soon, for such an act would be completely unconstitutional and met with plenty of backlash.

At the same time, I'd be lying if I said something like that happening within 30 years would surprise me.
Click to expand...
It would not surprise me if people getting implanted tracker chips happened; it would greatly surprise me if a western government mandated it.

After all, no western government has even considered mandating that people carry around a (non-implanted) device capable of continuously tracking where we are and what we're reading or viewing, as well as delivering a constant stream of advertising. Yet about 80% of the U.S. population already does just this. The government is not what you should be fearing most here. (Though of course your government does certainly need to be kept carefully in check; it's just not the biggest or most dangerous problem.)
 
cjs said:
It would not surprise me if people getting implanted tracker chips happened; it would greatly surprise me if a western government mandated it.

After all, no western government has even considered mandating that people carry around a (non-implanted) device capable of continuously tracking where we are and what we're reading or viewing, as well as delivering a constant stream of advertising. Yet about 80% of the U.S. population already does just this. The government is not what you should be fearing most here. (Though of course your government does certainly need to be kept carefully in check; it's just not the biggest or most dangerous problem.)
Click to expand...
Again, my post was satire.
 
cjs said:
Sorry. "At the same time, I'd be lying if I said something like that happening within 30 years would surprise me" really didn't come across as satire.
Click to expand...
It's fine. I see why that quote may have confused you. But the saying "nothing surprises me anymore" is just an expression, also not meant to be taken literally.
 
I have been given a cell phone by the company that I can use for free. Just one condition: no apps except some approved ones. Nice excuse to avoid all those apps companies offer you. But I'm afraid that there will come a time you cannot avoid it anymore.
I have a Google account that I only use for subscribing to sites I am interested in but that I don't want to mix with my private life. Maybe I buy a small phone just for these apps.
 
Ruud said:
/--/. Maybe I buy a small phone just for these apps.
Click to expand...
...and store it in a Faraday box...
https://www.amazon.com/Faraday-Protector-Signal-Blocking-Shielding/dp/B07W94QLKM/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dmGA0fsAQCv6xEP2bH375kvy5E7ELVltISxVElMdJgw6eMMqH7qWPR0ktMor_L7-BVsdIWGL7J6fn5FdHevoxEvpRcHj1wEQcxIQE4n4NsdLMPmnCPAE9de9JRbRWZtj_qC_sVPYc_b_65qjXWP-bq2vGZtvXQIkhtyhS5HQJeGjmSF1M4tXASt-o7Aq2qL9pZ-I5rh5xHxwKn00dgrltrngUVhLTxw-9hdo-so7AVrpY6CR1JuTaWYa16vkTBya9GHxe2lQD8zmPoPtkPas-LWu84pSsPY8QK3NcimZ7h4.1L2wFHUO6Gm5goQsU5zWsthRP9r2ab4LVv8lE7lupUo&dib_tag=se&keywords=lead+box&qid=1708093296&sr=8-3&th=1
BTW: I am not endorsing that product - it actually seems too cheap to work, but I don't know. Also, I am not being sarcastic as organized phone thefts to gain account access are systemic in many parts. I have been thinking about getting a lead box or something similar as a general storage for certain remotes and phones and so on....and notice that legal disclaimer...do wireless providers get upset if your device is not continually pinging towers??

Then, get to work on your door to thwart the package thieves.
https://mbsentinel.com/products/box-gobbler-1428

Does anyone remember milk chutes?

Sometimes I wonder if the Luddites were actually on to something. :)
 
Crown jewel is when someone forces me to use an app because they've removed feature from the website, and app refuses to work because of my rooted device.
"Your device is insecure and we highly value security yada yada", no my device is my device and now I will mock your environment so you don't know it's rooted k thx bye.

Oh look, it's your top secure banking app running normally on rooted phone while its process is being snooped by a curious owner.
I've also copied my user keys from "protected" app directory in 2010 and for fifteen years you cannot tell an user is upgrading versions completely outside the official procedure.
Instead of going to bank clerk who puts in request for activation code and passes it on, the application is somehow active with proper keys on the first run. Maybe it's gremlins.
 
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