E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: All eBay Has To Fear Is eBay Itself
Posted by: ECT News 2001-06-26 16:52:39

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The online auction world shrugged its collective shoulders when two of the biggest
competitors of Internet auction powerhouse eBay, Yahoo! Auctions and uBid,
announced that they had made a deal to share listings.

The blase reaction proves how entrenched and invincible eBay has become. Right now, it
appears that eBay's fiercest competition will come from eBay itself. And that's something
eBay rivals can be optimistic about.

Re: All eBay Has To Fear Is eBay Itself
Posted by: Ray Walsh 2001-06-28 05:56:18 In reply to: ECT News

This Fool is betting against eBay because the present management has become its own worst enemy.

By investing in companies like ReturnBuy, a large eBay seller, and then not enforcing the rules with them it requires of most sellers, eBay has clearly demonstrated they administrate an uneven playing field.

The recent introduction of spamming of underbidders created a protest by some of their most successful sellers, and even though they quickly modified the program, an Art Auction Protest continues.

Their Free Listing Day may reverse what has been a down trend in listings since the first of the year, but the opening on July 4th of Internet Pioneers, the first site developed by sellers to be a general purpose online auction co-op, is indication that their customer base is not waiting for them to change nor solely dependent on them and other commercial sites for online opportunities.

They have turned their back on their core customer base in search of greater immediate profits and expanded market domination while financially hurting many small independent sellers.

This Fool is willing to bet that the people will win out in the long run.

Which abusive company with a monopoly-like share of their market lasted forever? Well, OK, I'll give you Microsoft, but name one other.

Re: All eBay Has To Fear Is eBay Itself
Posted by: steve ruiz 2001-06-27 16:29:41 In reply to: ECT News

I agree that ebay will eat itself away soon enough .. they are very picky and choosy on who will deal on their site. They tend to kick off the people trying to make money and buy things and keep those that are there to scam.

I work for a computer company that buys machines on ebay for parts. That is why I was hired -- to work ebay. I have purchased over 1 million dollars on ebay and out of 500 deals I've done 10 have gone wrong. It may seem that this percentage is small, but this is considering that they have kicked me off for not completing a deal that I thought was a scam (seller would not provide any valid info). I have been kicked off about 8 times already. I don't mind using their services, but they need to get a grip on who's who.

And as for customer support, they must establish one because as far as customer support goes it is a very very generic letter that could cover about 90 different problems. They don't have an 800 number or even offer help if one of their sellers is scamming or has false info on their site. And if they don't know the answer... forget about getting a response. But overall, hey! I guess we gotta keep using it.