Is the end near for eBay?

[Percy1980]

I've read several posts on various websites about how eBay is struggling, but more obvious are it's policies - Final selling fees to include postage costs; TRS discount plummeting and so on.

I personally think eBay's fast becoming a joke - what's your views?

 

[Deleted member 243860]

That's not true at all. I have close connections at ebay/paypal and from what I gather eBay has a very impressive growth figure still.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

I can see anything else on the horizon that will compete with Ebay so whether it's a joke or not, it's still going to be successful.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Oh no, another one of 'those' posts!

Works fine for me!

 

[Percy1980]

Seems Amazon Marketplace has been doing a grand job of taking eBay's marketshare over the past few years. I don't have time to post links right now, but if you could be bothered to google it I think you'll find the same.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

There is no question that Ebay has its work cut out policing things but as for its demise. as Mark Twain once famousely wrote in a telegram to the times, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Considering that the company as a whole made 46 million dollars of net profit last year, I don't think they're going anywhere any time soon.

 

[Matthew Coakley]

According to The Verge . com - can't post links due to my post amount being < 30

revenue from the eBay marketplace suffered its first decline (year over year) since 2009.

However - "overall business was healthy" according to the authors report.

Article briefly discusses the implication of eBay/Paypal split

 

[e-vulture]

No, it seems to be doing just fine. Folks have been proclaiming the end is nigh for ebay since before its creation

 

[Chris34]

Ebay as a business will probably always be around due to being first to market and getting mass market appeal, however they have 'peaked' and are now in decline.

If you use Google trends and search 'Ebay' and compare it to 'Amazon' then you can see exactly what's happening.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Ebay sold off though. £46 million net on a global business of this size is peanuts. Paypal is where the money is.


Chris.

 

[fisicx]

Paypal is where the money is.

Who are owned by eBay and who made $7.9 Billion profit.

eBay doesn't need to make a profit. In fact it would be better of making a loss (less tax to pay).

 

[garyk]

Yes they arent going anywhere anytime soon. Sure amazon marketplace are squeezing them a little, as I'm sure are etsy and facebook for local stuff but overall there is still a ton of stuff on there and easy to sell stuff.

Put it this way for auction style listing they are way out in front (still).

 

[bharris]

I think the biggest problem that will face eBay and Amazon is the rising cost of postage. People will have to start to charge a realistic price for postage, which will put the price up to a non bargain value, possibly people will return to buying from shops. Personally i Never buy from Amazon and very rarely from eBay. I do use their sites find a seller and then buy direct from them. So far this year i have saved myself just over £780 if i had bought from Amazon and eBay. The retailer is also better off as they do not have to pay the outrageous fees.
Do i think eBay is coming to an end - No not at all it will be around for a long time, it will be the sellers who will have to adapt.

 

[Chris34]

Who are owned by eBay and who made $7.9 Billion profit.

eBay doesn't need to make a profit. In fact it would be better of making a loss (less tax to pay).

Not for much longer though, Ebay and Paypal are separating.


Chris.

 

[fisicx]

Not for much longer though, Ebay and Paypal are separating.

Only because it makes business sense (they will pay less tax).

 

[Patrick @ BIG in the UK]

It's maturing now, but Ebay will be around for a long time.

 

[Blue Annie]

Of course ebay are going to go belly up, I will give them 1 month, maybe 2, when Blue Annie's 'Blue Bay' launches in a week's time. Alternatively, of course not, unless both you and ebid both know something ebay does not.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I bought 5 different things from Ebay today (each from a different seller)...each item would be quite difficult to source in a bricks & mortar shop (difficult meaning, hassle finding, stock available etc). For me, ebay is a grand emporium of things I can't be bothered to go seek out!

It's also (by & large) still heaps cheaper than going to a bricks & mortar shop ...so long as the products have a price advantage & so long as a bloke in a uniform is prepared to bring them to my house & pop them through a slot in my front door, then I'll always use ebay!

 

[RichardFT]

I like that Pish_Pash - "a grand emporium of things" it it is.

Its a place where you can find all the stuff you didn't know you needed. I can not see it closing any time soon. Facebook on the other hand . . . .

 

[bharris]

Its a place where you can find all the stuff you didn't know you needed. I can not see it closing any time soon. Facebook on the other hand . . . .

eBay provide the perfect service for stuff you cant find anywhere else or easily. Facebook is becoming more and more a waste of space. If i have a selection of friends i would like to have their post come up in my feed, not just a selection chosen by Facebook. I don't want to spend all day tracking people down looking at their pages (feels like stalking). If i like a company and they post something i would like to see it. I think its pants for marketing and it has lost the original purpose of providing a service whilst desperately changing into a advertising machine. The only think keeping it going is the vast amount of people who have accounts and that they buy any competitors. Need something to replace it but what?

