EventHorizon1984 Log: January 2009

eBay censored the thread below. We present page one in its entirety.

And we would appreciate a full copy of page two.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520080464&tstart=0&mod=1232966787980

What Business Week thinks of eBay's future
moondancefarm (7666 ) View Listings \| Report		Jan-24-09 14:08 PST
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2009/tc20090121_143541.htm

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45 replies	Date posted	Reply #
rockinghorsegirl4now (2764 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 14:25 PST	1 of 45
Ebay just doesn't get it. Ebay wants to copy Amazon but the world already has an Amazon. Why Ebay wants to be a second Amazon is beyond me. Ebay needs to get back to being Ebay---the best site of its kind instead of being a second-rate Amazon wannabe.
designforyou (1682 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 14:27 PST	2 of 45
Interesting article. Exec's did not take seller need's into consideration when making all the changes with feedback, DSR's, and higher fees. It would seem sellers have spoken by taking their merchandise elsewhere. E-Bay simply did not want to recognize sellers needs in order to sell here. A failure to understand their customer/seller market, higher fees and poor customer service all contributed to the downfall. Focusing exclusively on buyer's wants at the expense of sellers was and is one of the biggest mistakes e-Bay made in 2008, along with making paypal mandatory with no other payment options to be listed. Why Donahoe would not understand the downfall in profits says quite a bit about where his head is at. If Amazon showed a profit in a poor economy, there is absolutely no reason for E-Bay to blame the economy. E-bay pushed sellers out, some bad deserved to go but many good decent sellers left along with them.
too_toot (1450 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 14:28 PST	3 of 45
Interesting article - especially the stats, but it doesn't shed any new light on what us long time sellers and buyers didn't know already about eBay's demise. I think eBay has to reverse the changes of the last 2 to 3 years by going back to the basics. Essentially what made it special when Pierre Omidyar invented it. It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc. It will never be successful as a large box fixed price venue as the current retail market has moved on. The current economic climate only reinforces this. For me at least, eBay's fate is sealed with the current business model in place.
slackergirl23 (0 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 14:37 PST	4 of 45
It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc. Why? those people have etsy. The internet is not what it was 10 years ago, ebay can never be ebay 1999 again. there are billions of websites now & many that are better than ebay. No one can undo the internet & how people shop to fix ebay. It just cannot happen. Just use what you can of ebay until it ceases to work as a tool for your business.
jake-deals-4u (968 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 14:40 PST	5 of 45
It needs to court sellers of one-off, unique, collectible, crafters, antiques, etc Interesting, as i sell mostly in 3 of the 4 cats you mentioned & have a lifetime STR of 95%+ on the 1st listing on eBay. Doesnt eBay repeatedly tell sellers to list hard to finds & DEALS here for their best chance for sucess? Fascinating that those articles never ever mention what it takes to Suceed, or even mention what eBay repeatedly tells sellers what to do for best results. Why is that?
maxequations (3914 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:05 PST	6 of 45
I agree that the internet has changed and there are many more venues to sell versus Ebay's hay day. But you also have to admit that in the past decade ebay has done nothing but change in ways that hastened what seems to be their own self destruction. Since the introduction of Buy It Now until today Ebay has been running in circles trying to figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. In the meantime many sellers who years ago only sold here started selling in multiple locations and then went into their own web sites. And with them went THEIR customers. What will happen going foward? I really dont know. We have the lowest amount of listings here is the 8 plus years we have been selling online. We have new Spring foward listings in all locations except here. We are in a wait and see mode and when ebay gets around to saying what changes are in store for 2009 we shall stop and see what they mean to our plans and decide how we wish to proceed. Gary
that..one (Private ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:13 PST	7 of 45
Doesn't everyone think its neat how day after day after day, a group of for the most part totally unsuccessful sellers, rehash all the things ebay is doing wrong and what they should do to make everything work great ??? That is when they can't even make a decent living off trying to sell a few hundred or less items themselves? I know I do.
maxequations (3914 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:16 PST	8 of 45
No but I do find in interesting how the "bravest" succesful sellers hide behing posting ID's so nobody can challenge their "success" here Gary
too_toot (1450 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:19 PST	9 of 45
Bargainhunting never goes out of style. In fact, today it may be the only style. I'm a manufacturer, b&m retailer and have several business websites for selling and sell with many different sites (etsy, too by the way). My business that comes from eBay has declined steadily while other sites have picked up the slack. EBay sadly has made it too expensive to sell here and I won't use eBay as a loss leader (occasionally I do if I can drive them elsewhere). The truth is, eBay has the volume in users and listing numbers. It is and still is the tops for the areas I mentioned in my previous post that big box sites just can't do.
