posted on May 6, 2004 03:32:18 PM new
Yes, they are a predatory monopoly! I've been selling since March 2001. Up to December 2003, I hadn't any problems with them. Suddenly, it's one after the other. Between their trigger happy VeRO policy, the NPBs and their billing practices, it's all I can do to keep my head from exploding. It's almost like they want to drown the "little guy"s that built this company up and just keep the "big guy"s around. If there were a profitable alternative, believe me I'd be there. eBay does not have to be a monopoly. Bidzfree (although I've yet to use them) has some potential. They need a marketing genius on staff is all.
eBay will continue to get worse. As long as all of us are willing to put up with the crap, they'll survive long after we're gone. Meg will probably outlive all of us. I have dealt with companies that have poor customer service, but none so poor as eBay's. They are as bad as our local monopoly phone company, SBC. Because they are the only one, they pull (and get away with) all kinds of crap. What can you do? We're all pretty much stuck.
posted on May 6, 2004 08:07:33 PM new
BS
First you CAN switch your phone service. I have done it with ease. You can even go wireless.
Second don't like ebay move on, I did I quite selling and only buy now until sellers relies that many things on Ebay are BELOW wholesale. When that is over I am gone.
If you want to sell on the Internet go on your own with a Webb page and use ebay as a customer finder. Sure it is work but the good old days of ebay are gone. Ebay is slowly imploding. Webb sites are hurting it bad. Don't believe me go to Yahoo/ search. Type in an item you like and you will find Webb sites selling it with real service and help....
David
posted on May 6, 2004 11:13:23 PM new
Sorry, but under US laws eBay is not a monopoly. They may be the biggest, but not the only site to sell from on the internet. There are literly hundreds of sites to sell from. I understand your feelings, but your definition is wrong
What would you call it when we have a choice of ONE phone company, ONE gas company, or ONE cable company such as we have? The City of Cleveland will not allow another cable company into the city. I call that a monopoly. It may be illegal in the U.S., but it is done and there are plenty of loop holes to allow it.
Sure, eBay is not a monopoly in the truest sense of the word, but it may as well be. How willingly would eBay let a similar venue take over the marketplace? They wouldn't never welcome equal competition because they know they'd have a mass exodus. I think they would do what they could to squash that competition like a bug. So, in a way, they are a predatory monopolist. I don't think this article intended to imply that eBay was the only auction venue out there. "Predatory Monopoly" was used more as a metaphor, IMO.
posted on May 7, 2004 05:17:13 AM new
Sanmar is correct, it is no different than someone coming into your favorite selling category and "giving" away items to take over the top spot and build a customer base, they provide good service and decent product, more and more sellers lose their bidders to this new seller,eventually they are getting 90% of the bids and making a good living and the old sellers are making nothing... is that a Monopoly?
No, eBay is not a monopoly, there are several different auction sites on the internet, cheryl mentioned bidzfree as one, yahoo still has an auction site... sellers are not willing to do what it would take to make those sites their profit centers...
Not eBay's fault if you keep on selling there.
Would mean that you would have to have some very lean or empty months... probably, but if is something worth having, then it should be worth it to you. Quit blaming eBay because of lack of confidence in your products and/or supposed customer base.
posted on May 7, 2004 08:33:24 AM new
Being a monopoly does not mean that there are no other businesses that do the same thing - it means that there is no other viable competition. A business can also be charged with monopolistic practices, while no yet a monopoly.
There are many businesses that have a government grant of monoply. Patents are a government grant of monopoly. Major League Baseball has a monopoly grant from Congress, and many utilities have territorial monopoly grants from state or local governments.
While it is premature to call eBay a monopoly because there is competition that at least appears to give some cometition and may grow more competitive, eBay may still be commiting monopolistic and predatory practices. Buying all viable competitors is one such practice.