 

[Paul_Walters]

I still prefer it over Amazon for cheap stuff. I've just bought a bike puncture repair kit for under £2 delivered. Probably cost that in a shop and it's taken me under a minute to order and pay. I Amazon can be confusing sometimes and often sellers muck around with product descriptions and so on. Having said that I bought a new TV last night and went to Amazon as for stuff like that, eBay is a bit of a minefield.

I also run a business selling on eBay and as long as you have a decent margin in your product it's a cheap way to get huge instant visibility and acquire customers for other channels as well.

 

[14Steve14]

If you read the seller forums on eBay with all the people leaving you would think that there cant be that many left. For every shop that closes and every seller that leaves there must be new sellers arriving.

The only trouble I see with eBay is that it now tries to interfere too much in sellers activities, and is now not just a selling platform. Their policies annoy many, but if you don't like them, you don't have to sell there. EBay is fast becoming a place for crooked buyers who end up many times with the product and a refund. They have to try to improve their reputation for this type of thing.

Today there are alternatives. These are eBay biggest threat as they are getting eBays leaving buyers and sellers. Saying that eBay wont close anytime soon but they will annoy many more sellers with daft policies.

 

[silvermusic]

Last time I read the eBay powerseller board I left feeling suicidal. The same old faces who seem to spend most of their day moaning about eBay. If they put as much effort into running their business as they do on that board they'd be millionaires.

eBay is far from perfect but in the great scheme of things it has it's place. Making it your sole outlet however, is a very bad idea and where many come unstuck.

 

[BartJr]

It will eventually die but I doubt it will happen soon.

Here are the following reasons why I believe it will this will happen:

- Buyers can do whatever they want
- Buyers are 99% always right even if they are wrong in the eyes of eBay
- Frauds frauds frauds
- eBay customer service is probably the worst cs you will ever encounter, they are just robots in human disguise and if you use the live chat
- eBay policies, fees on postage price? Seriously?
- Amazon > eBay
- Defects, because apparently feedback was not good enough
- eBay Social media presence, you express your negative experience there, you will get banned and comment will be removed, and no, no one will bother to investigate your case.


I've been a seller on eBay for few years and decided to quit (best decision in my life).

 

[fisicx]

But if you want to buy stuff eBay is brilliant and far better than Amazon if you are looking for rare items.

I know someone who works at eBay UK and business is booming. They get more sellers signing up every day than leave so there are no worries about it's demise for many, many years to come.

 

[Matt Thorpe]

eBay's pricing increases may result in sellers of new items reducing their exposure or removing certain products from the listings because it severely damages margins. However, the sale of used items will continue to flourish.

The reason is because Amazon bases everything on reputation and experience which means you can't get away with selling cheap, broken or very used products without getting penalised. If you sell poor products on Amazon, you get bad feedback and you get removed if you persist.

Ebay, on the other hand, are far more flexible. Buyers generally know what they are getting because it's easier to upload more realistic images, add a realistic description and you can't really complain when you have paid a fiver for watch or an iPod.

There will always be a market for second hand goods and eBay dominates this space with little competition.

 

[Parcelhub]

Google takes a preference to Amazon over eBay with organic listings, due to the fact that eBay listings are seen as 'temporary content' and not of good quality - http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/05/21/panda-4

 

[BartJr]

ou can't get away with selling cheap, broken or very used products without getting penalised

In the listing on Amazon, you've got a lot of options to describe the state of the product. The real issue is the buyers mentality, majority of them think they can get the best for nothing.

 

[Paul Norman]

I am sure Ebay is fine. However, it is not an arena we would wish to play in. We sell all that we can buy from either our shop, or our own website - thus Ebay would simply be a dilution of our margin. I suspect we would sell nothing there are full retail.

But as a glorified global boot sale, I can see it has a place, and lots of people are making decent money out of it.

 

[BlackMagicX]

eBay makes over £500 a month from my business and over £10,000 per month from the business I work for, ALMOST PASSIVELY. I fail to believe that eBay are struggling and if they are there employees are idiots.

 

[willv]

I've recently started selling stuff on a local "buy/sell" facebook group as it's so much easier than Ebay. I take a photo on the mobile and send it to the group. I get multiple messages within an hour and have always sold the item for cash the same day. I maybe get less than I would on ebay, but I'm not paying any commission (ebay/paypal) and I don't need to parcel it up/calculate shipping costs etc. I'm very happy with it, and probably the only good thing I can say about Facebook actually

I don't use Ebay, Amazon or Facebook for business selling.

 

[Abe Choi]

Marketplace existence are not necessarily binary. I think ebay has a certain segmentation and products that are well suited for its business model. At the same time, amazon has done it differently that appeals to another segmentation and product set. I don't believe one marketplace can actually serve the needs of all customers.

 

[MilesWeb]

eBay has been in business since a long time. They are doing well as they cover many categories of products. There are various discounts and offers that people can avail of. Moreover you will also find eBay for many countires. eBay is here to stay.