For new newsgroup readers, these are not our forum posts. Any comments to the posters below should be made on the applicable thread, marked in bold below.
//
From eBay Stores Forum
Marty, What does this mean...do you know? http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000427444&start=0
.
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 17:57 PDT
The auction business needs a boost, but it might get one from a planned redesign of the site later this year. New features will allow other sites to host listings, letting eBay use the popularity of social networking sites in the same way that video site YouTube does. EBay is also making its auction site more profitable by placing an increasing number of small, targeted ads from outside companies.
Are they talking about something that is already in place like the ebay to go thingy or something new?
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 17:59 PDT 1
The above quote is from this article:
http://www.smartmoney.com/stockscreen/index.cfm?story=20070821intro&afl=yahoo
And, it hints that Meg might step down in March when she reaches her 10 year anniversary.
savoir-faire08 (80 ) Aug-31-07 17:59 PDT 2
I am not Marty, Linda, but I think what this passage refers to is the planned listings on MySpace and the likes. I heard some rumors.
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 18:02 PDT 3
Thanks. So, Myspace is going to break down and let us put our listings on there?
Then, why not just put what we have available on there and cut out ebay? Or is it going to be tied to ebay only? Any ideas?
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 18:02 PDT 4
Of course, I don't really think 99.9% of my customers hang out on myspace...lol
Guess it's back to the drawing board for other ideas.
savoir-faire08 (80 ) Aug-31-07 18:05 PDT 5
I wish I'd remember more of that stuff. And here si another one
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/58719.html
clact (3703 ) Aug-31-07 18:59 PDT 6
Hi there!
I think everyone got it right. They are referring to the various deals in the works with Myspace and I think even Facebook . Its all part of a plan I presume to be everywhere.
Personally I am more excited about the possibility they expanded their credit line not for dividend but to buy Mercado Libre the Latin American auction company growing like crazy which Ebay already owns. You know how wonderful our Canadian customers are, there is a whole world to the south of us here that is only now starting to hit the internet craze.
In any case I think these projects will start slow but there have been recent article stating that the next generation will make the "search engine" one of many options for finding and buying things in the many circles people are in.
For example One girl we sells 70k in T-shirts from myspace. Has nothing to do with Google. She had a lot of friends, started early, shirts had borderline nasty sayings on them and the kids bought them because they were there on that site seeing people like her. Nothing to do with Ebay, Google or adwords.
Similarly as a member of one other site, I am involved in discussions with CEOs on brainstorming ideas. If someone that click with me suggested something, Id probably buy it just as a friend might recommend a movie to you.
As I say all the time only a percentage of items in the world are bought when someone searches for them. People like to be shown what to buy. Almost every successful product out there was SHOWN to you by the TV , a friend or an AD.
Ive found Stumbleupon fascinating. By what I like and what others like me like I get taken all kinds of places. Any of you that have used it know what I mean. After a dozen or so uses it knows you LOL
This is just speculation on my part but just as Amazon uses "people that bought this also bought this other item" I think eBay will gain knowledge of this and sometimes I find a weird dead on result listed first and I think its a test for me LOL
In any case I hope Meg stays on. I really like Meg, and there is no reason for her to retire. She is well liked, has a good vision (even if the outward expression of that here is often not too good).
I am sure many of you heard the story in Forbes but Ill post it here for you anyway...
From Forbes Magazine...
Ebay's Meg Whitman built a retail leviathan without sacrificing her customers, shareholders or ethics. She still has more to prove.
People at Ebay love to tell this story about Margaret (Meg) Whitman, the chief executive. She was on a flight to India with three other Ebay employees when one of them developed a dangerous gastrointestinal problem somewhere over Tehran. Whitman pulled out an atlas and decided Istanbul was the nearest, safest city in which they could land. She called an air emergency service and arranged for an ambulance to be waiting on the tarmac when the plane landed. Whitman rode in the ambulance with the ill executive and stayed with him for hours in the hospital, talking to his wife on the phone.