rockinghorsegirl4now (2764 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:24 PST	10 of 45
I'm mainly a buyer now so I can have my say. Maybe buyers are just fed up with the glut of products from China and millions of listings by Diamond sellers. It's hard to cut through all that to find what you really want. I also think when the sellers leave, they take their buying someplace else, plus we lose those buyers who bought from those sellers.
turtlegaby (8889 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:26 PST	11 of 45
Max you might find this interesting. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=521686382&forumID=21&x#521686382 Look for post #19 >>Visit my Tortie blog<< Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
turtlegaby (8889 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:29 PST	12 of 45
It's our lovely tanjastore, the one that joggles between NARU'd and private ID's. I'm very impressed that..one >>Visit my Tortie blog<< Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
maxequations (3914 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:44 PST	13 of 45
Thanks Turtle, it happens all the time. It is like the Secret Society of Successful Sellers. Too-Toot, we produce all we sell and the only difference is we have no B/M Store. In 2008 we had double didgit increase in total sales and ebay dropped 2 times that in the falling over 30%. I also think when the sellers leave, they take their buying someplace else, plus we lose those buyers who bought from those sellers. Rockinghorsegirl- there is the big issue and ebay will never understand. My wifes hairdresser left to go to another shop. My wife followed. So did her $$ for nails, products and some clothes and accessories as she just does not go to shop A anymore, she goes to shop B. During our 2 years on the Moon we have had more then a few customers email and tell us they found this and they found that there and before we told them we were moving they had no idea the moon existed Gary
mygift2u (9489 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 15:57 PST	14 of 45
There was and still is a simple solution to Donohue's woes. ... he just needs to listen to the customer. He will figure out what to do once he figures out who the true customer is!!!!!!!!!! It seems all Sellers are aware of who the customer is. I pay ebay much more per month than they get from any one of MY customers.
dazzlecity (7924 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 16:13 PST	15 of 45
There are several issues with that thread Donahoe has redoubled efforts to cut eBay's dependence on auctions I find that one hard to swallow - if "redoubling" means raising fees from 3 cents to 35 cents In short, management has tried to make eBay more like online retailing stalwart Amazon.com If this was true - ebay would not be hiding millions of fixed price listings in stores At eBay, the core online shopping business suffered a double-digit drop in revenue, down 16%, So you want to be like Amazon? Bring stores out of the closet - give the buyers an opportunity to find the product. He has addressed making the site easier to navigate and making transactions more secure. Don't even know what to say here - making the site easier to navigate - not sure too many would say that was true Those people who are "cleaning out their closet and selling what they find online" are migrating to Craigslist, he says, because "you don't have to deal with the complexity of fees." not sure how much ebay is actually effected by this - I think somewhat but not overall - I think more of the problem is as many have stated - ebay under-estimated just exactly how much buying power "Seller's" really had here - while they were so busy alienating a large majority of sellers with their silly game playing they were also killing of much of the Golden Goose.
rickskatie (2793 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 17:08 PST	16 of 45
Great read. Thanks for posting.
appliancecoverqueen (221 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 17:31 PST	17 of 45
If eBay insists on becoming eBamazon then perhaps they can start a sideline site called "eBay Classic" and go back to the old eBay back when it was fun and profitable. . Judy@ApplianceCoverQueen
rickskatie (2793 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 17:46 PST	18 of 45
I'm afraid they are looking to make eBay into a tax write-off for the rest of their investments such as Pay Pal...whch means they will continue to implement changes that are assured of losing money. Kind of like the oil companies that were allegedly caught in the early 80s purposefully drilling "off strike," meaning they were apparently drilling for oil but purposefully missing the deposits to drive prices up. I think eBay is playng the same game.
