The last eBay thread?

[Bookery]

From Quartz.com (Jan. 23, 2015):

 

Activist investor Carl Icahn’s successful push to spin off PayPal is in full motion—and that means the imminent demise of eBay as we know it.

 

Ebay has outlined its plans for what the company will look like post-separation. Clearly, PayPal is winning this breakup. While the split props up PayPal with $5 billion in cash and no debt, it leaves eBay saddled with $7.6 billion in debt (against $2 billion in net cash) and an online auction business that revolutionized e-commerce early on, but is now showing its age. Ebay is laying off 7% of its workforce, with much of those cuts coming from its legacy marketplace business.

 

With traffic and sales slowing, eBay has tried to refashion its namesake auction site from an antiquated yard sale into an on-trend retailer. But it’s facing greater competition from the soon-to-IPO crafts marketplace Etsy and even old-school retailers like Walmart, Staples, and Home Depot. (Also not helping: the US dollar’s strength, which makes American goods more expensive to international buyers; security breaches; and problems with how eBay shows up in some search engines.)

 

It’s unlikely any of the changes executives outlined so far to prop up eBay will be enough to save it. Even eBay’s CFO laid it on straight: “Things will get worse in the first half of 2015 before they get better,” he told analysts, after eBay released fourth-quarter financial results.

 

To help focus the company, eBay plans to scale back its work on costly, Amazon-like features such as same-day delivery, and will split off Bay Enterprise, the business services division that grew up around an acquisition the company made less than four years ago for $2.4 billion.

 

Instead it plans to focus on eBay Deals, a daily deal site akin to a Groupon or LivingSocial—and that’s an increasingly crowded and cutthroat area facing its own challenges as consumers tire of one-time deals.

 

[jimjum12]

I would have trouble classifying this as "good" news. I think all the aspects of eBay that Icahn will "fix" are going to ruin what was once one of the coolest concepts in history. I suppose all things eventually run their course. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

..... the beginning of the end with eBay was when they started "tweaking" the feedback system...... I , for one, will miss eBay.....it's a great research reference.

[Buzzetta]

What a shame. This was a gold mine that was theirs to lose.

[RockMyAmadeus]

The people who run eBay, past and present, are guilty of much, and have much to answer for.

 

I have been waiting for its imminent demise for many years. They are, in some respects, finally paying the price for their contempt, arrogance, and real greed.

 

The market will make sure there's a legitimate replacement. When eBay goes down in flames, I will be a happy man.

[Griff]

I just hope we don't get 5,000,000 new folks 1/3 of which are scammers jamming these boards /eeeek

[Flaming_Telepath]

I just hope we don't get 5,000,000 new folks 1/3 of which are scammers jamming these boards /eeeek

 

Are you posting from 2009?

[MetalPSI]

Jeeze. Now where will I buy my over inflated slabbed comics with ridiculous shipping prices?

 

 

Oh wait....

[jimjum12]

The people who run eBay, past and present, are guilty of much, and have much to answer for.

 

I have been waiting for its imminent demise for many years. They are, in some respects, finally paying the price for their contempt, arrogance, and real greed.

 

The market will make sure there's a legitimate replacement. When eBay goes down in flames, I will be a happy man.

 

The implosion was inevitable..... eBay has a vast Mega-Corporate infrastructure being fed by what is basically a yard sale on steroids..... the last fool in the chain was THEM. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[slym2none]

So, maybe eBay (the corporation) will realise they could play to their past strengths, i.e., AUCTIONS!!! That were just as important to them whether they came from "the little guy" (most of us) or "the big guy" (dealers.)

 

5¢ listing fees, 7- or 10-day auctions being the same price, drop FVFs, make it so shipping is no longer subject to FVFs & actually punish people who sell a microwave for $5 but ask $150 for S&H - make it more than an "online yard sale" but not try to be the next Amazon.com, either!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[jimjum12]

So, maybe eBay (the corporation) will realise they could play to their past strengths, i.e., AUCTIONS!!! That were just as important to them whether they came from "the little guy" (most of us) or "the big guy" (dealers.)

