posted on May 29, 2001 12:26:51 PM
Lots of changes will be coming to eBay, most of which are a mystery to current members. Half.com technology, storefronts, e-tailers, new policies. What do these things mean, and how will they affect sellers and buyers? Anybody care to make a prediction (or a guess)?
I'll accept "going to hell in a handbasket" but I'm curious to know what you are anticipating.
posted on May 29, 2001 01:23:51 PM
Something seems to tell me it all has to do with eBay wanting more mass-merchants on their site. Their auction counts are almost the same as last year, so how can she make the profit she has projected? My prediction is the storefronts, half.com technology, will be used only for the mass merchants. eBay will make their buyers use credit cards to protect them from deadbeats, and ebay will handle the returns as well. I think in the future we will see QVC, JCpenneys, and Sears on eBay. Think of it like an online mega-mall.
posted on May 29, 2001 01:46:37 PM an online mega-mall.
MAYBE! With major retailers as anchors and lots of little "speciality" sellers. The "one stop" shopping experience...everything from soup to nuts, antiques to modern, inexpensive and high end.
posted on May 29, 2001 02:47:44 PM
eBay will do everything possible through TOS and technology to prevent any possible fees escaping their grasp.
That includes picture hosting, linking, communication with buyers, storefronts, raising fees, charging for anything the no competition market will bear.
Any fee for service provider that provides services to support eBay sellers is a target, including AW and Paypal. eBay can squash their businesses whenever it wants to. And to reach the $3 billion in revenues, it appears eBay is motivated to do so.
As eBay moves to cater to large retailers, credit card transactions are the only game in town.
As eBay opens new venues, they will be credit only venues. It is unclear if or when the whole site will become credit card only.
posted on May 29, 2001 05:22:08 PM
You don't need a crystal ball. All you need to do is to listen to Meg to know where eBay is going. These are a few quotes.
Whitman is going global, hoping to up verseas revenues from 10% to 50% within two years. Her efforts are boosted by founder Pierre
Omidyar, who is spending time in his native Paris.
We started with commerce, and what grew out of that was community. So we think of ourselves as sort of a community-commerce model. And what we've basically done is put in place a venue where people can be successful dealing and communicating with one another. But we also want to expand the kinds of merchandise sold on eBay.
I think the Internet is going to change retail forever. I think there are enormous shifts going on. I think the first shift is from land-based retail to online retail.
I think eBay has created an environment that didn't exist in the land-based world. And I happen to also be interested in what happens to business-to-business. I think there's a
huge move that can be made to the Net that creates business-to-business commerce
I think this is a revolution on the scale of the Industrial Revolution. It engendered hundreds and hundreds of new companies
that ultimately became huge companies, and it engendered huge societal changes.
I think that what investors are saying is: ''O.K., how do I find the Ford Motors, the Carnegie Steels, and in later times, the IBMs of this revolution?'' I think we have the chance to be one of the leading Internet companies. I think we are one of the top four or five today, and I think we will be one of the top four or five 10 or 15 years from now.
posted on May 29, 2001 08:26:05 PM
Well, for sure eBay will bring in retail. And I bet they're hammering their heads to find a way to sqelch Paypal. I can see Meg now ... "That should be my billion dollars!" Too bad eBay didn't have the foresight to offer everyone a $10 rebate for using Billpoint.
There was a thread like this back at the turn of the millenium, "where do you think eBay will be 10 years from now." And my guess is that nobody expected these kinds of far-reaching, drastic changes coming so quickly.
I know it's been discussed before, but what do you think eBay means by "incorporating Half.com technology" into the site? Will sellers each be issued a bar code reader? Or just a bar code?
posted on May 29, 2001 08:36:46 PM
I think it's the demise of ebay. The beginning to the end. I think the corporates will be dissapointed with sales, back out and ebay will scramble to meet financial obligations. The sellers will bail, the buyers will follow. Watch online payment services to see the trend of the future. Auctions in general may be passe' as another member here stated. The terminology is old. These are not auctions anymore, there are simply offerings. I plan to make a move, it's just the point of to where are the herds with their money going?
posted on May 29, 2001 08:46:39 PM
Sounds to me like they no longer want to be just a venue ... they want to have the whole internet listed under eBay.
My Mama used to say, "Be careful how you treat people on the way up - you'll need them to catch you on your way back down."
Papa told me, "Always remember who helped put you where you are today."
Edited to add ...
'NUFF SAID!
[ edited by MrsSantaClaus on May 29, 2001 08:47 PM ]
posted on May 29, 2001 08:47:48 PMAny fee for service provider that provides services to support eBay sellers is a target, including AW and Paypal. eBay can squash their businesses whenever it wants to.
eBay wants the whole pie, not a part of it. I like eBay but I hate seeing their monopoly grow to the point that it leaves no options. eBay's tactics against 3rd party services bothers me, and it has made me more determined than ever to make sure I use them instead of eBay's services.
posted on May 29, 2001 10:58:47 PM
predictions more like the late shows top ten
10) they will partner with, or buy out someone better than blackthorne.
9) ebay will buy PayPal or you will see a co-venture, if not ebay will add a feature that will make PayPal obsolete(my guess), at any rate that is the next piece of the pie ebay should want. ebays site generates the sales, they are loosing the fees to PayPal. also this would make it so that ebay will collect the state sales tax that you know the states are getting antsy about.
8) ebay will have a co-venture/co-brand with other auction sites, portholes, and ISP's, possibly with yahoo, amazon, MSN, so that searches on their sites and/or search engines can be funneled to half and ebay.
7) ebay will report your sales on a 1099mis to the IRS
6) once ebay kills the link problems you will be able to link to storefronts on their site that they will charge a fee for each sale.
5) meg will be replaced or she will leave, but I would guess she wont be around after this time next year.
4) they will have too many changes too quickly, generate too much bad press and have a harder/slower summer than usual.
3) they will court the "big boys" even harder so that you will see not only links to bluelight.com and the likes but also see ebay at the check out at the "big boys" brick and mortar stores as well as their on line ventures.
2) ebay consignment locations spun off the fact that they are the new backers of the antique road show, want to sell an item? don't know how? they will point you to someone that has a brick and mortar store front, or will partner with some place Kmart, Wal-Mart, Blockbuster video, Hollywood video etc.
1) ebay will go half.com......munistic
MAYBE! With major retailers as anchors and lots of little "speciality" sellers. The "one stop" shopping experience...everything from soup to nuts, antiques to modern, inexpensive and high end.
