Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

techinasia.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 75 posts

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#61

Post by nehene »

onetimemanytime wrote: post #56
nehene wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That, plus the fact that China will just pull the plug on any American business gaining too much traction. So did they? We all know why Google and Facebook isn't in China, but as far as I can tell I don't find similar conflicts regarding companies like Amazon and eBay. The consensus online seems to be that they have been failing in the Chinese market by their own hand. Which does sound pretty plausible considering…

Google didn't have any problems with China...until it did. No court to sue either, unless you want to waste your time and money.

I am not sure which part of my comment you are addressing. As far as I know the official story from Google was that gmail users were being targeted by the Chinese government. Google deliberately stopped complying with Chinese law by no longer censoring search result and therefor became blocked. Yahoo and Microsoft didn't and are still in China.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#62

Post by 83 »

metalliqaz wrote: post #32
docker_up wrote: post #9

Competing against eBay is like saying you're competing in a 100m race against someone in a wheelchair. eBay has done nothing to make itself better in the last 15 years. New "features" routinely fail, and their APIs are a graveyard of dropped ideas. I hope Taobao expands to the US, eBay needs real competition, anyone working there should be embarrassed for themselves, more importantly the Directors and above.

I think in 2018 eBay has a lot of competition in the US. The bulk of the stuff on eBay are commercial sellers that can also use Amazon. When an average Joe might be selling his stuff, it tends to go on Facebook Marketplace these days, or Craigslist. The only thing they really have going for them is the auction format, but how often does THAT get used, even on eBay?

I heavily use the auction listings. For specialist tools the Business/Industrial category is near impossible to beat. As a seller there aren't enough people interested in esoteric items to offload locally and as a buyer I never see them available on Craigslist in my area.

With that said, I only buy on Ebay, never sell. Between shipping, fees, and the non-existent seller protection most stuff is better off given away locally or tossed.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#63

Post by emodendroket »

influx wrote: post #55
metalliqaz wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but it some respects you're comparing apples to oranges. The US political system is perpetually focused on the short term because of the ~4 year election cycle. China has a president for life and single-party rule. They are able to make and execute long term plans, which is why they are currently succeeding at reshaping the global trade landscape. (all roads lead to China, and all that) It's not just that the gov…

So if China is long term going to be the end all be all, why are the Chinese elite doing everything in their power to get their cash and kids out of the country?

If the United States' economy is so good, why are the its elites doing everything they can to shovel their money to the Cayman Islands? It's the same thing really.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#65

Post by nehene »

qiqing wrote: post #60
nehene wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That, plus the fact that China will just pull the plug on any American business gaining too much traction. So did they? We all know why Google and Facebook isn't in China, but as far as I can tell I don't find similar conflicts regarding companies like Amazon and eBay. The consensus online seems to be that they have been failing in the Chinese market by their own hand. Which does sound pretty plausible considering…

Starbucks is doing very well in China (as well as KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds, and their compatriots), and also Apple, Nike, Tesla, Coach, Carrefour, Tesco, and more. (Latter 2 are from Europe.) Prior to the rise of Taobao, most of my family members didn't really use eBay in China. Most of them prefer using mobile (like the bulk of consumers in China), but if you prioritize the browser experience and 'consistency a…

I still haven't seen a suggestion engine (including the image search verity) nor chat system (in terms of utility) that could compete with what Taobao had a couple of years ago. (It does probably exist in China though). I think people confuse Taobao with AliExpress. The latter being about as useless as eBay. Once you build some history on Taobao, you can spend days just browsing.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#66

Post by WilliamEdward »

emodendroket wrote: post #44
docker_up wrote: post #9

Competing against eBay is like saying you're competing in a 100m race against someone in a wheelchair. eBay has done nothing to make itself better in the last 15 years. New "features" routinely fail, and their APIs are a graveyard of dropped ideas. I hope Taobao expands to the US, eBay needs real competition, anyone working there should be embarrassed for themselves, more importantly the Directors and above.

And yet there it is, far and away the largest and most successful site of its kind in the United States.

That doesn't stop it from being a bad user experience, it just means no one wants to do it better.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#67

Post by emodendroket »

WilliamEdward wrote: post #66
emodendroket wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet there it is, far and away the largest and most successful site of its kind in the United States.

That doesn't stop it from being a bad user experience, it just means no one wants to do it better.

Perhaps, but perhaps it is simply suited just fine to its users' needs despite looking dated.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#68

Post by mahranch »

qiqing wrote: post #60
nehene wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That, plus the fact that China will just pull the plug on any American business gaining too much traction. So did they? We all know why Google and Facebook isn't in China, but as far as I can tell I don't find similar conflicts regarding companies like Amazon and eBay. The consensus online seems to be that they have been failing in the Chinese market by their own hand. Which does sound pretty plausible considering…

Starbucks is doing very well in China (as well as KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds, and their compatriots), and also Apple, Nike, Tesla, Coach, Carrefour, Tesco, and more. (Latter 2 are from Europe.) Prior to the rise of Taobao, most of my family members didn't really use eBay in China. Most of them prefer using mobile (like the bulk of consumers in China), but if you prioritize the browser experience and 'consistency a…

> Starbucks is doing very well in China

Starbucks is considered extremely high-end/luxury in China. It's not just an overpriced coffee shop like it is here in the U.S. It's considered 'exotic'.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#69

Post by mahranch »

influx wrote: post #15
shitgoose wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why doesn't the USA do the same" Do you mean "Why doesn't the USA government do the same"? US government is slightly less omnipotent than Chinese.

You act like the US Government hasn't already banned Chinese companies from buying or doing business in the US. That would be incorrect.

> You act like the US Government hasn't already banned Chinese companies

The U.S didn't ban ALL Chinese companies operating in the U.S. Try setting up a coffee shop or computer repair shop in China as a non-citizen and see how long you last. That's extremely illegal in China. Their government has to approve every foreign business and they rarely do (unless you're some multinational corporation who have made a whole host of concessions.

Re: How Jack Ma took on eBay with Taobao

#70

Post by pietroglyph »

wanghq wrote: post #58
pietroglyph wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that it's easy to blame the Chinese government in this case, and that there's more to it than that, but just because competition exists in the Chinese economy doesn't mean the government isn't adjusting the scales behind the scenes.

Alibaba not only competes with non-Chinese companies but also domestic companies/banks which have a closer relationship to government than Alibaba. For example, imagine how hard to start Alipay business when banks don't support you.

That wasn't really my point… I agree there's competition, but my point was that business are behilden to the government's wishes behind the scenes.
Post reply on HN