Finding your New Look on eBay may be harder than you think...

...just half of the screen you'll see...
You'll need the animation to get the  full nervous system halting effects.

In case you haven't ventured out into the world of 1990's style internet lately, I thought I might help awaken your senses.... like, seriously, awaken them... to the point where seizures may become a potential risk.  Long time internet pillar (and fave' midwestern past time) 'eBay' has been continually undergoing cosmetic changes, ever altering the user experience. 

So called Internet 2.0 hasn't been all that friendly to eBay.  With several alternatives popping up all over the place, several of its sellers have shyed away from eBay's high costs of doing business in order to embrace new marketplaces...and although I don't think we'll ever see eBay go completely ghost town, I'm caught wondering if its now driving away its customers as well.  It may be one thing to keep up with the "joneses," but sending the joneses to the emergency room via shock induced coma - due to complete and utter sensory overload - is another.

Let's take for example - jewelry shopping.  Let's say I want to find a pair of emerald stud earrings to wear to putz around the green and knock a few balls in with the gals at this year's ladies who lunch country club classic (truly random indeed). Okay. -so I go to eBay.  If I can steady my eyes long enough to stop them from bouning around like a pinball, I see the search bar at the top of the page.  I type "emerald stud earring."  What do I come up with?  A whopping ONE result... for a swarovski cheapy stud earring.  Surely this can't be that hard...oh, but it is.

See, I can't find one of the world's most common pieces of jewelry in the middle of the internet's largest marketplace.... but what I can find is tabs with the same title showing up in about 12 different places, and a fashion flash nightmare that vaguely calls to mind A Clockwork Orange or what we all know Carrie Bradshaws closet would REALLY look like in that studio apartment!

...and oh, my GOODNESS, and a half an hour later, if I scroll down to the VERY VERY bottom of the page in a very small spot down to the "sponsored" links, alas, some pairs of EMERALD STUD EARRINGS...and regardless of what eBay's hanging by a thread branding would loosely imply, they're no bargain.  Sorry eBay shoppers!