VA's Comments

eBay: Sum of the Parts

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:59:23 -0400

Everything's changing, Wall Street was once too exuberant on eBay, now it's too pessimistic - nobody said it's there to stay. Especially if we see in a bad economy people switch from buying gadgets like iPhones and Garmins to selling/buying on a flea market. In short, I honestly believe there are much more chances for the stock to go up than to go down from here.

Q2 Predictions for eBay Business Segments

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:35:45 -0400

gotta love these stories starting with "...I was a Powerseller with 100 % feedback... then ebay fees got me, I switched to ..." well, me too - I have an impression that it's the same group of disenchanted for some reason users coming out with a doomsday predictions and horror stories. With all respect - I am a regular buyer myself (and occasional seller) and I keep finding good deals on ebay all the time - also from brand new sellers (thanks to eBay buyer protection I buy with no fear). Also, if you currently go to live.com, search for products and then click on eBay link from the results - you'll get 10-35% OFF (courtesy of Microsoft) ANY item with Buy It Now option. I've already used it (had sever high priced items on my wanted list) - works fine, got incredible prices. So... go eBay!

New Selling Form Sinks eBay Sellers

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:37:05 -0400

Reading all these mostly critical of eBay messages I wonder:

- the number of listings on the site is pretty stable ~14 mln (see independent powersellersunite.com)... which doesn't really reflect the overall feeling one gets reading these postings (sinking Titanic?!); I am not sure you guys represent the bulk of the sellers anyways; for some reson you got burnt (perhaps, unfairly) where it hurt most (your financial bottomline) and to me it sounds like a cheap revenge you are taking on the company; I don't think successful sellers send their time 'contributing' to forums, I guess they are busy making money ;)

- I, obviously, don't buy the BS that eBay puts 'dummy' listings to 'pad' the numbers; I challenge whoever who says that to give me the item id of such item; also one should be a total 'dummy' himself to believe that miltibillion company would do something like that to jeopardize everything they have - literally;

- eBay has 84 mln active users (mostly buyers), who hit ebay.com with sole purpose of buying things; it's a fact difficult to ignore; if some sellers quit eBay, there will be new ones (I, for one, in recent month successfully bought 2 items on eBay from brand new sellers); also, because of increased buyer protection (I guess thanks to IP tracking-like technologies that eBay can afford such protection) I feel much more comfortable buying from a new seller;

eBay needs to generate more revenue. It's management has different data, education and IQ than all of us, and I believe on the long run they are doing the right thing. E-commerce is not about sellers (just like the off line commerce), it's all about buyers. The sooner e-commerce sellers understand this (what the off line sellers did long time ago) the better.

Six Attractive Stocks with Hidden Gems

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:14:58 -0400

MrTim has a weird logic - eBay sucks, dying, but, hey, famous Google's Checkout never took off because... eBay doesn't allow it on its site. And apparently eBay is the only internet company being sued (hint: it's not).

I wonder though - if eBay is so bad, and PayPal just terrible, why the company consistently keeps meeting (they missed only in one quarter in the last 6-7 years, I think) the targets and keeps growing?

eBay has a "vocal" (vociferous) set of critics, who, I guess, got burnt on the newest policies of pushing lousy sellers off the site. Be careful not to fall into their only (pathetic) way of revenge.

Innovate or Die: eBay at a Crossroads

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:08:08 -0400

"sell through rate is under 3%" - what a total bullshit! where did you get it from, 'CEP'? or perhaps you meant 30%?

Anyways, if the things were as bad as some describe, eBay would have hardly been able to operate and even post any increase in profits & revenues. Some sellers leave? Well, from what I understand that was the intention - to make some (dishonest, lousy) sellers leave. Now, they are back on various forums with 'doomsday' predictions. No wonder - it probably hurts. But eBay finally got the message - it's all about buyers, not sellers anymore.

What Ever Happened to eBay's _____?

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:01:28 -0500

Well, why single out eBay? It's been happening with any other company, especially in the Internet domain. What happened to froogle? What happened to yahoo auctions? What happened to ___'s ___? It seems nowadays, the "alpha seekers" use a rule "if you don't find anything to criticize eBay - you die" ;) An extremely shallow 'analysis'...

How Does the Boycott Impact eBay?

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:05:22 -0500

powersellersunite.com/... shows clearly that the 'strike' doesn't work. Moreover, despite the claim made on Deutche Bank forum mentioned above, the actual number of listings is growing. Of course, to say for 100% we need to wait till 02/25th, when the bulk of the 'pre-strike' items expire, but mu feeling is: the number of auctions will grow, and all this 'deja-vu' strikes/exoduses/prote... will fade away. Here's why:
- one seller's strike will likely be perceived as an opportunity for savvier sellers
- making the decision eBay most probably run many different models on what will happen, and my feeling is they have much bigger and more sophisticated arsenal in their disposal than the powersellersunite.com and alike; I trust their ultimate goal is to attract as much business as possible to the site...
- ...and that's why they decided to abandon the "plain field" notion for selling on the platform; not all sellers are equal, why treat them like ones?
- I've seen lots and lots of buyers who got burnt by "97% positive feedback" sellers and vowed to "buy on eBay" never again; this has to be addressed, and that's what happening now
Anyways, the above 'analysis' has pretty serious (if not disqualifying) holes in it - as mentioned by couple of commentators. Let's wait a couple of more days - things should get clearer.