posted on April 9, 2001 01:09:33 PM new
eBay Takes Stake in Vendor That Resells Goods
SAN FRANCISCO-Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. on Monday joined other investors in providing $15 million to ReturnBuy Inc., the start-up that resells returned goods for Web-based and traditional retailers.
eBay's Web site allows consumers to bid on merchandise processed by Ashburn, Va.-based ReturnBuy, which sells its reselling services to a retail industry in need of recapturing revenues from a growing volume of returned merchandise.
Monday's deal -- which included undisclosed investments from QVC Inc. television shopping network co-founder Michael Boyd and an investment fund affiliated with the Sears Roebuck family -- brought the total raised by ReturnBuy to $17.2 million since its 1999 launch, the start-up said.
ReturnBuy Chief Executive Walt Shill said Monday's $15 million financing package will be used to sell the start-up's services to more retailers, distributors and manufacturers.
The financing was led by the ePlanet Ventures unit of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm, which was impressed by ReturnBuy's ability to streamline the traditionally inefficient process of reselling returned merchandise, the start-up said.
posted on April 9, 2001 02:20:22 PM new
Haven't they been doing exactly that with Butterfields? And for quite some time now. With no compunction that I've noted...no repercussions, either.
posted on April 9, 2001 04:36:19 PM new
I used to be a small seller on eBay--dealing in collectibles and what ever other oddities I could run across. They're slowly but surely pushing sellers like me out the doors but they don't mind at all. After all, I never did make them any serious amount of money.
They call the kind of stuff I sell 'clutter'. It's clutter like that that brings people time and again back to eBay. When we've all got fed up and leave people will be looking elsewhere for their 'clutter'. Then eBay will only be a seriously bloated retail outlet for liqidation merchandise and the like. That's so sad, but it seems to be what they want.
posted on April 9, 2001 04:55:22 PM new
Whatever brings eBay the most money is what they want. They only look at the big picture . I remember the good old days when you could put something up for bid and people would see it. Now days, you have to figure the best strategy to keep things from getting lost in the shuffle.
The other auction sites only lack one thing in my opinion. Us!
posted on April 10, 2001 11:28:09 AM newwallypog: The irony is that I'm constantly fine-tuning my search links to eliminate what *I* think of as "clutter," namely the stuff that is fairly accessible offline, or the stuff that is showing up as dozens of similar listings.
I think most eBay buyers are on eBay to find the harder-to-find stuff. I can't think of one person I know who's on the Web but hasn't shopped on eBay (or at least kept their eye on it), but best I can tell, it's the hard stuff they're trumpeting about finding, not the retail stuff filling malls.
I'm not sure how easy it really will be for eBay to "monetize" such a crowd. So many big web companies have gone out of business or have yet to see a profit, and I think one factor (of several) is that many sold stuff otherwise accessible within a short drive (sometime more cheaply accessible with a drive).
This does not invalidate the concept of buying common stuff on the web, but I think it is more supplementary than primary for most, outside of the homebound. Big retailers on eBay? <yawn>
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
posted on April 10, 2001 02:30:59 PM new
I have been sitting back and watching fee after fee being raised or implemented for almost 4 months on services that sellers need all over the Net from Yahoo to eBay to AW to G2 to now Photopoint.Well at least now with eBay, those poor-poor dears, who just weren't making enough money to provide me with a stable site- I know where it's going. I guess last month's fee increase made enough revenue to finance more competition for me.
I am and have been a proponent of Co-ops.The idea of owning the vintage venue I use, having a say in site policies and design and in reality,paying myself every time I list, is getting more appealing every day.
It makes you wonder at the arrogance of venues who think that they can snap their fingers and we will all quietly come to heel.I guess it's because we need them more than they need us.Perhaps that was true in the past.The future is bringing new options for all of us.Perhaps it is time for all of us to look again at alternative ideas.
posted on April 10, 2001 04:35:52 PM new
Hi Cathy--has there ever been a co-op on the internet now or before? This idea sure sounds like it makes sense in the real world but now the internet-cripes the logistics!!
eBay has really really finally shown their true agenda with this new bit of news. I hear a death knell for little on line sellers. (Like me) Can you imagine if you have a peice of Fenton? Yikes--ReturnBuy via QVC will have 500 peices or more of Fenton on line and will anyone ever see your one unique peice of Fenton? Especially when search is Down--which is happening quite often lately on eBay.
It's getting fricking grim.
It's time to look for alternatives. eBay is getting like a huge massive gloomfph!
I'm ready for a new venue.
Thanks for an alternative. Wish you all the very best of luck and will be there with bells on my toes if this thing flies.
