EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift • Hacker News Board

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#21

Post by elai » Fri, Jul 10, 2009, 10:25 PM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #8

vaksel wrote: post #2

its all about $$$. eBay used to save you a crapload over other web stores. Now the difference is so tiny, that there is no reason to take the risk with eBay

On the contrary, I think it's all about eBay has long been a market for new goods, instead of the used stuff that the original idea was based off of. Auctions just aren't a very good means to sell new goods. Go search for any product you like on eBay - the overwhelming majority of the results are new items, from large-scale eBay dealers, using the Buy-it-now feature instead of real auctioning. In this case eBay has s…

Nowadays you can list listings by price + shipping. Amazon sufferers from USAitis really bad compaired to eBay, where shipping anything out of the usa (like canada) adds ridiculous shipping fees like $50 extra from a $5 to USA shipping fee. And most of it is not even available to ship to canada.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#22

Post by elai » Fri, Jul 10, 2009, 10:27 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #10

Where do you guys sell your old stuff online? E.g., old laptop you don't need, old GPS navigation when you get a new one, etc? Ebay is too much hassle, and afaik Craigslist is only local. Any ideas?

Actually I use craigslist & another local classifieds website. Shipping is "instant", you usually can get lower prices than online, and you can inspect the item, and you have the persons address if they screw you over. It's only really speciality stuff that doesn't sell/can't buy. Also when I sell locally, I usually get a higher price than I would online.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#23

Post by elai » Fri, Jul 10, 2009, 10:29 PM UTC

proee wrote: post #20

Question: If you pooled together a ton of people through some social networking, etc (say 1k people per each state across the US), and got these people to commit to selling their "junk" on a new service for say 1-year, would this be enough of a critical mass to get the ball rolling in terms of creating a real competitor to ebay? You could start a grass roots movment and have people sign an online petition that says t…

Facebook has their marketplace, but to be honest, craigslist is better traffic wise than that.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#24

Post by quellhorst » Fri, Jul 10, 2009, 10:43 PM UTC

Meg Whitman bailed out on a ship she caused to start sinking.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#25

Post by webnrrd2k » Sat, Jul 11, 2009, 2:18 AM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #8

vaksel wrote: post #2

its all about $$$. eBay used to save you a crapload over other web stores. Now the difference is so tiny, that there is no reason to take the risk with eBay

On the contrary, I think it's all about eBay has long been a market for new goods, instead of the used stuff that the original idea was based off of. Auctions just aren't a very good means to sell new goods. Go search for any product you like on eBay - the overwhelming majority of the results are new items, from large-scale eBay dealers, using the Buy-it-now feature instead of real auctioning. In this case eBay has s…

Even as a web store eBay sucks -- it's hard to search for something and not get swamped in accessories/manuals/related junk for an item.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#26

Post by webnrrd2k » Sat, Jul 11, 2009, 2:20 AM UTC

frossie wrote: post #14

AlisdairO wrote: post #13

It baffles me that eBay is trying to kill its own core competency: connecting people with unusual stuff to sell with people who have unusual things that they want. Auction fees are ludicrously high, and the process is increasingly hostile (and expensive) to small time sellers. I understand that they want to expand their market into new goods, but given that they have vast competition in that area, why hurt the revenu…

Auction fees are ludicrously high, and the process is increasingly hostile (and expensive) to small time sellers. Indeed. Isn't it ironic that eBay used to be a community of people (many of which were buying and selling at the same time) and just as social media started ascending, eBay moved in exactly the opposite direction - towards a warehouse model that pissed off the little people who were selling things to clea…

I agree -- Craigslist is far easier, and suits me much better. generally I don't even have to mess with shipping, but can just drive over and pick something up or have them drop by.

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#27

Post by tocomment » Sun, Jul 12, 2009, 1:38 AM UTC

dickwad wrote: post #11

tocomment wrote: post #10

Where do you guys sell your old stuff online? E.g., old laptop you don't need, old GPS navigation when you get a new one, etc? Ebay is too much hassle, and afaik Craigslist is only local. Any ideas?

Amazon, if you close your eyes and ignore the egregious fees. You'll still probably get more money than Craigslist and less danger/hassle than Ebay.

Can you sell things on Amazon that they don't sell? E.g., a five year old GPS?

Re: EBay Losing Traffic To Amazon After Strategy Shift

#28

Post by BOOKLOVER27 » Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 7:57 PM UTC

Ebay lost sight years ago...first with greedy fees, commisions and other pricey features. If they had followed the route necessary to maintain an honest and even keeled market for both sellers and buyers they would be enourmous. It happens so often that corportate greed and shortsightedness does them in. Ebay is no different. Also, Amazon.com is on its way to the same corporate debacle hurting both buyers and sellers with higher fees and controlling the shipping charges. WE NEED A TRUE FREE INTERNET MARKET...