Once the executive was stabilized, Whitman took him to a hospital in London in the corporate jet. She and the other Ebay employees flew commercial to India, leaving the jet for the patient to fly home to California. "She will exert herself personally, far and above the call of duty," says Rajiv Dutta, head of Ebay's PayPal business. "She makes you want to do the right thing."
Whitman is indeed a welcome respite in an age littered with corporate shenanigans. "Nice" is the word usually applied to Whitman personally, and nice she has been to shareholders. She became chief executive of the online auctioneer in March 1998. Six months later she took the company public at an initial market value of $700 million. Now Ebay is worth $46 billion, and shareholders have enjoyed a compound annual return of 40%. Yet Whitman has taken home a quite reasonable paycheck--averaging $1.7 million a year in the last six years. Of course she is sitting on a nice pot of Ebay stock, most of which she was granted upon her hire--her 1.9% stake is worth some $885 million. That, plus cash and other holdings, makes her one of only ten self-made female billionaires on the planet.
And she did it without indulging in accounting tricks or backdated options, as have so many Silicon Valley executives. "I love who we are as a company and what we stand for," says Whitman. "It's fun to have built such a successful company and done it with a nice character, in a way most people would be proud of."
I agree, and I think Rajiv Dutta will probably be her successor. I have not met him yet, just saw him speak at LIVE, something great about that guy as well and how people feel about him.
People love to hate Meg, that is why in this upside down world it makes sense that she is really a good person.
Marty
oas3 (14573 ) Aug-31-07 19:08 PDT 7
I think it would be just as easy to fix the search and probably alot simplier..
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 20:33 PDT 8
"Fix the search" by ebay standards (playground)lol
Or "Fix the search" like we all need where a simple key word search brings up everything on THIS site with those keywords and only those keywords in it?
Some of us still deal in things that don't belong on myspace or any of the other "social" networks. And, we are fading fast.
Our buyers are giving up and leaving and that is leaving the impression no one wants our stuff anymore. In reality, they just don't find it fun to buy here anymore and there is no where else to go so they are going back to their TVs, hobbies, etc and ebay is just a fading memory for them (buyers...not sellers).
I'm talking about all the buyers who loved to sit down and see what items from their past they could find today. Now, the answer is all to often....NONE.
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 20:35 PDT 9
Thanks for sharing that Marty. Too bad I just don't share your enthusiasm over all the "new" things. I don't even like the new movies, tv shows or much else. I'm just sitting back in my little corner of the world with my records and old movies and old tv series where I'm comfortable and feel at home. *sigh*
joint_runner (Private ) Aug-31-07 20:41 PDT 10
I don't even like the new movies, tv shows or much else. I'm just sitting back in my little corner of the world with my records and old movies and old tv series where I'm comfortable and feel at home. *sigh*
Rest assured you're not alone! There are a lot of us that are stepping off the treadmill. Enough is enough.
As transparent as eBay itself.
raremoderncards (15 ) Aug-31-07 20:55 PDT 11
Postcards, i am sorry you feel left behind, but the majority of sellers and buyers and internet users in general are moving towards other ways of buying, selling and interacting, and that is where ebay should be moving.There is no way ebay can please everyone, but they should be lookingto please the majority.
huckster3000 (292 ) Aug-31-07 21:03 PDT 12
marty, i do think that you are one of the good guys and mean well. but whenever you are not talking about financial phenomenon like the country's economy - and ESPECIALLY when you are talking about anything related to ebay - i have to say that you almost always totally lose me. and i am someone who is pretty much totally tuned in to the whole web 2.0 digg itunes youtube myspace indy blogger content delivery revolution. when it comes to ebay matters i don't think you are wearing rose colored glasses so much as i fear that maybe you are the unfortunate victim of an electronic rose colored cerebral implant resulting from one of your many ebay live close encounters of the hypno kind.
just trying to keep it real here...
huckster3000
DEAD END DRIVE-IN DVD
and if i weren't a civil servant / i'd have a place in the colonies / we'd play croquet behind white-washed walls and drink our tea at four / within intervention's distance of the embassy
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 21:50 PDT 13
raremodern...no need to feel sorry for me. lol
But, when it comes to ebay they should remember that a lot of us old-timers are the ones who buy as well. We are the ones that are left out.