tokyodays (5877 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 19:30 PST	19 of 45
Ah, ebay...I hardly knew ya... Well, despite it all, my own eBay biz is still doing quite adequately for my needs...though it doesn't in any way allow me to continue to trust that I'll be able to rely on eBay in the months to come. Sales for me are good--primarily because (I think) of my pricing and my diversity of items...all comics-related collectibles. I wouldn't hitch my future to selling in one single category of comics (say...only silver age vintage comics) than I would rely just on eBay to be a solitary income source. People buy comics from me that date from the 40s through to just last week. Having a variety of items is extremely important--there are dealers who are strict superhero fans who would never buy a Little Lulu or a western comic, whereas I've come to (duh) realize that while I may not like certain kids comics or western comics, it doesn't really matter what I like--it's what the customer wants. So...if I cater to customer needs and give good customer service, I'll continue to do OK here on eBay despite their insidious idiocy and pulmonary-inducing policies. It may not last forever here, but while folks bail from eBay, it only leaves me a stronger seller here on eBay in my category...unless of course, fewer and fewer people come to ebay. But that's why I have begun diversifying to other selling venues. http://www.chrisjuricich.com/eBay_pics/apic.JPG
dazzlecity (7924 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-24-09 23:50 PST	20 of 45
Tokyo - great point - even in my catagory - when searching before listing now I'm constantly amazed at the lack of inventory in specific themes - as the gene pool decreases the size of the pie increases
chopsueysisters (2865 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 03:14 PST	21 of 45
well if there was ever a time to riot and start bringing up areas that they failed which could of added revenue, now's the time to start blogging and calling! The one time they ever show a decline where you might get the ears of people. it's the only chance you'll get, so if you plan to go for the jugular, now's the time to finish him. but it has to be out there, not here under the anticache clouds lol Ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wide enough
mygift2u (9489 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 04:13 PST	22 of 45
Totally agree with Chop, Dazzle, ApplianceQueen, and others. Chop has a great point. The Board may force him to listen to us where he wants to or not. p.s. The feedback/DSR system has not helped with this either. Bring back Seller's ability to leave APPROPRIATE feedback to Buyers. That would include giving them a negative when warranted. I also think eBay is toying with our DSR scores again. For the past week (and I check my Dashboard several times a day, my 30/30 day and my 30day/12mo scores have been EXACTLY the same. There is no way this would be correct.
cjbeez (9773 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 04:31 PST	23 of 45
Those people who are "cleaning out their closet and selling what they find online" are migrating to Craigslist, he says, because "you don't have to deal with the complexity of fees." Sure would be nice if ebay lowered fees for a change in 2009.
honeville1 (4130 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 04:32 PST	24 of 45
Chop... The only chance we'll get??? Naw.. unfortunately I think we'll have at least 4 chances this year alone! 1st qrtr results, 2nd qrtr results, 3rd qrtr results AND 4th Qrtr results. I'd be happy to be proved wrong on this one though!
cjbeez (9773 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 05:17 PST	25 of 45
just keep watching ebay stock... Current Price: $12.00 Last Trade Time: 1/23/2009 4:00 PM Open: $11.43 Previous Close: $11.67 Daily Range: $11.33 - $12.15 52-Week Range: $10.91 - $33.47 Volume: 19,910,763 Market Cap: $16.96B P/E Ratio: 9.69
chopsueysisters (2865 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 11:42 PST	26 of 45
yes Honie, its the only chance we get because not just ebays results but meg wants to be governor, she wont want us bringback up what she put in place before she bailed the economy is melting, everyone is talking about small businesses, the workin class etc. there are grass roots efforts all over the place getting press and we also have this, the numbers of sellers "supposedly" is most of 1.3 million sellers and supposedly "most of those" are AMERICANS making all or most of the income on ebay. Now I dont necessarily believe those numbers, but if politicians, presidential candidates and Meg Whitman want to use it, then lets use their own words against them. Half of that number is 650,000 US sellers all you really need to start it is to tie it into an economic issue and a political one. For some reason Republicans and Democrats are basically fighting right now on the working class and the working poor. Congressmen are actually calling people back. So what I'm getting at Honie, is that right now it's a perfect storm, that won't have the same amount of bite if you wait a quarter. Besides the scrutiny of JDs performance, 52% of small biz are home based businesses. Ebay sellers make up all minorities and all ages. You have women, seniors supplementing their incomes, veterans, disbled, parents who can't afford day care, caregivers who are taking care of parents. THe makeup of ebay sellers represents everything that right now all those politicians are afraid to shut out. No one wants to hear from corporations, no one wants to hear from those corporations pushing for more H-1B visas and in regards to paypl, no one wants to hear about an unregulated financial service or bank that could tie up over half a million small businesses money! Even a slice of 650,000 people represent votes that Republicans need to get back their position. Just about every single republican right now has updated their websites and started being web 2.0! they're looking for a in, with the working class, because they know they've disconnected w/people and are going to have a miserable 4 years Ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough Ain't no river wide enough
the-woodland-girl (Private ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 15:43 PST	27 of 45
I dont think fees have anything to do with it. Amazon is more expensive than ebay and you dont even get paid weekly. They dont pay you but 2 times a month, that isnt that great. The reason ebay is failing is because it gave its sellers a slap in the face with horrid match and get yourself blasted DSR's. The sellers in return slapped back and left. That is the whole problem right there. Those sellers flocked to Amazon and helped build up Amazons empire. Sellers are the number one most important thing, not the buyer. With out sellers, unless ebay is going to start stocking its own merch, it will fall out of favor.