 

5¢ listing fees, 7- or 10-day auctions being the same price, drop FVFs, make it so shipping is no longer subject to FVFs & actually punish people who sell a microwave for $5 but ask $150 for S&H - make it more than an "online yard sale" but not try to be the next Amazon.com, either!

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

.... Not trying to sound contentious...... but the Auctions failed to produce what the seller's were looking for.... otherwise, they would still be prevalent. Of COURSE we buyers loved the auctions.... we were snagging 80 % of them for pennies on the dollar. If it were me, I would offer low to no fees for first time listings and then make it more expensive for those who wanted to clog the system (and undermine the impression of a venue with sell-through success) with uber high priced display items. By charging more for listings that are now basically just low cost/ long term ...eBay would partially recreate the incentive and impetus for the sellers to actually SELL...... GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[VintageComics]

The people who run eBay, past and present, are guilty of much, and have much to answer for.

 

I have been waiting for its imminent demise for many years. They are, in some respects, finally paying the price for their contempt, arrogance, and real greed.

 

The market will make sure there's a legitimate replacement. When eBay goes down in flames, I will be a happy man.

 

Let 'em crash and burn. They deserve it.

 

They alienated themselves from everything that made them profitable including sellers, products and, yeah, profits.

 

They raised fees through the snout, they cut off successful sellers to spite their faces, the leveraged people into using Paypal.

 

Good riddance.

 

 

[VintageComics]

On a side note, there is no real serious contender here although there are many smaller contenders.

 

Google's search engines are the read winner. If you need something, you can find it.

 

11Main, which is backed by the world's largest eCommerce site Alibaba was supposed to take a real run at eBay but they've missed the mark.

 

Their site is strange and very different than what an American might expect an eCommerce site to be like. I chalk it up to their [Chinese] culture.

 

 

[slym2none]

re: Facebook

 

IDK if any other commodity is being sold this way, although I am sure I could find out quickly enough - anyhow, does anyone else think that if FaceBook has groups like the comic-book groups that do selling and trading that keep growing & becoming more sucessful, they will throw their hat into the ring, so to speak?

 

 

 

-slym

[Columbia Comics]

My :

 

eBay isn't going anywhere...just going to become another typical retail site. The glory days are over...but it won't disappear.

[01TheDude]

is being saddled with the debt what is really going to eBay? It isn't like PayPal is going to stop processing transactions or have a presence on eBays site.

 

When does this demise occur exactly? sounds like a bunch of BS that people who don't like eBay are just too pleased to shout to the world. I always get a laugh at the people who feel eBay is so terrible. So they bring customers to your junk/goods you want to sell on line-- and take a decent sized cut of that action-- so what?Cost of doing business. Don't like it-- find another avenue to sell your stuff and see if they don't rape you just as much. If anything, eBay didn't take enough of a cut if they are this far in debt. My gut tells me they are in this position from greedy shareholders and corporate VIPs sucking the company dry. Not that it matters to me-- I don't have any stock in them and as long as I am able to sell some stuff here and there, I don't care.

[Comicopolis]

If they could turn back time.

[Bookery]

When does this demise occur exactly? sounds like a bunch of BS that people who don't like eBay are just too pleased to shout to the world.

 

About Quartz.com...

 

"Its team of 25 staff members was pulled together from prominent brands in business journalism: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the New York Times."

 

The article has also been reposted by many major financial and Wall Street news blogs.

 

[01TheDude]

When does this demise occur exactly? sounds like a bunch of BS that people who don't like eBay are just too pleased to shout to the world.

 

About Quartz.com...

 

"Its team of 25 staff members was pulled together from prominent brands in business journalism: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the New York Times."

 

The article has also been reposted by many major financial and Wall Street news blogs.

 

I was referring to people who start threads with the article being all to pleased with themselves, not the group that wrote it.

[ItsJustRyan]

Watching the world burn

[kav]

Don't understand the hate for ebay. If I want something, I can find it. If I want to sell something, I can. Just bought $400 worth of hatchback shocks on ebay for $40. Do I want to sell comics to a comic store? No.