Why does Ebay go out of their way to use ridiculously long URLs?

[ahofle]

Used to be an ebay item was a simple short URL with the item number in it.  Now it's some 300 character long cryptic pile of steaming dung which has necessitated the creation of websites such as tinyurl.com.  There is even a nice little item number on each ebay page BUT IT'S NOT A URL!!!  WTF!?!?!  Is it a conspiracy to ruin internet forums and email messages across the globe? 

   

[AtomSmasher]

No idea why they changed it, but I've heard ebay sellers are supposed to start boycotting ebay tommorrow because of their recent pricing and policy changes.

[SavannahLion]

TIP: eBay sucks ass....

Oh wait, that's not what you wanted to hear. It appears eBay uses QQ instead of the traditional & (or anything else for that matter) in their URL. Strip off anything after the second set of QQ including the second QQ and you can still access the page in question.

Want to know what's even more annoying than a 200+ character URL? A 200+ character URL that contains private information about your web account, contains the last position you clicked on the previous page, your "back one page" URL, and just for kicks, the current time forcing you to spend at least ten minutes trying to figure out what can be safely stripped out so you can ---smurfing--- post a link to the page.

[Sir Auros]

I've hated ebay ever since their Paypal monopoly forced me to upgrade my account and risk losing everything in my bank account to accept a credit card payment over Paypal.

[AtomSmasher]

I've hated ebay ever since their Paypal monopoly forced me to upgrade my account and risk losing everything in my bank account to accept a credit card payment over Paypal.

Just a tip, you may want to get a security key from paypal to make your password virtually unbreakable (unless someone has physical access to the security key).  I think the one time fee of $5 is definately worth it if your bank account is attached.