Edsel2084

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    • Thu May 29th 14:07 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Buy.com Partnership: A Bump in eBay's 'Level Playing Field'
      If this is the new eBay all the executives can start shuttering their office buildings up now.
      Buy Dot Com is listing up a storm, but outside of the computer category, they aren't selling much of anything. EBay's "indie seller" rate was something like 40% sell through. Most successful sellers had 50-65% at minimum.
      The newbies and clueless averaged in with the experienced sellers brought the average down so low.
      I am told Buy has about 5%, and it seems to be all in the computer field where Nigerian scammers and Paypal fraud abounds.

      So is Buy being used to take care of the scammers for eBay?
      Dangle Buy out there in the high tech/high fraud category and force them to clean it up or get burned out of business entirely.
      How much do you want to bet that Paypal doesn't always find the buyer right in a conflict with the seller, when the seller is Buy, the way they do with the small timers?

      EBay's current business model is to shift all risks to their member sellers, and reap all profits (by force, if possible, such as the new 21 day Paypal holds for not selling in enough volume).

      If the rest of the new more retail model is anything like Buy, there will be no eBay in a few years from now, because it will be selling nothing.

      Amazon may have the very same books, but there is a major difference.
      On Amazon, the books are selling.
      On eBay they are not.
      View article »
    • Sun Mar 2nd 19:16 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      eBay Bares Its Ugly New Face
      I think everybody should sit back and take notes on all the things eBay is doing.
      Then they could publish a text on how to turn the most spectacular dot com boom success story around, to finally make it fail.

      Among the chapters would be Growth can't last forever. It would explain how start up companies can grow 100% and 1000% but eventually reach their full grown size, and must learn to give a good product, and live with their size.

      EBay grew up in 2004, and is still under the mistaken illusion, that they can keep growing every year.
      No company can grow indefinitely.
      But eBay is bull-headedly attempting to tell stockholders that THEY can and will.

      As for me, I joined in May 1998, and will be hibernating in May 2008--probably forever.
      I will not be victimized by their one sided feedback that doesn't warn me about bad buyers, just lets dozens of people get burned, as eBay turns a blind eye and repeats "we're only a venue" as if it were a mantra.
      And I will not be judged by their continually expiring DSR's.
      Above all, I will never become a member of Paypal. I keep my money in banks and no company can put holds on that money at their whims.

      I have already talked at least one person into never again using their Paypal account, and finding deals on the internet without eBay.
      I will continue to spread that gospel about their business practices, in a one-on-one fashion.

      The mistakes they are making are right up there with Enron and the Edsel.
      You just can't arrogantly chase away 80% of your members, because only 20% make the most money, and not have those 80% come back to bite you.

      Usually it takes whole generations for companies as successful as eBay currently is, to turn into failures (IBM, Studebaker, and so many little ones we don't remember today).
      But to do it in only 10 years--what a supernova we will all get to observe.
      View article »
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