But YaHoo and Google are offering some competition, it is too early to tell.
posted on May 7, 2004 11:30:30 AM new
Cheryl; Utilities are monopolies because of their cost of delivery to the customers. If there were 10 electrical utilities doing business in Cleveland, they would all go broke in a very short time. Our goverment wisely lets utilites become monopolies to give more efficient service. Now with cell phones the line based phone service is no longer a monopoly as there can be many different cos.
posted on May 7, 2004 01:11:18 PM new
Thanks, sanmar. The reason I didn't mention electric companies is that we have two choices in Cleveland: Cleveland Public Power (thank's again, Dennis K!) and the Illuminating Company. CPP is far cheaper! We need choices. Just like eBay needs stiff competition to keep them in line.
posted on May 7, 2004 01:46:44 PM new
Hey, eBay, nobody is arguing whether you are predatory or not! That is a given. The argument is over the definition of monopoly to be used. There is Capitalism, and then there is price gouging while manipulating the playing field. Go google Enron and the California Power shortage. Both marketplace manipulations for unfair profit. Hopefully the execs will trip on the RICO statutes. I'm lucky I don't play poker, I'm sitting here with a big old grin on my face and I can't stop.
posted on May 8, 2004 12:45:44 PM new
I would love to chuck Ebay and their high fees. I try other sites out there but I do not get the traffic. It's a shame one of these sites does not take off.
Come to think about it, Ebay does give me the most exposure and I have a steady stream of regular customers that I have taken to my own website. I guess you can say I have a love hate relationship with Ebay.
posted on May 8, 2004 01:01:32 PM new
Wait a minute here. eBay is a predatory monopolist because they are lobbying against the SSTP??? I don't care if you hate eBay or not, how can you possibly want the government to push forward the SSTP? Even if Meg ran over your dog how could you possibly want the SSTP to be implimented?
Lets see a hands of how many are in favor of SSTP?
posted on May 8, 2004 09:58:00 PM new
First, what the heck is SSTP?
Second, sanmar is wrong. You do not have to be they only business in a certain field to be a monopoly. You just have to control the market as so their becomes a lack of competition to control prices. When this happens, that is the legal definition of a Monopoly. And ebay is very close to that line now if not over it. Then if you add PayPal to the mix, it makes the argument even stronger.
Reamond has made the best response here. Yahoo is their only viable competition and that is getting further and further apart.
In most markets, the power companies and like are under the watch of the local governments and cannot raise prices without their consent.
posted on May 9, 2004 04:21:11 AM new
When the government regulates utilities and allows "monopolistic" situations, it is usually because there is an overriding public interest involved. As much as competition is useful, it is not in the best interest of the public to have fifty different power/transportation/communications companies stringing their own power lines/tracks/cables through your town.
While eBay, due to its success, may be considered a de-facto monopoly, it is a long, long way from any sort of government regulation or action.
Most "eBay is the evil empire" talk here boils down to the following: I liked eBay when it was small and there weren't so many sellers, and the novelty of it all kept things hoppin'.
posted on May 9, 2004 05:25:56 AM newFirst, what the heck is SSTP?
It was the link.
Oh and your wrong... the other auction sites out there are doing business,it is like comparing mom and pop's to Walmart..
I am betting sellers screaming the loudest against eBay, would not take their items and leave them at another auction site... even the new free one on the block, it takes advertising and word of mouth, it seems like no other auction site is willing to do that. Sellers forget that these auction sites are really just venues, a meeting place for buyer and seller, they are the ones who have to do the work to drive bidders to the site, not only the site.
eBay is very profitable and is the old man on the net, however Woolworth's used to be the Old man in the discount business and when was the last time you seen one of those?
posted on May 9, 2004 06:23:21 AM new
Oh, I remember Woolworth's. I used to love to sit and have lunch at the lunch counter. We had one downtown until the mid 1990's. It's gone now. Just like, Zayre's, Gold Circle and a host of others that could not compete with Walmart. Thanks for congering up the memory, twelve. One of the most embarrasing things to happen to me happened in Woolworth's. I was sitting at the lunch counter in the 1970s with my halter top on and along comes an old boyfriend who happily untied it! I don't think I've ever moved quite so fast. Of course, we all got a good laugh out of it. Even me!
