Paul Rapa

Google/Skype Acquisition or Partnership Imminent?

Hello I would have to disagree. Skype is growing, just signed a deal with Oprah. Most analysts are clueless as to its potential. Also signed a deal in place with MYspace and basically is in its infnancy.
For 3.1 billion Ebay acquired a company that is growing. The same analysts who questioned Ebay's moves: Deutche Bank, Citibank, Lehman, etc lost billions and billions in the subprime mess and have nothing to show for it.

Latest Example: UBS lost an addtional 15 billion(That is addtional and 5x what Skype is worth) Ebay still has Skype

Google would like to steal Skype for 4 billion but hopefully Ebay is not foolish enough to sell

Guaranted if Google was to acquire Skype the Media would be doling out the compliments and stating that Google has stolen Skype righ from underneath Ebay's nose.

ebaymonday.blogspot.co...

A Solution for eBay and Its Frustrated Seller Community

Hello Scott, you are entitled to your own opinion, however what you have done is unethical. You may put a spin on words to believe as such but to raise fees from $10 per month to $29.95 per month and then state that Ebay is increasing fees, well I would let the readers comment on this. You should go back and honor your committment to your loyal customers and offer your new product for $10 per month. After all we are lifetime members. Please do not put down Ebay for raising fees by a few pennies and then raise your fees by 200%. After all if there was no Ebay there would have never been an Auction Rover or a Channel Advisor.

A Solution for eBay and Its Frustrated Seller Community

I seemed to elicit quite a angry response to my first article titled "A Solution for Ebay & their Frustrated Seller Community. Through various articles, boycotts etc, the concensus seems to be that sellers are fed up with Ebay and are leaving in droves.

I simply suggested a link which would allow them to fulfill their request. Notice these frustrated sellers are always approaching Ebay with angry comments and threats. It reminds me of all of the so called celebrities; George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, etc who promised to leave the country if George Bush was elected President. However they are still here to this day. They had eight years to leave the country. Why haven't they left? Because they realize that there is no better country out there. The same can be said for Ebay. For example so many people chimed in and left comments to my article. However if these people have already left Ebay and are finished doing business with Ebay why are they still leaving comments about Ebay.

Enough is enough already. For example I love Sports however the ticket prices have gone through the roof; thus I do not attend any games. I have the freedom not to attend the sports venue; thus I do not which is a very simple logical way to look at the situation. I have been selling on Ebay since inception and Channel Advisor, formerly auction rover recently announced that they were doing away with my lifetime membership fee of $120 per year. If I remain with Channel Advisor I would have to pay $29.95 per month. How is that for price gouging?

This move barely created a stir in the Ebay community. This is ironic as Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor is always lambasting Ebay for their price increases. Think about it, an increase from $10 per month (supposedly guaranteed for life) to $29.95 per month for basically the same service. Can you guess what I am going to do? I am going to Leave Channel Advisor. I will not whine and whine for months on end

For those who stated I have no clue about Ebay; I have been a seller on Ebay longer than if not equal than you. Ebay did use to use billpoint and it flopped as most buyers and sellers where using Paypal. Thus by acquiring Paypal Ebay made it easier for buyers and sellers. Ebay had purchased Kruse International and Butterfields and Butterfields. Both companies flopped with sellers thus Ebay sold them for a loss.

The huge majority of the buyers and sellers I have met on Ebay have been wonderful. As for the law of averages you will always have one or two out of 500 that cannot be satisfied no matter how hard you try. Additionally the post office will always wind up losing at least three out of 200 of your packages once a year. However the majority of people understand problems that cannot be controlled. Thus buyers will not hold sellers hostage with any new feedback rating system. If you are a deceptive seller and charge $15 or more for domestic postage under one pound or sell inferior products than of course you are going to be upset. After all no one hates the authority more than the criminal element. For those of us who are honest sellers the feedback system will not effect us and only make the Ebay community continue to grow.

I only encountered what was fraud once on the site since inception and Ebay went out of their way to help me. Thus from the so called stories people tell about frustrated customer service you are probably contacting the wrong people to being with.

Regarding the price increases.the higher your item sells for the more you make and the more Ebay makes. For example a famous actress once e-mailed me and asked me to sell her an old deck of playing cards she was planning to throw away. These cards went on to sell for over $300 dollars on Ebay. Thus this actress was expecting zero dollars. She wound up selling her cards for $300 dollars. So from an angry sellers comments Ebay took a percentage of her $300 dollars. However if it wasn't for Ebay she would have made 0 dollars.

Ebay has also pumped most of their funds into making their site and paypal safe. Try going to another site and see how safe they truly are? If you really left, you may get fleeced and wish you were back at Ebay.

A company has to increase fees in order to enhance and make the site better than ever. Again this is a free country if you don't like Ebay leave already and quit whining. What hubris, to think that you are all irreplacable. The minute you leave there is someone to take your place. If you put as much effort into your constant whining as you do into your business you would be a success.

Thus for the final time, for those sellers who issue threats and vile comments. please stop whining and leave already. That will give sellers like myself and others who have pride in Ebay your business(if we are to believe you contributed any). For it is common logic that most whiners contribute the least and are a deterrent to morale Just look at the NFL Football New York Giants, the year that Tiki Barber, their biggest whiner left, they won the Super Bowl.

Thank you,
ebaymonday.blogspot.co...

Paul Rapa