Marty

What Will Become of eBay?

Well , there are many reasons I like Ebay but the author has the 39% listing growth WRONG. Ebay created a new format 30 day fixed price listings. As a result many listing that would have expired in 7 days now last 30 days making the numbers look higher. Also many of those listings are transfers from Store format due to the new longer format and cheaper prices. You guys really need to work your numbers with people that understand the different formats and pricing.

For example a year or so ago CORE format (auction/fixed price) was once about 70 cents (35 cents to insert it 35 cents for a gallery picture) for a 7 day listing. NOW , they eliminated the gallery picture fee so the fee is 35 Cents for as long as 30 days. Of course listing numbers are going to be different.

The decline in traffic and slower unique visitor build is really the guts of the problem and one Ebay can correct. This is the most poorly marketed brand name on the planet. They squandered goodwill, hurt their base, advertised poorly ,never appealed to the second generation internet people and youth and gummed lots of things up.

I can say the people that work for Ebay for the most part are awesome (both past employees and current ones). Some have a feel for what must be done and what has gone wrong. Some changes have been made and more will come.

This stock should be humming with a downturn like this as it creates tons of supply of low cost stuff to buy and buyers are seeking low cost stuff in a downturn as well.

Incredible collections of collectibles are coming on to the market for the first time in a long time and if Ebay could get on track it could use this downturn to it advantage.

I hope for the best for the people at Ebay and their shareholders.

Marty