If you are running a site that requires membership, one of the key tenets is that you make the user aware of their current status, and what is available to them. For example, if they need to log in to access certain features, make them aware of this. eBeay, however, appears to forget the user’s state, leading to confusion as to whether you are logged in or not.
If you’ve previously logged in to the eBay site, but are not currently logged in, you are greeted by name. merely by greeting you by name, eBay is implying that you have entered their site in a state that allows them to identify you. This, typically, means you are logged in. There are very few sites that greet you by name unless you are signed in.
Along with this greeting is the suggestion that if you’re not the person mentioned in this greeting, you should sign in. The implication is, if you are the person ebay is greeting, you don’t need to sign in. You only need to sign in if you’re not this person.
These two factors, combined, give the overall impression that you are signed in. However, clicking on any of the links that require you to be signed in (e.g. Buy, Sell, My eBay) you are taken to the Sign In page. You clearly aren’t logged in, and the eBay home page has got your state wrong. You are not in a “Logged In” state.
This approach by eBay ultimately results in a surprise to the user, something you generally want to avoid at all costs. The expectation is that if you are logged in, and all indications point to the fact that you are, you do not need to log in again. In general, users understand that you have to sign in for certain services. But, given the current ability of web sites to keep you logged in for a number of days or weeks (a facility that eBay themselves offer), it’s extremely important that users know where they stand. What state they’re in. In this regard, eBay fails. It creates confusion, breaks standard conventions and surprised uses.
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