dr_hair_products (1707 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 16:36 PST	28 of 45
The reason ebay is failing is because it gave its sellers a slap in the face with horrid match and get yourself blasted DSR's. The sellers in return slapped back and left. There you go... Corporate executives don't know squat. The Woodland Girl sums it up in 1 paragraph and 1 sentance.
slackergirl23 (0 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 16:46 PST	29 of 45
I dont think fees have anything to do with it. Amazon is more expensive than ebay and you dont even get paid weekly. They dont pay you but 2 times a month, that isnt that great. From a buyers point of view is much faster to shop there too. You can see all the sellers on one page & it's a 2 click order process. I'm just not going to spend 10 minutes picking out the seller/product for a $15 book. I can go there & do the same thing in 30 seconds. Ebay is the most cumbersome shopping site on the net.
oregon-grown (538 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 16:50 PST	30 of 45
E-bay can go back to what it was in 97 if they will go back. It has to many big wigs grabbing the million dollar fringes. Like the banks etc that stole the first 350 million no one really knows how that was spent. Just look at all the big wigs walking off with the millions up there ya think donahue diserves a bonus he gets a big fat one. Guess if the stock holders care less then nothing will ever be done. Always thought a bonus was supose to be deterened by how you did his he should be fired.
moondancefarm (7666 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 16:57 PST	31 of 45
To me the dumbest thing eBay management has ever done (and they have done some real doozies) is hiding store listings. Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake?
oregon-grown (538 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 16:57 PST	32 of 45
You know rocking horse I collect stamps I was buying around $500.00 amonth here. All my great sellers are gone so I folled them no money here on stamps. All on their web sites I sell under 4 names here well 1 now. I spend very little here now.
slackergirl23 (0 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 18:18 PST	33 of 45
E-bay can go back to what it was in 97 if they will go back. In 1997 there were not that many sites to find odd items, websites were expensive & complicated to start & the web was newer. Even if ebay went back to "ebay 1997" the customers, sellers & internet would Not. I don't have hours to spend cruising ebay like I did then, nor do I want to. I don't even search ebay, I use google to find everything now.
dazzlecity (7924 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 18:43 PST	34 of 45
To me the dumbest thing eBay management has ever done (and they have done some real doozies) is hiding store listings. Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake? Badabing! absolutely correct Even if ebay went back to "ebay 1997" the customers, sellers & internet would Not. I don't have hours to spend cruising ebay like I did then, nor do I want to. I don't even search ebay, I use google to find everything now. Absolutely correct as well and ebay just can't figure out how to get it together now
diesel_parts (1818 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 18:57 PST	35 of 45
I have reestablished myself on my websites and plan to stay there. No reason to return to ebay and endure the abuse from management. The turning point for me was when they made us take cash out of out listngs. I took all of mine out then some turned up again with cash in the description. Guy from ebay phoned me and told me if they found another cash reference in one of my listings they would wipe out my store and bar me from ebay. I immediately set up an oscommerece website and started my move. My move is now complete. I have 2 oscommerce sites and don't have plans for anything else as they are doing fine and I have control of them. I have never in my life witnessed so many bone head business decisions as ebay has made. I don't think they have a clue as to how to fix all the mess that they have caused. billphil.
