RicRoe

Sentiment Positive Ahead of eBay Earnings

Donahoe & Co have failed miserably when it comes to increasing sales, and the pressure of this failure is leading them to find ways to increase revenue despite slumping sales.

Many sellers refuse to fall into the fee trap by rolling shipping costs into selling price and offering ''free shipping''. I say trap, because eBay has pushed "free shipping" in an effort to collect higher Final Value Fees on the cost of shipping.

Donahoe & Co are now so desperate to raise revenue they plan to force sellers to roll insurance into selling price, thus assuring the company a fee hit on those proceeds as well.

The move to have sellers process shipping through eBay is another slick Donahoe diversion.

PayPal revenue is growing due to off eBay sales. As Donahoe has failed to increase revenue by increasing sales he will increase revenue for eBay by moving the shipping feature to eBay from PayPal. This does not generate any additional revenue for the company as a whole. All it does is use the smoke and mirrors of revenue shifting to give the Board of Directors the mistaken idea that business at eBay is improving.

Increasing eBay fee revenue is the reason for the fee increase that lurks behind the bogus but essentially mandatory 5 ''free'' auction listings. This is the slick fee increase devised by Donahoe & Co where they force most sellers to pay increased Final Value Fees of 8.75% on their first 5 auction listings every month. The return is that eBay waves the small up front listing fee. Bottom line, fee increase for eBay.

Increasing revenue is why promotions such as offer ''free shipping'' and get the subtitle free are offered as again eBay profits.

How much more chicanery, smoke & mirrors will the eBay board accept before they end this madness and let Donahoe & Co take their golden parachutes?

What will the next Donahoe flim-flam be?

Perhaps another diversion...maybe he will elect to announce a reduction in PayPal fees for eBay transactions, while simultaneously increasing fees at eBay to make it appear he has done the job he was hired to do?

Under Donahoe & Co's leadership:

* Unique visitors to eBay have steadily declined; Amazon has increased.
* Page views on eBay have steadily declined; Amazon has increased
* Sales at eBay have steadily declined; Amazon has increased.
* eBay is alienating small sellers; Amazon is opening it's doors to more small sellers.
* Buyers looking for a safe and trustworthy transaction are flocking to Amazon, not eBay.

Remind me again, which company does John Donahoe work for?

His office is in San Jose, but the success of his efforts seem to benefit the competition in every meaningful way more than they benefit the company that pays his salary.