posted on August 30, 2000 12:19:22 PM new
It seems at least once a month, changes occur within that makes me wonder where this is all headed.
This is the future as I see it -
Time will come when we will just sell the things we own that we no longer need. There will be no more garage/estate sales. When we are through selling what we have, that's it.
There won't be any feedback or problems with buyers or sellers. You will just take what you have to sell to an outlet, they will write the description, etc. and list the item. If the buyer doesn't like it - they will send it back and your bank account will be debited the amount it was credited. Ebay will become one big retail outlet - trying to convince the public that it sells at wholesale prices. This outlet will have maybe a dozen major suppliers. These suppliers will 'work' regions of the U.S. and as far as International goes, well everyone knows the Internet is just for the U.S. so you guys are SOL.
"Pickers" as we will come to be known, will be escorted in the back door of these outlets and our merchandise will be sorted - some of it will be discarded as undesirable - some of it will be 'tagged' for listing. The outlets we 'pick' for will decide at what price to begin the bidding - if something doesn't receive a bid in the first 2 days the price will drop.
I could go on and on - but then it just gets scarier.
Do any of you have any predictions or thoughts on where this is all taking us?
Maybe I am just feeling a little downtrodden today.
posted on August 30, 2000 12:42:02 PM new
Actually I was hoping that they would reverse auction political candidates. The more lies they would tell, the more votes they would lose....
posted on August 30, 2000 12:43:42 PM new
Actually, that doesn't sound so bad to me. At least the part where everyonhe sells what they no longer want rather than throwing it in a landfill.
That's one of the real problems with public schools: they don't teach our kids how to be in business, only how to be 'Good Little Employees'. If our kids were also taught how to go into business and how to be a business, then that would fix an awfull lot of problems.
Change a few words and your lament could have been written a few decades ago by a corner grocery store owner feeling threatened by the advent of supermarkets or go back a hundred years to a small general store owner feeling threatened by the appearance of large department stores and chains.
The answer to your question is: You adapt or your business dies.
There have always been small entrepreneurs who have found successful ways to compete against large entrepreneurs and there always will be.
posted on August 30, 2000 01:05:45 PM new
Not sure what prompted me to start this thread .. just one of those days, I guess.
Irene, true.
For myself the way I am adapting is by marketing things that I create myself. The going is slow, but it's a fairly new venture, and the responses have been trememdous.
It's a new way of doing business for me and I guess I am in that position of 'straddling the fence' so to speak - where you are almost over and you look back and say "but that was such a pretty yard over there and it was so much fun to play". All that combined with the knowledge that it appears the people who owned the yard never wanted you to play there in the first place or only wanted you there long enough for others to realize 'everyone' played there or they didn't play.
posted on August 30, 2000 01:14:17 PM new
Quite frankly, I view all changes that come my way as OPPORTUNITY!
All businesses change over time and it's up to us entrepreneurs to find and capitalize in areas of opportunity when these changes occur. As long as you are able to be a bit ahead of the curve and be more aggressive and do a better job than your competitors, you'll find that there will always be room for you to do well.
The eBay phenomenon has made things too easy. It created an opportunity for people, who would not otherwise have the ability to start off on their own, get started running their own businesses. After all, what can be easier than simply typing in a listing, waiting for an auction to end, collecting the money and shipping a product? Believe me folks, it doesn't get any easier.
My suggestion to those of you with negative attitutes with the "poor me" syndrome is to look at the the opportunity this online selling phenomenon has created and to be thankful that you are ahead of the game in participating in the action. With a moments clarity, you should be able to figure out that you're already ahead of the game.
I'm going to take a minute to view my current auction listings. After 3 years I still find it amazing that I'm able to reach a worldwide market so easily.
I can't wait to make my weekly deposit on Friday. Can you?
posted on August 30, 2000 03:31:45 PM new
USA Today has a feature story about eBay (Thur.Aug 30th)that contains comments from the top management that states what their vision for us is.
I'm sure it is also online but I do not have the URL.
Seems like the suggested outlets will have to be very big boxes. Maybe there will be a small corner of a parking lot or nearby space where we can set-up and run a flea market.
