But just about everyone in eBay's bright and sleek headquarters says calling it an "auction site" is very yesterday -- they like to think of it as an online Nasdaq for merchandise. They point to eBay's increased fixed-price and buy-it-on-the-spot options.
posted on May 28, 2001 07:48:12 AM
Oddly enough, when Yahoo was old Yahoo, we used "Buy It Now" on all auctions and sold like crazy. But on eBay we don't find their "BIN" works very well, that is customers aren't as open to it as they are the regular auction format.
When we returned to eBay we did only "BIN" type auctions and quickly found it just didn't work on eBay, so we stopped using the "BIN" and went back to the old auction format.
Odd, the difference in buyers - and odd that eBay buyers would rather bid and bid, and pay twice as much for an item than if they had used the "BIN" option. Fine with me!
posted on May 28, 2001 10:32:36 AM
I think the actual auction, part is what makes E-bay attractive and fun to buyers and sellers, E-bays missing the boat if they don't see that, I'd rather buy from Wal-mart or a local store if I want fixed price items. If I want to sell items at a fixed price, I'll sell from my own brick and mortar store, shows or my own Web-site and not have to give E-bay a cut. What makes E-bay lucrative for my business is I can get get great prices from bidders for many items. On a fix format, I'm stuck at selling product at a discount and getting a thinner margin. Profit margins are the key, there are many ex- Pet.com or E-toy executives who can back me up on that, and gees these guys were using a fixed price format weren't they.
