eBay To Send Decades of Community Posts Down the Memory Hole With Forum Migration
The eBay community forum is moving to a new platform, taking decades of history offline in the process.
Details were light in the official announcement, with eBay not naming the new platform as they plan to move away from current provider, Khoros, starting June 11, 2026.
Importantly, it appears that some functionality currently available to users will not be available on the new platform and posting history migration will only go back to 2023.
New Platform, Same Amazing Community!
We're excited to share that we'll soon be moving our eBay community to a new platform designed to create a more seamless, engaging, and connected experience for you.
This move will bring everything together into one centralized space, including events, discussions, resources, and search, so you can find what you need faster and connect with members more easily than ever before.
With a fresh modern look, simplified navigation, and enhanced features that support knowledge sharing and collaboration, this new community space is built to help you get even more value from every interaction.
What does this mean for you?
- Your contributions and most activities from 2023 onwards will be automatically transferred over to the new platform
- In an effort to create a more streamlined experience, some existing activities will not be available on our new platform.
- Same secure SSO login via eBay marketplace sign-in
- We will provide a detailed FAQ on how to navigate the new Community platform once we are live
- Please note, the Community site will be read-only from June 11 - 15 while we perform this transition - for any account issues during this time, please visit https://www.ebay.com/help/home for support from a live agent
The same announcement was also posted in the dedicated forums for UK, Canada, Germany, and Australia, making this a global update across all of eBay's currently active communities.
The eBay community forum has undergone several iterations throughout the years and while some content has been archived over that time, it currently still contains some posts from as far back as the early 2000s.
Not only has the forum been an invaluable resource for sellers over several decades, it has also served as an important accountability check on the company as a place where long-standing customer service and performance issues have been surfaced publicly, gaining wider attention that has at times led to changes in eBay policies and practices.
Liz Morton
While it's understandable some older posts may no longer be relevant or applicable, removing all content prior to 2023 is a slap in the face to the dedicated users who have posted in the community for years providing free support to eBay's buyers and sellers - not to mention that it will bury years of recorded history of issues at the company.
Just as one example, I had previously posted in the community under a previous employer's account, but began engaging there under my personal account in 2020 - with my first post being an expose on triangulation fraud that my employer at that time was experiencing through eBay.
After the migration, that post and countless others will simply cease to exist, according to eBay's announcement about the new community forum.
That loss of public history comes at a particularly sensitive moment for eBay, as the company faces increased scrutiny from sellers, investors, and GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, who recently made an unsolicited bid to acquire the company for ~$56B.
While there is no evidence the forum migration is connected to that takeover effort, the timing is notable as Cohen continues to increase GameStop's position in eBay and press his case to shareholders by criticizing current management, board oversight, operational execution, and governance failures.
Cohen also surprised and delighted many eBay sellers by taking his pitch direct in an interview with seller, YouTuber, and Flipwise co-founder Justin Glow - showing a level of candor and engagement many sellers say has been sorely lacking from CEO Jamie Iannone and other current eBay leaders.
Liz Morton
Meanwhile, eBay has continued their years-long pullback from seller engagement, ending community chat sessions with eBay staff and withdrawing from social support channels on Facebook and X.
Liz Morton
Sellers expressing their concerns about this change in one community post had an overarching message for eBay - a new forum won't do any good if the company continues to ignore engaging with their customers.
All the changes in the world won't matter if you continue to NOT post announcements about changes, and if you fail to respond to over half the queries directed at the Community Team.
What we really need is much better COMMUNICATION from ebay. Just one simple example:
".... some existing activities will not be available on our new platform."
Real communication would not leave us hanging like that, speculating on what will not be available. Real communication would be " "The following activities will no longer be available:..."
And the cynic in me asks: I wonder how long they've been planning this, or is this a response to the GameStop takeover effort? LOL
Hopefully eBay does not plan on following in Etsy's footsteps in locking out public read-only visibility in the new forum experience.
Liz Morton
While new capabilities may make this an overall positive change going forward, eBay can and should reconsider the limit on post migration to ensure crucial content is not lost - or at least provide a longer period before implementation to allow users to save their content before the migration.
Sellers who are concerned about losing old posts they have bookmarked or conversations they have contributed to may want to archive those posts outside of eBay if they wish to retain them.
The Internet Archive Wayback Machine at archive.org is one tool that can be used for this purpose, as well as other options like Archive Today at archive.ph.
Internet Archive instructions:
How to use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:
What do you think of eBay's plans to refresh the community forum experience? Let us know in the comments below!
