eBay Codes never work anymore

I have found recently that codes never work for me anymore. Has eBay changed? There use to be a 5% coupon that would refresh every 3 month or so and every so often have a 10% or more with a minimum spend of say $100. When ever I search for codes eBay always says expired even if they have only been posted to websites such as this in the last few days or weeks and the official T&C page is still active. Their T&C don't elaborate very much anymore and are quite vague, with no dates, no specific mention of sellers (such as deals exclusive with say the Good Guys etc) and just say 'selected items' which as a long time eBayer I initially assume excluding categories such as coins and gold like in the past. Am I doing something wrong? or has ebay become a greedy corporate who are focusing on wheeling and dealing with retailers and not providing intensives for buying from amateur sellers? Evidently 'Selected ITEMS' must actually mean 'Selected SELLERS'. Why copy Amazon pushing for 'certified' sellers only when us amateurs are what made eBay and have paid so much money in fees that far outweighs a little coupon here and there.