Here's some of the patterns I've gleaned from reading a variety of sources.

Yes, PowerSellers are offered some advantages. If they meet certain feedback criteria. Technically a neutral feedback won't count towards the overall rating. But eBay does count it towards the rating that is required for the advantages. So PowerSellers left and right are not able to meet the criteria for the dubious advantages that were so highly promoted.

Fees have gone up to an insane level for small sellers. Listing fee. Selling fee. They've both gone up right in the sweet spot for the majority of the smaller sellers. So the auction price generally, hopefully, covers the cost of the auction itself.

The new default search results are 'Best Match'. eBay determines that Best Match and it's on who is giving them the most money. You can switch it to ending soonest, etc. but for the casual buyer they're not going to notice that they're being led towards certain sellers.

The amount of absolute garbage from foreign sellers is amazing. They blatantly ignore the listing rules and no one has the time to individually report thousands of auctions. So there they sit. eBay isn't going to take action since they get paid for each and every listing.

I used eBay for the huge pool of buyers for unusual/unique items. There really isn't an alternative for that kind of thing. Yahoo tried for a while but that's been gone for quite a while. Perhaps it's time for them to dust off that code since so many people are looking for another venue.

Feedback is now completely useless on both sides. Bad buyers are having a field day with this and using negative feedback as a hammer to try to force sellers into doing what they want. Sellers aren't bothering to leave feedback since eBay is removing the 'negative positives' that are useful in identifying the buyers engaging in this type of behaviour. So the mutual rating system is down the tubes.

eBay as we knew it is gone. It's now just a playground for foreign dropshippers selling knockoff garbage. There's no way to tell the good from the bad. And it's all looking bad because of it.