All I'm saying is they should make a place for us to. Those of you into the new things may be surprised someday when you actually discover just how much competition there is out there for your new items.
The people I'm talking about don't buy new on line very often unless it is from a reputable store. And, they loved ebay for the same reasons I did. I have thousands of emails from customers who tell me what the items I sold them meant to them. And, how happy they are to have it.
Those people are losing out on what ebay once offered. I'm just as sad to see it dieing for us as a buyer as I am as a seller.
clact (3703 ) Aug-31-07 21:51 PDT 14
Huckster, I am not sure what is so difficult to understand.
I read a real lot. Often I read til 2am . There are articles all over the web about what is going on with ways to market items that might make search engines obsolete over time. Everything changes, Ebay has a lot going on now, and I think many of these things are exciting. You will see soon enough Im sure. This playground search thing is pretty much liked by most people now, even people here on the board LOL
For postcards it is amazing. Linda, go to playground.ebay.com and look up postcards click on snapshot view, then view listings of any postcard seller you find. AMAZING! Way better way to find what is needed.
I realize some of you think Im out there in la la land.
But I have to tell you I am no web guru, nor do I have a real lot of time to commit to this stuff yet everywhere I look there are ways to make money.
We get checks to train people, we manage accounts, we sell our own items, items for others ,get money from Squidoo, sell books at classes, sell our own guide at classes, occasionally get an affiliate check , are looking into Skype Prime (look it up) , and cant wait for Ebay local in order to trade more items locally.
This is a great company where people ask for your ideas, where employees meet with you and your ideas sometimes come to the site. A company that has made good numbers without chopping people like onions on a butcher block and which has grown internationally and has its foot in almost every major communication and trading technology going. One could do worse that to be involved here.
As to why people will buy from people they know or socialize with, it happens all the time. Its just like going out to golf and making a contact that is a friend and wants to do business with you. A friend recommends a video or movie and you check it out. All your friends love Subarua outbacks (like me) and you look into getting one. I have seen new music lists on some sites where people compare what they are listening to and there are links to buy the music.
I dont think its rocket science.
In the earlist days of AOL , there were chat room (still are). PEople were so amazed at talking to other people on the computer they lived with AOL bills in the hundreds and arranged meetings at places which got a lot of business from these get togethers. These people are first bought on AOL marketplace, then Ebay and Amazon.
Huckster, if you think I am out there, rent the movie
The Fountain
I think you will enjoy it! Its really good!
I think you will enjoy it! Its really good!
Marty 
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 21:52 PDT 15
Marty, I still like to see the price and the information about it. A photo just doesn't tell me where it is from.
I would never shop postcards in that view. I still click on the list view in every store I enter who has theirs in the double column gallery view. lol
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 21:53 PDT 16
A company that has made good numbers without chopping people like onions on a butcher block
Bet there are a couple of hundred thousand sellers who would disagree with that one. lol
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 21:57 PDT 17
In the earlist days of AOL , there were chat room (still are). PEople were so amazed at talking to other people on the computer they lived with AOL bills in the hundreds and arranged meetings at places which got a lot of business from these get togethers
I remember those too. Then, a few years later someone would keep popping in to ask your age and sex and if you wanted to...well you know the rest. And, they got pretty graphic and I left those for good.
Myspace is the gutter of the internet if you ask me. Of course, you didn't, but I went there once to see my sisters pictures from Iraq. I couldn't believe the sleeze. I know you and lots of others here have neat sites there but it is a total turnoff to millions of us. I am not alone!
Asking a friend what they like and asking a stranger is two different things. The world seems to think everyone they chat with is a "friend". Does anyone make "real" friends anymore?
