eBay

phoenix_top_drawer · ‎02-06-2005

Hello all,

For years I've studied ripple effects of corporate decisions. Some of it is rather predictable.
E-Bay recently decided on dramtic price increases. There was and is much angst abroad in the land. That angst might be translating to buyers backing off because they are not sure if the sellers are going to be around once 2-18 happens. I'm hearing more and more sellers having an attack of the "screwit I'm outta here's". Chances are some purchasers are worried that they'll push send on their PayPal button and not get their stuff.
I think that somehow we've got to send a clear message that on 2-19 we'll still be interested in doing business in this venue.
I don't know how or who but I think it's something we've got to look at seriously.

Brad

systemagic · ‎02-09-2005

With December's fresh revenues in my PayPal account I usually find myself making a few purchases during the early, otherwise quiet, months of the year. My purchasing abruptly stopped this year with the announcement of the rate increase. Anecdotal or not I'll wager that seller purchases this year have dropped off similarly across the board.

What was "Cobb's olive branch offering"? (There's effective marketing right there - prior to this I've never heard of it.) Were there any olives on the branch?

shoplineca · ‎02-09-2005

Olives were in his martini, branch was a rose branch. Careful how you handle it!

ospreylinks · ‎02-10-2005

Sorry Ben, I am with Malcolm....

Do you have a mall in your town or nearby. You know it is there, and you know the stores that exist in the mall, but the mall still has to run promotions to bring in visitors...

Same here. If you are going to rest on past laurels hoping it will carry your business through, well good luck..

Your analogy of Ebay costs going up if they have to market are off the mark. If Ebay doesn't market, their final auction fees will fall off and then fixed price fees such as listing and services will increase to offset the revenue shortfalls (hey isn't that what is happening now).

All I can say is don't put all of your eggs in the Ebay basket...

Jeff

recped · ‎02-10-2005

Anecdotal or not I'll wager that seller purchases this year have dropped off similarly across the board

GOOD, in my experience I've had more trouble getting paid from other sellers than any other identifiable group.

Meanwhile, the company is plowing investment into Europe and Asia, where competitors are more likely to await

I think you were trying to play this as a negative but I see it only as a positive. My sales to non-North American buyers has steadily increased over the past 12 - 24 months and I hope eBay makes every effort to increase this by expanding their penetration into these foreign markets. Non-North Americans pay higher prices in general (for my widgets at least). As mentioned in the article you quoted they "have a virtual lock on the NA market" so I think spending marketing dollars elsewhere makes sense.

Ben

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

ospreylinks · ‎02-10-2005

Well Ben.... apparently you have huge confidence in this market place (although you appear to be the only one)...

Over the past 24 months, my US and International sales have dropped off from 70% to less than 20% of volume...

In any case, as the last one to leave, please shut off the lights on your way out....

And good luck!

Jeff

shoplineca · ‎02-10-2005

Ben
Wait until you are competing with bootleg copies of what you sell from a country with no laws and little to no enforcement to protect intellectual property rights.

Wait until you are competing against new Sellers whose enjoyment is selling, collecting your money and not shipping and there is no local authorities to enforce any laws that may be on their books to discourage that type of activity.

Wait until there are 7 million more Sellers selling your same items for 1/4 of what you are selling them for because their eBay fees are less, their cost of living is less so they dont need to generate the same profit margins to survive on eBay, their source of products is immediate and identical to your products except cost them a fraction of your cost.

Wait until domestic confidence in eBay being a safe trading place totally erodes, and as Jeff puts it, dont forget to turn out the lights on your way out.

Fear mongering? Nope, been there, done that, long before eBay ever existed with over 25 years in International markets selling and purchasing into the millions of dollars.

Malcolm

systemagic · ‎02-10-2005

Seriously,

I've been off-line a few days and really didn't know who Cobb was (a large marble?) and why he was proferring flora. For anyone else like me here's an article titled "Ebay Sellers say Fee Cut Falls Short" that elucidates it: http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/08/technology/ebay_prices.reut/

It sound like we get a nickle rebate if we want to lose substancial money on listing at less-than-a-dollar. How magnanimous!