The following is a post I discovered on a Netscape Discussion board and thought it was worth sharing on elitetrader: ---EBay Inc. is trying to milk more money out of every customer - a strategy that has resulted in record revenue but makes some analysts nervous about the company's long-term prospects. --- Analysts have every reason to be concerned. Ebay's shabby treatment of their core customers(the basic Ebay seller) could very bring the auction site to a grinding halt...and a big profit drain since Paypal profits are tied directly to the auction site! There is a LOT of discord among Ebay sellers and many are quitting or greatly reducing their business with Ebay. I am one of them. After selling on the site for six years, I have well over a thousand transactions...but that number will be dropping this year. I simply have had it with the pathetic Ebay management. They have created a site where animosity is growing daily between sellers and buyers, fraud is barely acknowledged by the company, and they expect the sellers to just keep on paying them! Well, the next few earnings reports will show that is a flawed system. Statistic show that listing volume has been dropping steadily for the past few years and successful auction percentages are not improving. That will affect the bottom line as more sellers give Meg and her company the "Heave Ho". My previous monthly Ebay statements will be FAR lower due to my reduced use of the site. Ebay is counting on their Ticket venue sales to keep numbers high...but those sales are also dependant on the Auction site's visibility. As those numbers drop...so will the ticket sales. As for Skype...well, new players enter the market all the time and Skype could be trumped in a heartbeat. Would Ebay be able to revive the auction site? At that point it would be lost. Done deal. The sellers would not bail Ebay out by bringing business back. Ebay is making the most common mistake that power hungry management is often guilty of...IGNORING THE ONES WHO MADE THE COMPANY SUCCESSFUL. I was a big promoter of the site in past years and recommended it as a place for friends to shop. Not anymore. Too many problems on the auction site and too little loyalty from the company itself. The latest and biggest insult from Ebay to the sellers would have been a real laugh(if they had not been serious). They have a summer promotion to "SLASH seller fees 14%!!!" as the banner reads. Well, that actually amounts to 14% of the first 5.25% of the first $25 of a sale....another words... 19 cents. That is NOT slashing fees. It's an worthless offering that is an insult to the intelligence of every seller. What really bothers me is that the site "could" have grown and gained in sheer numbers in every department. Instead, its listing volume and success rate is declining. The chartes show a steady downhill slide. The analysts have every reason to be concerned.
no offense, but 1000 transactions is petty to ebay. The bottom line is that the consumer/buyer can find a significantly better deal on ebay than anywhere else. Sellers are a dime a dozen. The buyer is what drives the company.
They're not treating their buyers too well either. Yes, I've found a few better deals on Ebay and saved a few dollars. But the money I've lost on fraudulent transactions has been more than the money I've saved. Ebay's reactions to any fraud complaints is absolutely pathetic. I wish they would get some serious competition from Yahoo Auctions or elsewhere.
Google has the talent and the money to create a competitive auction website. IF and WHEN that happens, Bay girl will be in the single digits.
If that's true, they may be in trouble. I closed my eBay accounts a while ago after they did nothing to help me deal with a blatant fraud on the part of a seller with about 450 transactions. It seemed to me that eBay was fully on the side of the seller. Doesn't that make sense, seeing as the sellers are their source of income?
Most of the time, buyers will pay as much on eBay (when one includes S&H) for used gear as one can pay for new on Newegg. Never buy hardware there, sell your old stuff and replace with Newegg. Me too. While I do use eBay on occasion and have managed to avoid fraud, it's rampant and easy to find. Yet eBay does nothing to stop it. Most eBay sellers run pretty thin margins, while Paypal and eBay keep raising fees. If an auction company keeps hurting it's buyers and sellers, it's not going to be running many auctions after a while. But companies and markets are what they are. eBay's not gonna die tomorrow or next week.
Ebay isn't going to die soon, but I agree that it's long term prospects are shot based on their treatment of buyers and sellers. But like all the complaints about microsoft, til there is a viable competitor, Ebay still rules the online auction market. And people don't get on Ebay only to buy electronics, the marketplace for collectibles is HUGE and irreplaceable. If you collect something weird like say, vintage porcelain dresden dolls, or want say rare lotus tubers from Thailand for your watergarden in the backyard, or need a vintage 1890 washboard to decorate your office wall, or you collect lalique Coty bottles pre-1920 you WILL find some on Ebay within a week. That is unbelievable. THAT will keep buyers coming back. Now if Google actually builds an auction into their search engine, this may kill Ebay, but that won't happen for at least a few months. Long term? I would not hold Ebay. But it's still good for swing trades/day trades.