duhmel

eBay: Where Did All the Fun Go?

One reason that interest in eBay is declining is the management attitude that they can trick customers with 'big lies'. Example - recent announcement of an 'improvement' where sellers can get 5 free listings per month. Oh, by the way in the small print it appears that the final selling fees more than double on these listings so that sellers will lose on any listing that sells for more than $20. Trying to trick your customers with half-truths is a silly way to run a business. The 'improvements' related to search penalized the little guy sellers and made it much more difficult for buyers to easily find items they wanted - the eBay approach was to tell the Buyers what they really wanted - coincidently sold by the people that eBay made the most money from.

Municipal Default Alert: Vallejo, California

Schools are run by a separate school district and have a separate budget.

Vallejo bankruptcy strategy is to force changes to their labor contracts. The city has stated that they plan to continue paying their debts if allowed by the court.

General Motors: The Next Delisting from the Dow?

You may not like the performace of the company (nobody does) but it is still the world's largest seller of automobiles.