Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

201–210 of 251 posts

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

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I'm not the commenter, but about 20 years ago when ebay owned paypal still, I sold 26 iPod nanos in a big sale on ebay. Everyone received theirs except one guy, and the tracking showed the shipper lost it, in that the package just stopped being scanned in the USPS system halfway through. He complained, completely understandable! eBay froze my account, froze the payments for all 26, and I never saw the money ever again.

They wouldn't let me just refund the one customer. I had to prove the other 25 were delivered, so I did that. Then I had to prove they actually got iPods, so I linked them to the reviewed transactions that showed people were happy with the iPods. So then I had to prove my identity to eBay. They wanted my license, so I did that. Then a utility so I sent my light bill. Then my phone bill. Then my natural gas bill. Then my lease. Then they asked for my passport, which I did not have at that time. Suddenly nothing could be done without the passport, and they'd keep the money for 180 days and then mail me a check. Except then they said they were keeping the money anyway because I didn't provide a passport. Five grand, gone.

From that day on I'd have multiple eBay accounts at all times, spread things out around them so that when (not if, when) they would freeze an account for a review, I'd just cancel everything, refund whatever purchase was in review, and never use that account again. I learned that the review process is just a delay process to make you think there was progress when you'd already been banned but since you thought there was a chance, you'd keep busy in the no-go queue for however long you interacted with the bot before you gave up rather than calling support.

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

#202
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I follow/buy the premise of moving second-hand sales to a physical building as beneficial to eBay. If I'm looking for X, I'd much rather go to an online store, where I have access to several listings of X at varying prices and condition, vs. make a trip to a physical store, see if they have X, and hope that the condition and price matches my expectations. Maybe if I'm not looking for X, and just want to…

^This. The crazy part is that in today’s PE-style system of things, the incentives… - GameStop shareholders - GameStop the company - e.g. employees - eBay shareholders - eBay the company - for example its employees …aren’t necessarily aligned. If GAME buys EBAY - it’s an exit for the EBAY shareholders, which is easy for them to evaluate as it’s presumably a $ premium over the share price today. If GAME then runs the…

[deleted]

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

#203
post #29
post #16

As a avid eBay customer I am pretty relieved. I buy 2-3 items a month and was selling for the last 2 years on the platform. It's come such a long way and is really a great, streamlined experience. Of course I'm sure folks that make their living off their stores & sales will have different opinions, but I'd say as a routine customer and seller it doesn't need an external company's takeover pressure on it.

I agree. eBay has a strong brand, one of the oldest web brands. It should just continue doing what it's doing.

If they would just put the search back to how it was (deterministic) so it would do exactly what you ask for, not one of these modern searches where it kinda bubbles up a few items, but the rest is all random sorta-maybe like what you asked.

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

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're grossly straw-manning a complex situation by reducing this deal to a 'Private Equity style takeover' that 'everyone hates'... If anyone is interested in learning more here's a great primary source interview with an ebay seller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ij2nQymtA and a retrospective here for those without as time/interest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyS9Q-LnhPE I think it's good to let folks reach…

> If anyone is interested in learning more here's a great primary source interview with an ebay seller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ij2nQymtA This is an interview with the GameStop CEO Of course he thinks the takeover is a good idea. I guess the GameStop true believers are out coming out to astroturf this thread?

Yeah that's what a primary source is: words from a principal architect of the deal, not a vague description using emotionally-charged terms. The interviewer is a professional eBay seller, so I think lots of what's mentioned in the interview is relevant to much of the discussion in this thread.

If you were interested in learning more about the nuance of the situation you might appreciate the information therein, but you're also free to reply to anyone who provides alternate perspectives or additional information with silly labels like 'true believer' instead of addressing the content of their messages!

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

#205
post #17
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still don’t have anywhere close to buying eBay.

Please see: Leveraged Buy Out. For the benefit of all the people on this thread not understanding what the proposal is for the acqusition: "A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company (typically by a private equity firm) using a significant amount of borrowed money (debt) to meet the purchase price, often 60% to 90% of the total cost. The target company’s assets are used as collateral for the loans, whic…

Ha yes of course, but th EU still have to show they can get the loan. They were unable to show that.

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

#206
post #93
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't matter as long as incentives are aligned. As a major stockholder and active advocate, he is already vested in success.

I'm not sure that the incentives actually are aligned. It seems like the incentives are to think short term and do sketchy shit to pump the stock.

>It seems like the incentives are to think short term and do sketchy shit to pump the stock.

Its a meme stock, that's what stockholders actually want.

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

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that a guy like this can rise to the level of CEO making millions pretty much sums up everything wrong with the world. I don't think I would trust that guy to make a sandwich.

I would admit that when I had first heard the news (from hackernews) and read its comments, people gave multiple examples and convuluted examples on how this all makes sense and the financial aspects. I was left feeling impressed that perhaps gamestop might've been thinking something new. Then I watched the video. > I would trust that guy to make a sandwich. Don't worry, we are just trusting him with around a measly…

>To them, I have a question like, are we watching the same interview? How can anyone watch that interview and then consider it in any way positively or anything like that, like huh, have we watched the same interview?

It all comes down to a belief in "trolling". Once you assume that your chosen individual might act stupid on purpose, you lose the ability to discern between actual stupidity and fake stupidity. GameStop enthusiasts see that interview and assume Cohen is mocking the interviewers as a show of intentional disrespect. They think he's not actually clueless, just trolling.

Unfortunately, this sort of belief is self-reinforcing. Once you get over the hurdle of believing in trolling the first time, the next instance seems completely plausible. Every time it happens, you become more convinced that the person engages in a pattern of trolling — after all, you've seen it so many times! You don't realize that the source of your belief is not accumulated independent evidence, but a chain that rests on a single link.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we would normalize people just running a business well and taking a damned salary.

You want to normalize low ambitions?

While successfully running a business in a sustainable way may not be the peak of ambition, calling it low ambition is toxic in the other direction.

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

#209
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

Works for Elon Musk

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

#210
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

Wouldn’t buying up pawn shops be a better bet, then?
Post reply on HN