I had EBAY earnings announcement marked for next week. I see they announced last night. Did any data service carry this schedule ahead of time, or was it a surprise for everyone (well almost everyone as per usual)?
You must have had the wrong date annotated. It was scheduled for 4/19. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/17/what-to-watch-when-ebay-reports-earnings.aspx
It was originally expected on 4/25 but they brought it forward--I know this because I had a short butterfly on it that should have been ragingly profitable, but instead broke-even after I held it for 3 weeks.
I dunno WHY and HOW the stock could go down. It's got a profitable business model; ppl are still doing business on the sites. It's one of the best, most reliable online marketplace out there with the cheapest stuff in the most variety. The company is not Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme where everything goes up at 45 degree angle. What they expect the business to be making more and more and more and more money EVERY SINGLE quarter? That's not sustainable.
Amazon is able to do it. The problem with eBay is that they really screw over their sellers. If you look at their seller fees, they even assess a final value charge on shipping. Then you have secondary fees like PayPal that cut into profits. Basically, if you sell something on that site, expect to surrender 10 - 20% of the value of the product. For most people, it's just not worth the hassle. The only things I buy on eBay are cheap and often patent-infringing products (such as a recent magnetic charging cable for my Samsung Galaxy...great product that you can't buy anywhere else) from Hong Kong or China that take about 3 to 4 weeks to arrive and cost less than a few bucks shipped. eBay has a reasonable P/E ratio, but it's just not seen as the leader of it's market segment.
Pretty much. I used to sell on eBay, their bullshit became untenable. Pypl is a much attractive option for long term gains.
The eBay/Paypal fee to the seller is approx 13% of the total transaction value (including shipping). Years ago they only charged the fee on the item price. But now they charge fees on both the item price and shipping charge because sellers used to list a very low price for the item along with a very high price for the shipping charge to avoid paying fees, essentially trying to game the system. This practice has been largely abandoned by sellers who now charge shipping which is more realistic. A 13% fee for the convenience of an online marketplace is a good value. If you tried to sell at a live auction house, the fee would be at least that much and you would have a smaller buyer audience. You could also sell locally on Craigslist and not pay any fee, but then you have to deal directly with the public knocking on your door. I buy a lot on eBay and only sell a few times a year when I am downsizing my stuff. eBay isn't perfect, I have a couple gripes. But overall, it's a great marketplace for buyers and sellers. Most of the problems people report are with their counter-party (the buyer or seller), not eBay itself.
Well they have to make money SOMEWHERE and I guess they figured that they treat the buyers more nicer the buyers will keep coming back and might be more willing to buy from the sellers thus the sellers can recuperate the fees that EBay charges them. And you are right, the stuff on Ebay is dirt cheap, much cheaper than elsewhere even including Amazon and lot more variety. And the quality of the product is quite high. Out of all of the purchases that I have made on EBay, I've got ONE lemon. As long as you don't need it urgently, it's worth the wait. Whatever you get is from elsewhere is from the same source, China, so why not get it like at least 50% cheaper from EBay? And the sellers are no angels either. One of my biggest disappointment that I have with the sellers is the fake and cheating auctions. They start the bid super low and then you bid and you are the only one who's bidding so just as you see you are about to win the bid, at the last minute the seller cancels the auction or outbid you with another of his account posing as a buyer just for the purpose of enticing you to look at his wares and then pay the real sale price which is at least 10% higher. You end up wasting days waiting and checking the site you end up with nothing. I don't mind getting nothing but it's the wasting of my time and efforts and get cheated that I have problems with. If you are not serious about offering something for auction, you shouldn't post it, you should just post is as a real sale. If people are interested, they will buy it if they are not, then they are not. Why wasting people's time and efforts? Seriously, Ebay should get rid of its online auction part or monitor it better. It's totally useless.