eBay

hlmacdon · ‎05-29-2018

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎05-29-2018

Good one!!! My sides are bursting!!!

-CM

kawartha-ephemera · ‎05-29-2018

The entirety of the blog post has me asking more questions than it answered. I've absolutely no idea what the purpose of the 49.00 membership is ... who benefits other than ebay and how?

silverpinups · ‎05-30-2018

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?

amcdc79 · ‎05-30-2018

April fools Day was Last month. Lol.

recped · ‎05-30-2018

@hlmacdon wrote:
Completely original marketing idea

Did someone claim it was an original idea?

I haven't taken the time to read the details of who pays for what but it's definitely something eBay needs to test especially in Australia where they have had a huge lead on the domestic Amazon site. Amazon is now coming on strong there, with FBA for 3P sellers, stocking a wider range of their own products locally and pushing Prime hard (as they run out of growth in the USA).

"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.

hlmacdon · ‎05-30-2018

@kawartha-ephemera wrote:
The entirety of the blog post has me asking more questions than it answered. I've absolutely no idea what the purpose of the 49.00 membership is ... who benefits other than ebay and how?

Buyers benefit to a degree, but ebay is already going through the phase of pushing through mandatory free returns so that has zero long term value. If nothing else it is a cash grab so they can continue funding customer acquisition through discounting mechanisms like coupons and the recent referrals program. Short term it is a feature clone to main relevant while Amazon roles out in AU, the long term hope is obviously that it becomes a cash cow in other markets trading on the ignorance of buyers since sellers are getting pushed into the free shipping/free returns model.

momcqueen · ‎05-30-2018

It's not that I oppose free shipping and free returns as a seller.... as long as ebay pays for the 'free return' since I'm already eating the cost of postage on that.

hlmacdon · ‎05-30-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
It's not that I oppose free shipping and free returns as a seller.... as long as ebay pays for the 'free return' since I'm already eating the cost of postage on that.

That would be the way to do it but I suspect they'd just use the membership dollars for short term capital or to fund discounting to drive GMV rather than actually covering something for a seller. Right now the pitch to sellers is we have such better shipping rates than you (they don't really, the differences are not significant for the most part)) that you can afford to self-fund free returns using eBay's rates.

They have to decide if they are a marketplace or a retailer. Right now they are taking the position of a retailer by pushing those costs onto the seller. All that does is create a customer acquisition cost that is better spent elsewhere frankly. Amazon's program works because it is based on best in class rates and end to end logistics processes. EBay's is based on backside of a napkin math.

silverpinups · ‎05-30-2018

They have to decide if they are a marketplace or a retailer. Right now they are taking the position of a retailer by pushing those costs onto the seller. All that does is create a customer acquisition cost that is better spent elsewhere frankly. Amazon's program works because it is based on best in class rates and end to end logistics processes. EBay's is based on backside of a napkin math.

If only eBay could celebrate their uniqueness in the marketplace instead of trying to replicate the big "A".

They lack the infrastructure and resources to compete with the titan of ecommerce.

The road to success is finding balance, to except their position in the marketplace and to equally highlight their niche and collectible items as well as their new product lines.

Looking for that hard to find item? Try eBay.... We also have a huge selection of new products for every interest.

There's something for everyone at eBay.....

A little cliché, but you get the point.

esclyons · ‎05-30-2018

can anyone say AMAZON PRIME

silverpinups · ‎05-30-2018

Actually I've never checked out the Amazon site.... believe it or not!

femmefan1946 · ‎05-30-2018

I've bought there-- failed transaction. Several months before refund.

I've sold there - few transactions although 1/3 of my listings were Lowest Price. Took forever to be paid.

I prefer not to be competing with the owner of the site.

momcqueen · ‎05-31-2018

@femmefan1946 wrote:
I've bought there-- failed transaction. Several months before refund.
I've sold there - few transactions although 1/3 of my listings were Lowest Price. Took forever to be paid.

I prefer not to be competing with the owner of the site.

Well put. I use the other site for completely different things. Also, I NEVER buy from third-party sellers on it because that defeats the purpose of shopping there and that is only if I need something mass-market available. For dirt cheap and fast, I go to The River or another e-tailer who is a retailer first. If I need something out-of-production or unique, I shop here. I'm not buying a box of 64 Pull-Ups on ebay. I come here for things I know cannot be found on an end cap. To pretend ebay is the place to get a bulk pack of 168 bars of soap is ridonkulous.

momcqueen · ‎05-31-2018

And I agree that ebay is missing the boat by not celebrating what makes us unique. We are a poor second to The River, that's not what we are and no one can expect us to be. When I start offering my stuff there, it will not be to compete against the site itself. I cannot. The River is an 800-lb gorilla and I am the flea on its back.

hlmacdon · ‎05-31-2018

@momcqueen wrote:
And I agree that ebay is missing the boat by not celebrating what makes us unique. We are a poor second to The River, that's not what we are and no one can expect us to be. When I start offering my stuff there, it will not be to compete against the site itself. I cannot. The River is an 800-lb gorilla and I am the flea on its back.

That is something Taobao has done well and something ebay should have learned after their less than successful foray into China. Taobao learned to separate their market by size of seller/brand. The sort of things ebay wants to implement moving forward is what Taobao does through Tmall, which is their large retailer/brand direct experience. You can literally buy just about anything through their market as their model embraces small businesses and individual sellers and monetizes them differently than their large retail/brand customers. The two sites are intertwined and there is crossover of product but the two groups aren't directly pitted against each other. A low cost selling model drives inventory which drives customers, which drives the higher dollar monetization of large brands/retailers that are attracted by the buyer base.

Amazon does things differently but they keyed in on being a 3PL partner that actually drives retail traffic to sellers. That model will continue to grow organically as it actually solves a problem. If I need some random item, chances are these days I can find it there as they have so many sellers embracing FBA. That is the sort of niche ebay used to fill, at least for more current merchandise versus older/collectible goods. Ebay is hedging on growth by discounting and extracting more money from sellers. Great for fudging short term growth, but not a long term solution by any means. Growing the seller base is as important and we haven't really seen anything that makes the platform more attractive to sell on. If anything they have made it fairly unpalatable. More carrots and less sticks goes a long way.