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GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

bbc.co.uk

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Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#331

Post by DSMan195276 »

59percentmore wrote: post #318
DSMan195276 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well let's be clear, the "trade-in anything" day was a fancy discount day. They gave everybody $5 for whatever they brought in, online you can read from employees that they just donated or threw it all away, no attempt to actually keep any of it to sell. That said IMO the biggest difference in the two situations you're describing is that EBay is not in the business of buying the items to then sell later, they just fa…

Can you tell me where your local eBay fulfillment center is? I can tell you where my local Gamestop is (no, not that one, the other one).

No, why does it matter? I also don't know where my local GameStop is since the few by me closed a couple years ago :P

Plenty of stuff on EBay offers me 2 day shipping clearly via fulfillment centers, as far as I'm concerned that's all that matters. Do you think the addition of GameStop stores would mean EBay can offer faster shipping than that on a significant number of items?

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#332

Post by NetMageSCW »

ryandrake wrote: post #324
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is called consignment and is an industry unto itself, usually for antiques since you need a lot of space. You give them your goods and they sell them. You get a cut if they actually sell. I'm surprised nobody has really mentioned this in the thread. Does anybody remember the "trade in anything" day GameStop just had? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/12/08/gamestop-tra... Obviously they're going to need…

Consignment doesn't offer the seller a very good monetary deal, though. They're essentially a junk hauler that might pay you a few bucks. We all have that pile of old computer components that we could probably sell piece by piece for $400 on eBay, $200 on Craigslist/FB Marketplace, $100 at a yard sale, and maybe if you're lucky a consignment place will give you a $40 for it all.

That isn’t consignment. Consignment means you own the item but they put it up for sale in their space. You split the income if it sells.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#333

Post by kingleopold »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #240

The original shorting of GameStop back in 2021 gave them a bit of a boost back into the green. While people were doing the GME to the moon, GameStop made more shares to sell, and paid off a bit of its debts, I think it made about a billion dollars in profit, they're still struggling, but it helped prolong their life. A friend of mine also pointed out and this made it click for me that it makes 100% sense, GameStop is…

GME moon and all that in 2021 was financial engineering and mass media coordinated BS btw. they were all reporting it in same week with never seen details, with creating BS narratives. but you all consume and believe the details of it? good work by the engineers, nothing more.

Same for FAANG BS, ZIRP BS writing made by millions of bots online. Even before llms

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#334

Post by NetMageSCW »

dingaling wrote: post #304
shmatt wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eBay is dying, new competitors are being created constantly, and the big ones like Poshmark are getting more North American buyers and sellers. eBay has barely grown since their post covid slump Maybe eBay survives as an international site but even at that point, with $20B in debt this will just follow the regular PE playbook of shutting down after many layoffs and pivots The entire concept of, "I have $1,000 in the…

> Maybe eBay survives as an international site I don't really know what alternative there is to eBay as an 'everything shop'. I can get specific screws there, or diff fluid, or a customised motorhome name sticker, or an old baseball cap for an airshow I attended in 2008. And if I bought the wrong diff fluid I can sell it. The main value over Amazon, though, is that the search works.

Interesting you think that because my main experience is the search is horribly broken and they do nothing globally to fix it. Most of it saved searches are full of exclusions because a positive search includes so many irrelevant items. And they don’t enforce categorization so listers constantly put in better categories for their items, when they aren’t just lying with things like “calculator not HP”.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#335

Post by kibwen »

ryandrake wrote: post #324
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is called consignment and is an industry unto itself, usually for antiques since you need a lot of space. You give them your goods and they sell them. You get a cut if they actually sell. I'm surprised nobody has really mentioned this in the thread. Does anybody remember the "trade in anything" day GameStop just had? https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/12/08/gamestop-tra... Obviously they're going to need…

Consignment doesn't offer the seller a very good monetary deal, though. They're essentially a junk hauler that might pay you a few bucks. We all have that pile of old computer components that we could probably sell piece by piece for $400 on eBay, $200 on Craigslist/FB Marketplace, $100 at a yard sale, and maybe if you're lucky a consignment place will give you a $40 for it all.

> Consignment doesn't offer the seller a very good monetary deal, though. They're essentially a junk hauler that might pay you a few bucks.

You've just unflatteringly, yet accurately, described GameStop's business model for the past decade.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#336

Post by radlad »

metalliqaz wrote: post #264
dgellow wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the point of eBay was to get rid of that middleman. Wouldn’t that be something eBay would have done at some point if they wanted to own a pawnshop? Not saying that cannot work but that doesn’t sound like a genius idea

Yes, exactly. In fact there were some ebay "helper" companies that made a go of it in the early 2000's. They went out of business because it doesn't add enough value. USPS created Media Mail and flat rate boxes, and UPS stores are found in nearly every community. They handle the hard part (shipping) well enough. The only thing I can think of is Gamestop positioning to become a clearing house for fan swag or gaming it…

I remember one of these shops all the way back in the late 2000s. At the time I was confused about whether it was operated by eBay or a third party. It did not last long.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#337

Post by jeffwask »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #240

The original shorting of GameStop back in 2021 gave them a bit of a boost back into the green. While people were doing the GME to the moon, GameStop made more shares to sell, and paid off a bit of its debts, I think it made about a billion dollars in profit, they're still struggling, but it helped prolong their life. A friend of mine also pointed out and this made it click for me that it makes 100% sense, GameStop is…

It creates the "Ebay Store" from the 40-year-old virgin makes sense if you look at it that way.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#338

Post by spaqin »

dgellow wrote: post #258
giancarlostoro wrote: post #240

The original shorting of GameStop back in 2021 gave them a bit of a boost back into the green. While people were doing the GME to the moon, GameStop made more shares to sell, and paid off a bit of its debts, I think it made about a billion dollars in profit, they're still struggling, but it helped prolong their life. A friend of mine also pointed out and this made it click for me that it makes 100% sense, GameStop is…

I thought the point of eBay was to get rid of that middleman. Wouldn’t that be something eBay would have done at some point if they wanted to own a pawnshop? Not saying that cannot work but that doesn’t sound like a genius idea

Over time, eBay has become the middleman - with international shipping centres, basically escrow service with buyer protection, and rather high fees for promotion and of course, the actual sale. No middleman is something like Craigslist or FB Marketplace.

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#339

Post by radlad »

jnellis wrote: post #313
giancarlostoro wrote: post #240

The original shorting of GameStop back in 2021 gave them a bit of a boost back into the green. While people were doing the GME to the moon, GameStop made more shares to sell, and paid off a bit of its debts, I think it made about a billion dollars in profit, they're still struggling, but it helped prolong their life. A friend of mine also pointed out and this made it click for me that it makes 100% sense, GameStop is…

Was this not lampooned directly in "40 Year Old Virgin" where a young Jonah Hill tries to buy some disco boots at an ebay store but can't because you have to go through the website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxRg5I7r5s

Re: GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay

#340

Post by ferfumarma »

JohnFen wrote: post #283

Gamestop is one of the companies that I refuse to do business with. eBay is a company that I am reluctant about, but use anyway. If this goes through, that will be the final straw that gets me to stop using eBay entirely. That would probably be for the best.

How come?
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