I understand all of this stuff. I just don't like it.
postcardsandmore (4446 ) Aug-31-07 22:00 PDT 18
Ok, I'm talking to myself. lol
But, I did want to add that I also understand how you can be so excited about all this. You love selling. You love the adventure.
Many of us who stumbled on ebay in the good old days just like passing on our treasures to others and buying new ones. That is what we have lost.
thepinkelephants (39 ) Aug-31-07 22:10 PDT 19
Huckster, if you think I am out there, rent the movie The Fountain
I think you will enjoy it! Its really good!
Clact, if you think we're out there, rent Orwell's movie 1984
I think you will enjoy it! Its really good.
clact (3703 ) Aug-31-07 22:27 PDT 20
Postcards, I was at one of the first internet conferences in the early 90s when there were only 300 websites and mosaic was the browser. I came back telling everyone THEN how this was going to change the world and everyone talked to me exactly like you are now! LOL
I even tried to start Ebay before Ebay was made. Well my version of it 2-3 year before was a victorian in where you can click on anything in the photos and call up antiques. The problem? People though antiques would never sell on the internet LOL
I kept on being the boring CPA guy. Ive actually been on ebay for longer than this ID shows . We picked the one with the most feedback when we started our store I have another at least a few years back further than this one and I need to check but I think I was here even earlier.
I use to come to buy stock certificates (as I collected them here).
Things change, but that doesnt mean people get left behind. One thing you need to keep in mind though is that as generations age they collect their own "collectibles".
This is why in our store we stay flexible. We made a lot selling vintage cabbage patch kids then Walmart reissued them. We did great with books, then they slowed down, recently picked up some. We have 5 major categories showing on our sm pro page and almost all of them are equal in sales.
As to the crap on the internet, I have to say I agree to an extent, but every generation has its things. Years ago there were playboy and penthouse magazines, strip clubs, playboy clubs and you name it. There was the free wheeling drug dealing free sex 60s etc.
To a certain extent the internet has opened up a world of communication for some that were boxed in an opportunities to those with different abilities.
I do agree there needs to be a balance. A great book about getting back to real life is "Silicon Snake Oil" I highly recommend it , there are usually copies on ebay for a buck or two. Its a really great book.
I stress over the economy but see my dad for lunch every week, see my friend Dave most weeks, talk to my other friends , go fishing once in a while, hang out at the flea market and take the kids for breakfast every Saturday. I do think balance is hard.
It would be easier if the economy were better, and work in general producted more money LOL
Can I get you to go to one of those live implant rose colored glasses things in Chicago? LOL
Marty
sportscollectible (508 ) Aug-31-07 22:37 PDT 21
clact....well that is interesting. I went to the playground like you suggested and typed in word for word a title of 6 core auction items I have and not ONE of them showed up in the search!!!!
So whats up with that??
diesel_parts (1431 ) Aug-31-07 22:56 PDT 22
I don't know where ebay is going but I know where I am going. My store is profitable. I make more than I need from it and that part of ebay I like but the ever changing policies, rules and off the wall happenings make me reluctant to expand on ebay. I have decided for my own good to shrink on ebay.
I think the future on the internet for the little guy is a website that you own and control. Thee are still rules but with your own website you are less apt to become a victim of circumstance. Like 2 npb negs and you get a vacation, not.
Ebay is trying all this off the wall stuff but they are ignoring sellers who run into a problem. We have to guess what they are thinking.
I ran a small welding and machine shop for several years. I developed a policy of not doing business with large corporations. They want work done but after the job is done you have a real hard time getting your money. 60 to 120 days. I went to the small to medium corporations and had no serious problems after that. I am going contrary to that policy now and am uncomfortable with it.
When people without a good understanding of how business works get at the helm well anything can happen. Many good sellers have seen that and went other more secure ways. It took me a long time to build my store and I have all the components to move it now. I will feel more secure when I finish moving.
Bill
sportscollectible (508 ) Aug-31-07 22:58 PDT 23
Bill I have a website with over 500 items, over 7,000 page views since May and NO sales...Im not sure what to do.
/*
Technorati Profile
EventHorizon1984 Log
//