itspostingtime (2 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 19:08 PST	36 of 45
ebay's future? Well, there's no way to predict it, of course. Just this past year we watched once invulnerable companies collapse, so guessing the future is just that...a guess. Here's my guess: This guess assumes---just for the sake of argument--- that ebay makes it through the transition and the recession and remains a major ecommerce site (as opposed to becoming , say, a niche auction site of some sort) I think ebay's business model will resemble the original core/ebay store model. As I've explained many times before, ebay stores were designed as upselling vehicles. Sellers were expected to put fast moving merchandise in core, which would drive buyers to the slower moving merchandise in the store. That merchandise was not supposed to show up in core...core was reserved for faster moving merchandise. What I see is a variation of that, except that sellers will be encouraged to list fast moving merchandise on ebay and upsell to their own sites. This, of course, is what some sellers are already doing. This would utilize what has always been eBay's greatest benefit for most businesses: quick turnover and cash flow generation. Turnover on ebay has been mostly a function of the auction format, but now, with Best Match and 30FPs, it is also being applied to more and more fixed price merchandise as well. As hone has shown with his very smart ad/Best Match strategy, gaining---and keeping--- a top spot in search (impossible back when default search was ending soonest) can drive sales in much the same way the Buy Box drives them on Amazon. Some things wouldn't change very much. I think ebay would probably continue to enter into contracts with certain sellers , primarily to ensure a steady supply of certain types of merchandise. In fact, I could see these contractual arrangements being expanded to include smaller specialty sellers as well...an antiques dealer with a strong niche---say, sterling silver---might enter into a contract which would obligate him to maintain a certain level of inventory on ebay (and a certain level of quality etc). ebay would still generate revenue from sponsored ads, but there wouldn't be objections as there are today, because most sellers using ebay would not see themselves as "ebay sellers"....they'd see themselves as ecommerce sellers whose primary location is off-ebay, and who use ebay to gain customers (ads) and upsell (using listings). Of course, there would still be feedback, at least for sellers, and there would still be rules. But there would be fewer objections.....since most sellers would be set up off ebay, let's face it, they'd already have return policies, they'd already have stated shipping and so forth. (Only on eBay as it exists today are you going to find sellers objecting to the very things that almost every off-ebay seller considers a basic part of their business , such as a clearly stated return policy) This would also reduce a major objection of some PESA type sellers (and former sellers): that selling on ebay generates cash flow, but not enough actual profit. The new business model assumes the seller's primary location if off ebay. ebay as a COMPONENT of a business, one designed primarily to generate cash flow, is very different from ebay as a the sole element of the business. Just as many retailers use certain merchandise primarily as cash flow generators and other merchandise to increase margins, sellers would be able to use ebay to generate cash flow as part of an overall business strategy. Ad revenue would grow as a proportion of ebay's site revenue, thus reducing reliance on listing fees, which could be reduced. At the same time, both the structure of the model and Best Match would ultimately reduce the likelihood of sellers listing items with little chance of selling....as more sellers understand the site dynamics, they would begin listing faster moving merchandise , increasing successful turnover, and ebay would then be positioned to reduce FVFs. What about the small antiques and collectibles seller in all this? Well, instead of complaining that their slow moving merchandise isn't selling because it is hidden, they would understand that their slow moving merchandise isn't hidden, it's on their own site off-ebay (perhaps ebay would also make a hybrid of ebay store/ProStores available for sellers who don't want to set up their own site....but it would be understood that the merchandise is not searchable on eBay) Once sellers understand that ebay is not hiding their merchandise, they can select the stuff to list here to generate cash flow and to upsell to their off-ebay store. Since auctions are basically ending soonest, they'd get good exposure, and---this would be a big advantage---with antique sellers being more selective about what they list, supply will no longer exceed demand as often as it does now....thus generating better sell-through and higher prices. By actively encouraging sellers to upsell to their own sites, ebay would also be encouraging sellers to link to, say, their off-ebay blogs as well....so buyers would not only find neat stuff here, but they would find links to informative sites as well. At the same time, ebay would continue to manage the site and add new tools....finally actually pushing great buyer tools such as ebay Desktop, for example, to generate more sales. And of course, sellers would have more access to third party tools to help them more easily manage the ebay component of their businesses. ebay was a pioneer in really opening its business to third party developers, and I think ebay has seen the benefit of that. In a sense, what I'm suggesting is just an extension of that philosophy.... Of course, in order to make this happen, ebay has to make changes to the site, some of which are apparently scheduled for 2009 (at long last, a shopping cart, an immediate payment system to do away with NPB claims, and so forth.) The