People have been selling a $100 item for $5 and charging $110 to ship since E-Bay started 14 years ago. They knew it was going on way back when and I understand them puting a cap on how much to ship. It solves one problem but it opened up another problem door. Example. I can only charge $15 for shipping to ship out a Playstation 3. Most cases I can ship for $15 except to California and Washington where it costs me $28+. Ebay told me to hike up the price of my item to cover the extra. Well thats fine but I am competiting with the other 100 people selling the same system that is willing to eat the extra $10-$15 just to make the sale. Ever notice most of the customers with money live in California?
attention ebay sellers.
- Thread starter peerless
- Start date
sosage
Well-known member
It is a corporation and corporations do what has to be done to raise their profit margin every quarter. Including shooting themselves in the foot, especially if the medical bill from the ER visit yields more profits that quarter than just keeping their big toe.
Ebay is a hard nut to crack for two big reasons that have nothing to do with their services or size. They're a major cultural icon for peer to peer commerce. No one in television, movies and radio says, "Some Internet auction site" anymore. They say "Ebay". It's become what "Hoovering" is in England. Or more relevant, what saying "playing Nintendo" was during the mid 80's.
The second reason, no one wants to change. As much as we want alternatives, the Ebay brand makes people feel like they are safe and legit. Even if they are being robbed.
If you can find a way around...or undermine...those two things, you're on your way to toppling Ebay and becoming a legit competitor.
Netflix, btw, is bad ass. I'm one step away from dumping the cable box and going with Netflix and streaming anything I don't have off my media server or DVDs. 15 bucks a month vs. 40+? Cable is lucky Netflix hasn't done to them what they are doing to Blockbuster right now.
Ebay is a hard nut to crack for two big reasons that have nothing to do with their services or size. They're a major cultural icon for peer to peer commerce. No one in television, movies and radio says, "Some Internet auction site" anymore. They say "Ebay". It's become what "Hoovering" is in England. Or more relevant, what saying "playing Nintendo" was during the mid 80's.
The second reason, no one wants to change. As much as we want alternatives, the Ebay brand makes people feel like they are safe and legit. Even if they are being robbed.
If you can find a way around...or undermine...those two things, you're on your way to toppling Ebay and becoming a legit competitor.
Netflix, btw, is bad ass. I'm one step away from dumping the cable box and going with Netflix and streaming anything I don't have off my media server or DVDs. 15 bucks a month vs. 40+? Cable is lucky Netflix hasn't done to them what they are doing to Blockbuster right now.
OP
OP
peerless
Caveat emptor. Several Negative reviews
Ebay
Rome was a household name at one time too!!!
Rome was a household name at one time too!!!
If Netflix could get all the content providers to let them stream everything, it WOULD be the end of cable-as-tv-delivery. But so far the content companies are beign slow to get on board. It's going to come eventually, but it won't be soon, I think.
Content is key. That, and full 1080p streaming. Too bad Netflix only supports 720p. I dumped my cable/sat AND netflix. Much better finding 'stuff' online when i need to watch programming. Then again, there's not much programming worth watching so it's a win win. KLOV offers better drama than TNT.
I disagree. I think netflix is on the way out. I've had netflix for about 3 yrs now and the content is getting less and less all the time. The price double is a desperate way for them to stop hemorrhaging money. They can't get the major stuff anymore. Hollywierd makes alot of money off of DVD sales and now they are getting into streaming. For TV series you'll notice that all the major networks stream their new shows now too. With commercials I may add. Like someone else has already said, it's money driven. CBS or FOX or Universal isn't gong to sell their stuff to netflix when they can do it themselves. They've seen the cash cow that was netflix and want a piece of it.
I predict that all streaming will be subscription based before long. You just wait.
As for gamegavel. I agree the site is still clunky. Not saving the searches sucks. That and no traffic. They got almost an impossible hill to climb. And lets just say they do "make it" and become the next facebook, or skype, or whatever. Who do you think will buy them out and f-them up? If it were my little biz and some big corp offered me multi millions for it...
There is no use bitching about it. EVERYTHING is getting expensive now. Not only for us little guys but for major corps also. It's just a fact. And until things change drastically it's gonna get worse. We're circling the drain Captain!!
SuperSprint
Well-known member
First, killing eBay would not ruin the economy. It's gross revenues are $12B in a $14T economy. Not to mention that given the volume of cheap direct Chinese merchandise, their economy would feel it more than ours.
Second, whether it's eBay or General Motors, loss of a business entity does not kill demand or empty supply pipelines. There would be a short lived shockwave as things reorganized, but the sellers (and buyers) would move to a different location. That location would grow exponentially, creating jobs for the eBay staff that just got laid off. Within 12-18 months you would never know they existed.
Yup... I went to Blockbuster Online... it's OK... I get Blu-Ray for no additional charge... but they're not as quick as Netflix. Oh... they DO get releases a month earlier.
I cancelled my netflix dvds due to the price increase. I kept my streaming though. I can just go to a redbox if I want a newer movie for a buck. Funny thing is, I didnt subscribe to netflix until after the blockbuster and hollywood video in my town went out of business...
I totally disagree. If E-Bay shut down tomorrow, many many people will be with out jobs. Not just the E-Bay staff but the thousands upon thousands of small to big business's that use E-Bay as there primary sales window. When all those business loose money scrambling to find another site it will be be to late for most. People will be out in the cold with no source of income except the famous Welfare. The ones that do not go under will have to tighten there belt and lay off workers etc. It is hard to phathom how huge E-Bay is and the effect they have on the economy. If I spelled phathom wrong I am sorry my spell checker is not working.
yes, unfortunally you are correct..
SuperSprint
Well-known member
Captain - I hear what you are saying, but it simply doesn't reflect reality. And it's not hard to fathom as their quarterly reports give a pretty detailed view of their size and scope.
And any business who's existence depends on eBay would be relocated within 48hours, if they aren't already on alternate outlets. And if 2days revenue forces them under, they weren't making enough revenue to matter.
And any business who's existence depends on eBay would be relocated within 48hours, if they aren't already on alternate outlets. And if 2days revenue forces them under, they weren't making enough revenue to matter.
Mike Doyle
Well-known member
My biggest complaint with change at both eBay and Paypal is that they treat sellers like me that have been with them since 1999, the same as sellers that signed up last week.
Is it really necessary to withhold funds from someone with 100% feedback that's sold on your site for 13 years? Of course not, keep that kind of policy for someone with either < X * months or < * feedback.
Is it really necessary to withhold funds from someone with 100% feedback that's sold on your site for 13 years? Of course not, keep that kind of policy for someone with either < X * months or < * feedback.
Mike, I could not agree with you more... Bravo,Bravo!!!
Well, I do not look at quartley reports so I cant comet on that. I just know if E-Bay shut there doors thousands of business would go under and cut back. Yes, many would survive and adapt I agree. You need to have that nest egg to live off of until you found an alternative route. It would shut down alot of American Picker wanna B's.. LOL
Most of them are not going to succeed anyway, so the problem would be what, exactly? Anyway, nothing is going to happen to EBay unless the sellers and buyers ACTUALLY shift somewhere else. That is to say - there's no danger of Ebay suddenly dying and leaving sellers/buyers in the lurch. Rather, Ebay can only die if the sellers and buyers go elsewhere, at which point, other than the people EBay directly employs, there's not real loss.
Hey, if your talking about the American Pickers comet, it was just a joke relax man. Some people take these meaningless discussions way to serious.. Ok, well I guess its time to stop talking about "WHAT COULD HAPPEN" if E-Bay closes down. We all know its not going to close down anytime soon anyway.
