Thoughts 21 Aug 2008 03:35 pm
eBay has Amazon envy
I read a blog on ZiffDavis with the title eBay has Amazon envy: Cuts fees to get more fixed pricing. It made me consider how long it’s been since I used eBay and why I stopped.
Once upon a time I used eBay with a great deal of regularity. Now I can’t find the auctions for all the buy-it-now crap.
If I wanted to pay retail for a camera, new or used, I’d go to B&H, KEH or Amazon. I certainly wouldn’t go to what is supposed to be an auction site.
I think when you consider the amount of fraud that buyers have to contend with, the seller’s fees, the Paypal fees and the increasing volume of retailers that make finding a real auction item difficult, eBay has created a monster.
Now they’re forcing the little guy out in the name of retail, simply because there aren’t enough dollars in single sales to make eBay the kind of money their corporate greed requires.
eBay is an auction not a retail outlet, and if they can’t make it with the thing that made them rich how do they expect to compete with an established giant like Amazon?