4 ms·

"a terribly-led company, sitting on its laurels as first-mover and squandering opportunities to move into new markets" As a former employee of that behemoth, I

by rsbrown 15y ago

"a terribly-led company, sitting on its laurels as first-mover and squandering opportunities to move into new markets" As a former employee of that behemoth, I can only say: you hit the nail on the head.

jerhewet 15y ago
Completely agree, looking at it from the viewpoint of a seller before Meg ran it into the ground. Yes, you HN Virginia's, she did run eBay into the ground. A simple Google search will turn up plenty of people on plenty of forums that can fill you in. The stock price tells the same story.
- 0x12 15y ago
  Where do you go to auction second hand stuff?
  - zmj 15y ago
    Craigslist.
    - 0x12 15y ago
      They do auctions? Thank you, I never realized that. Hey downvoter, thank you for showing your ignorance. In case you had not read the craigslist faq let me help you out here: "No - craigslist is not an auction site." So me not realizing that wasn't all that strange, it seems they really aren't.
      - kinofcain 15y ago
        Auctions are just one way of arriving at a price for a used good, haggling is another. The question isn't "Where can I auction this old stuff" it's "Where can I sell this old stuff".
        0x12 15y ago
        An auction is a totally different thing than offering something 'for sale', auction sites typically allow people to make bids and enter in to a contract which requires them to take delivery. If craigslist is the equivalent of ebay to you then that's find with me but I think that craigslist and ebay are substantially different beasts. Also, plenty of the stuff sold there is not old.
        CamperBob 15y ago
        Interestingly, eBay is implementing a new policy that requires sellers to offer either no returns at all, or give the buyer at least 14 days. No one except sellers in a couple of narrow categories will be allowed to offer 3-, 7-, or 10-day return periods starting in Q1 2012. So eBay no longer even vaguely resembles a real auction venue where cash, carry, and caveat emptor are the first three rules. That will obviously kill womens' clothing sales completely, which is a nontrivial part of the company's overall revenue picture. It also opens up all kinds of amusing arbitrage opportunities (buy gold coins or other assets that fluctuate in value, return them if the market goes down over the next two weeks.) It also makes me think that eBay needs a good corporate drug-testing policy. Or maybe they're just using the wrong drugs.
      - CC440 15y ago
        Ebay hasn't been an auction site really ever. Today the vast majority of listings have turned it into a ghetto version of Amazon where you can get tons of awful Chinese junk with "Buy it Now" as your only option. For the few people that actually do forgo the direct pricing option, the vast majority set the reserve at the price they'd list it on Craigslist for (basically fair market value) and hope to get extra money for no reason. The auction format only really existed for vehicle sales in my experience. Even there dealers have killed the functionality by butting out all the private sellers. I wish there was some online option that only allowed private sellers, even Craigslist is succumbing to the same disease.
  - efsavage 15y ago
    The dumpster. No reserve! If it's not broken or worthless, charity. Nothing I have that I don't need is worth the trouble* of selling it. *ebay
  - jerhewet 15y ago
    I was doing $40K to $60K of additional income a year selling books back in eBay's prime (late 90's, early 00's), so it was a fairly easy move to the Amazon Marketplace for me. I've been looking for another auction site for a decade now, and haven't found one that compares to eBay in its heyday.

by rsbrown 15y ago

jerhewet 15y ago

Completely agree, looking at it from the viewpoint of a seller before Meg ran it into the ground. Yes, you HN Virginia's, she did run eBay into the ground. A simple Google search will turn up plenty of people on plenty of forums that can fill you in. The stock price tells the same story.

0x12 15y ago
Where do you go to auction second hand stuff?
- zmj 15y ago
  Craigslist.
  - 0x12 15y ago
    They do auctions? Thank you, I never realized that. Hey downvoter, thank you for showing your ignorance. In case you had not read the craigslist faq let me help you out here: "No - craigslist is not an auction site." So me not realizing that wasn't all that strange, it seems they really aren't.
    - kinofcain 15y ago
      Auctions are just one way of arriving at a price for a used good, haggling is another. The question isn't "Where can I auction this old stuff" it's "Where can I sell this old stuff".
      - 0x12 15y ago
        An auction is a totally different thing than offering something 'for sale', auction sites typically allow people to make bids and enter in to a contract which requires them to take delivery. If craigslist is the equivalent of ebay to you then that's find with me but I think that craigslist and ebay are substantially different beasts. Also, plenty of the stuff sold there is not old.
        CamperBob 15y ago
        Interestingly, eBay is implementing a new policy that requires sellers to offer either no returns at all, or give the buyer at least 14 days. No one except sellers in a couple of narrow categories will be allowed to offer 3-, 7-, or 10-day return periods starting in Q1 2012. So eBay no longer even vaguely resembles a real auction venue where cash, carry, and caveat emptor are the first three rules. That will obviously kill womens' clothing sales completely, which is a nontrivial part of the company's overall revenue picture. It also opens up all kinds of amusing arbitrage opportunities (buy gold coins or other assets that fluctuate in value, return them if the market goes down over the next two weeks.) It also makes me think that eBay needs a good corporate drug-testing policy. Or maybe they're just using the wrong drugs.
    - CC440 15y ago
      Ebay hasn't been an auction site really ever. Today the vast majority of listings have turned it into a ghetto version of Amazon where you can get tons of awful Chinese junk with "Buy it Now" as your only option. For the few people that actually do forgo the direct pricing option, the vast majority set the reserve at the price they'd list it on Craigslist for (basically fair market value) and hope to get extra money for no reason. The auction format only really existed for vehicle sales in my experience. Even there dealers have killed the functionality by butting out all the private sellers. I wish there was some online option that only allowed private sellers, even Craigslist is succumbing to the same disease.
- efsavage 15y ago
  The dumpster. No reserve! If it's not broken or worthless, charity. Nothing I have that I don't need is worth the trouble* of selling it. *ebay
- jerhewet 15y ago
  I was doing $40K to $60K of additional income a year selling books back in eBay's prime (late 90's, early 00's), so it was a fairly easy move to the Amazon Marketplace for me. I've been looking for another auction site for a decade now, and haven't found one that compares to eBay in its heyday.