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eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

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Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#181

Post by Scoundreller »

SwellJoe wrote: post #157
Scoundreller wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've read that sellers sometimes list in other countries to get around the PayPal buyer protections The buyer protections don’t really vary much, but it’s true in some countries they get more protections but it’s more regarding to buyer’s remorse rather than Items Not As Described. > or otherwise get paid via some unprotected method At least in North America (and maybe everywhere else), you’ve been required to pay…

I don't know, man, I just know there's a lot of fake listings on eBay. I don't know what they're getting out of it, but I assume they're not just doing it for fun.

It’s possible the sellers gets their cash out, the customer gets their money back from eBay and eBay is left holding the bag.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#182

Post by saghm »

wavemode wrote: post #162
taffydavid wrote: post #129

I thought gamestop was in financial trouble a few years back, how can they afford 56 billion?

GameStop is a zombie company. As a retailer, they have been floundering for years and still are. But as a corporation, they are sitting on a lot of cash and zero debt, from the early-pandemic period they went through as an overvalued meme stock. They can't afford $56 billion - the proposed acquisition was going to be halfway paid for in stock and halfway via a loan. (Though, they also can't afford $28B in stock - the…

"Audacious" is underselling it. "Give me your assets and I'll pay you with them" is about as serious a plan as "I'll go the ATM and get all the free money they give out to pay for it"

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#183

Post by xp84 »

rtkwe wrote: post #147
tombert wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this deal does eventually go through, then it might be a good time for someone to start working on a competitor to take over the online auction space.

The biggest headache has always been fraud, eBay gets if from both sides and it's a pretty intractable problem to solve as the middle man.

That's what those huge ~10% final value fees they charge are for. And other revenue such as sponsored listings (pay to boost your item in search results).

As long as they keep the fraud volume below like 5% of sales, I feel like it's just a numbers game, where they just need to get as much sales onto their platform as possible to give them enough operating margin to cover their costs (including fraud) and provide profit.

Admittely, I have no idea how well they're doing at that, I haven't looked at their financial statements or anything.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#184

Post by saghm »

boringg wrote: post #14
SwellJoe wrote: post #3

Any reasonable person could see this was a ridiculous clown show, put on by the ridiculous clown show meme stock company.

I mean they make a good point -- ebay isn't a serious company anymore. It really needs someone with a vision to rebuild it. That its limping along and executives are essentially bleeding a previously valuable internet asset dry is kind of sad.

> ebay isn't a serious company

As opposed to GameStop, which is a literal meme?

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#186

Post by nkohari »

flyingcircus3 wrote: post #102
nkohari wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely no clue how you could watch the interview and come away with this conclusion. The purpose of an interview is to ask Socratic questions to allow the guest to talk about something of which they have intimate knowledge. The CEO made it seem like he himself didn't know how the math for the offer worked, and even when presented multiple opportunities to correct that impression, he made no attempt to conv…

Yes you do. He came away with that conclusion because he entered with that conclusion. When you're already radicalized to a specific outcome, you lose the ability to perform the process of elimination.

In my defense, I had entirely forgotten GME is/was a meme stock. It's been many years since I spent brain cycles thinking about WSB.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#187

Post by orlp »

mahogany wrote: post #138
avonmach wrote: post #46

Seems like a no brainer for people who want to go into a physical store without dealing with the hassle of waiting for the item to sell along with packaging and shipping.

This doesn't make any sense to me, and seems like the exact opposite of what eBay is, but maybe we use eBay differently? When I use it, I am looking for something specific. The chance a random location nearby has that thing is basically 0. If I want to peruse random thrift items, I would go to a thrift store.

The person you replied to was talking about selling, not buying.

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#188

Post by hattmall »

FireBeyond wrote: post #160
Aurornis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy and sell through eBay about once a month and I agree. eBay isn't perfect but over several hundred transactions and a few disputes that were settled fairly I've had a good experience. I know it's possible to have a bad experience and I'm not discounting those stories, but it's not the standard eBay experience. GameStop was trying to do a Private Equity style takeover. Everyone hates it when PE companies do that,…

I've had two disputes that materially ignored the facts of the dispute, in one case where even the buyer said he didn't and wouldn't do as agreed, and still won, costing me $700+. You can't say "I've had a few disputes that were handled fairly, so when other people say there's weren't, that's not the standard eBay experience".

I've sold on eBay for over 20 years and millions of dollars. I would like to know more about your experience as a seller where you had disputes handled poorly, especially one that cost you $700?

Re: eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible

#189

Post by hattmall »

fragmede wrote: post #126
benj111 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Who isn't aware of eBay?

It's about the brand. Ehen shopping online, everyone may have heard of eBay, but how many people are going to go there first, as opposed to Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress, Temu, wherever else. And yes, eBay is going to have the weird eBay stuff, but if users don't even think to go looking there, they've lost a sale.

Legitimately millions of people. It also depends on the item but Amazon has been worse than eBay in my experience since at least the pandemic. AliExpress and Temu have some overlap to eBay but also offer a different consistency of experience.
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