posted on January 14, 2005 09:51:19 AM new
eBay is increasing their fees because THEY CAN. THEY CAN because they have no viable competition. If they did we would see a marked reduction in their fees and a marked improvement in the services they offer. Until eBay has to do business in a competitive marketplace we can expect a continuance of higher fees.
Should eBay ever purchase Vendio, which I believe one day they will, you will look back at the price paid for Vendio's services as being a bargain.
Like it or not eBay's main focus is increasing value for their shareholder's. 100% of their revenues are fee based as they have no product which they sell. Therefore they will continue to squeeze as much as they feel THEY CAN can from us
The following was posted recently on Forbes.com..."We believe the price changes are the right thing to do to ensure the continued success of the marketplace," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. "Ultimately that's good for the entire community of buyers and sellers."
Removing the corporate speak from this Durzy would have stated "We believe the price changes will have a positive impact on our revenues in 2Q05 through 4Q05 of (fill in the blank). Ultimately this is a good thing for both our shareholders and any of us at eBay on an EV bonus program"
posted on January 14, 2005 11:55:04 AM new
ah, how soon we forget....
Remember AOhell?? Remember how they were the first company to make the internet and email really easy to understand for the average Joe?
Remember how they added millions of customers? And they bought out Netscape and Prodigy.
Well, now they are losing millions of customers each quarter because people are no longer afraid to learn how to use a computer. Their competitors have have improved services and undercut their fees by 50%
Ebay has done the same for the small entrepreneur. They made it non-threatening to market your goods. They have built up a huge seller base,they have created a "community". They are buying out any competitor they can put a price on.
Bash them all you want, they have done a great thing. But, yes, now they have become the behemoth. And any day now, someone else will tap into that cash cow in a big way and create some real competition for them.
In the meantime, quiturbitchn'.
They are providing a service. Use it and pay for it, or go somewhere else.
Run your own business and see what real overhead feels like. Been there done that and I can tell you, you don't run a small business, it runs you!
The sky is not falling.
This is the good ole American way. We are a capitalistic country. Supply and demand. Those who supply get rewarded by those who demand. Those who can not supply fall under the wheels of progress. Time to learn a new dance.
'nugh said, I'm taking my soap box and going back to work!
posted on January 14, 2005 03:08:03 PM new
eBay reminds me a lot of GM in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They had huge market share (55%) did as they pleased, they did not care at all about their customers, they were and continue to be an extremely arrogant company, they went around saying things like "What is good for GM is good for the country!", they laughed like hyena's at the "tiny, little cars" imported by Toyota and Honda in the late 1960's. Oh how similar eBay today is to the GM of back then. My guess is that in the long run eBay will actually fair MUCH WORSE than GM. You see in the car bidness you need billions and billions in capital to compete, to compete against eBay it really would not take anywhere near that much capitol, it would just take someone with the cahones, patience, and will to do it. Ebay performs so badly on an operational basis it is not a matter of "if" rather just a matter of "when" it will be displaced Anyone use Visicalc lately? How about Lotus 123? Being first to market is an advantage but not a permanent one! Arrogance, incompetence, greed, stupdity, lack of focus etc can and will wipe out the first to market advantage over time. Wonder if Meg will figure this out before or AFTER she is living in a refrigerator box?????