site has to function---from a buyer perspective---like the large majority of online shopping sites....easy checkout for multiple purchases, no hidden fees, plainly stated return policies, etc. It also has to be easier for sellers to manage as a part of an overall business (thus the modularity of My ebay, which is designed for customization by third party developers) How would this help ebay compete with other sites? Well, first, let's be clear....in one sense, ebay competes with, say, Wal-Mart, but in another sense, ebay doesn't compete with Wal-Mart....some ebay sellers do, but ebay doesn't. If those ebay sellers can compete more effectively by using ebay to generate cash flow, then both ebay and the seller win. Amazon is usually described by the media as eBay's chief competitor, perhaps because Amazon, unlike Wal-Mart, also competes for sellers. This strategy would dramatically alter the dynamic. Currently, Amazon does offer sellers the opportunity to generate cash flow and profit from the site. But Amazon keeps very tight rein on the seller's ability to market his business to Amazon buyers...as a number of commentators have stated, Amazon owns the buyer, the seller merely supplies the merchandise. eBay shares the buyer with ebay sellers, and, if my suggestion is followed, this would increase the seller's ability to use ebay to build his own business, as opposed to on Amazon, where he may make money but he primarily is building Amazon's business. In short, sellers would have a huge new incentive to sell here. How would this effect the so-called alternative sites, sites like ecrater? Those sites would have to improve as they work to provide homebases for sellers. As it is, many , maybe most, of the sellers on those sites already depend heavily on some combination of Google and ebay to drive traffic to their shop....if ebay actually makes it easier to use ebay to upsell, many sellers are going to ask themselves: Yes, the site is free and it sands my stuff to GoogleBase, but is it really a full fledged ecommerce solution? Wouldn't I be better off with a store that can be fully customized, has automated newsletters, etc. Of course, some smaller sellers will be perfectly happy with sites like ecrater.....but others will look to sites that better integrate with ebay and that provide more functionality. There would probably be some winners and losers as among the alternative sites , but the real winner would be sellers, because the sites would really have to start playing their A game as they become much more competitive with each other. What about the casual seller? Scott Wingo suggests that ebay is losing casual sellers to sites like Craigslist. Probably true. I think Wingo says this is (in part) because ebay is too complex. But the simple listing form isn't complex at all. And look where ebay is headed: easier checkout, immediate payment, so no NPBs for a casual seller to deal with, buyers MyeBay will automatically notify them when an item is sent, one less step for the casual seller....in short, right now ebay seems complex because we are in a period of change. But once all the changes are in place, ebay will actually be easier for buyers and sellers.
itspostingtime (2 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 19:21 PST	37 of 45
moondance, Can you see Walmart keeping product in the back of the store that you can only have access to if you know the secret handshake? Your comparison misses the point. Wal-Mart is a retailer. As such, Wal-Mart ONLY puts stuff on display that Wal-Mart CHOOSES to buy from the wholesaler in the first place. Plenty of stuff is NEVER shown on Wal-Mart's shelves because Wal-Mart turns it down BEFORE it can get near the shelves. And every big retailer will pull stuff from the shelves if it isn't meeting earn/turn standards. That stuff gets put on sale or gets dumped onto Overstock or somewhere like that. Retailers are ruthless about that sort of thing. There's even a shelf heirarchy. At places like Wal-Mart, choosing which item is put on the eye-level shelf and which is put on the bottom shelf, or which item is put up front by the register....it's a science, and it's based on sales and profitability, not on some notion that every item should be given equal visibility.
itspostingtime (2 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 20:18 PST	38 of 45
I also want to say that I think there is a big misconception about "ending soonest" as the original default on eBay. Some sellers think it was to ensure a "level playing field"....ie, every item had a chance to get to the top of the list. Sorry, but that's pure hokum. "ending soonest" was the default for one reason: because ebay was originally an all auction site, and "ending soonest" was designed to DRIVE SALES VELOCITY. The assumption being that a buyer who is searching for an item sees that an auction is ending within minutes and the buyer feels pressure to bid right now or lose his chance at the item. As a Sales velocity driver for auctions, it worked very well indeed. But it had nothing to do with providing "equal exposure" It's purpose on an all-auction site was the same as the purpose of Best Match on a site with fixed price merchandise: to increase sales velocity. Neither default is about "equal exposure" they are BOTH about sales velocity. What we have now is a search that is designed to increase fixed price sales velocity through Best Match, and within Best Match, ending soonest is given greatest weight for auction listings, with sales velocity again the goal.
dazzlecity (7924 ) View Listings \| Report	Jan-25-09 20:28 PST	39 of 45
Wal-Mart is a retailer. As such, Wal-Mart ONLY puts stuff on display that Wal-Mart CHOOSES to buy from the wholesaler in the first place. And what exactly do you feel most of us are trying to do anyway? And I've been in retail for 32 years - I know my craft - I know my customer - just make my product available for viewing at least and let me take my chances ok?