posted on May 24, 2001 10:39:33 PM new
Let's look at the real reason why ebay is doing this. Because of the ever-increasing popularity of "buy it now" services like auction watches storefronts and andales stores. These guys are encouraging us to "circumvent" ebay fees by sending our customers to THEIR sites where OUR stores make THEM money. Sure, there are many other reasons that one could argue that ebay is doing this. Times have changed, and so have the way people list auctions. I remember when most auction listings actually used the default ebay method of listing an auction. Now, you've got folks coming in and posting a full-blown portal page as their auction ad. I can understand ebays dismay here. Now, there are companies like auction watch and andale, wanting to purposefully divert traffic from ebay to their own "stores" where they will get a percentage of the sale, cutting ebay completely out. I say, if you can't figure out how to make your own storefront (it's a rather simple task), then stick to selling on ebay and don't let these guys sweet talk you into getting in trouble with ebay. You've noticed that aw hasn't commented on this yet. Their storefront page still says "advertise in your auction listings!", which will be against ebay's rules. They want to avoid the confrontation on this point. Andale too. I've tried emailing them to ask what their plans are, no answer. Obviously, their plans are to continue to persuade us to advertise their "stores" on our auction listings. You want to avoid ebay fees, fine, but don't go hand the money directly over to someone else. Build your own storefront and keep all the money to yourself (minus paypal fees of course).
