posted on August 13, 2006 02:26:30 PM new
I just had to put mention about the recent opinions offered by Jim Cramer on Mad Money, a show on CNBC about stocks. He is absolutely negative on Ebay lately, as a stock that can make investors money, and on Meg Whitman in particular as being a worthy leader. He can't say enough bad things about Whitman. He pulls no punches. He think she just likes hobnobbing with the"rich and famous." One caller asked about the propspects of Ebay for investors now that they had raised the prices for store listing. Cramer replied that all that did was drive sellers away, further adding to Ebay's dropping stock price. I have to agree. I see nothing positive about the new price increase. I resent the "getting back to basics" mentality when it was Ebay's management that added these options. They thought it would generate more income by adding new categories to the auction type listings. Now they whine that it is a drag on their profits!!
I think one solution would be to go back to making BIN free on auctions. It does not cost Ebay anything to add this option and it makes for quicker turnaround if the item is right for this type of purchase.They complain that store items sit on the site for too long. Don't charge people for trying to sell things quicker. They have too many additional costs any more, everything is extra. I don't think "gettting back to basics" is really their aim. I do think Jim Cramer has the right take on management.
posted on August 13, 2006 03:54:34 PM new
eBay management is so far divorced from reality that they would make a great TV show on "How to Lose Customers and Ignore People" - sort of an anti-Dale Carnegie.
posted on August 14, 2006 08:34:16 AM new
I think your idea about making BINs free for sellers is a very good one! Makes sense from several directions. I'd like to think the gurus at eBay have had this suggested to them, but. . . 12-year-olds don't like Mommy telling them what to do.
posted on August 14, 2006 08:56:33 AM new
It makes perfect sense to me, to make BINs free. Why pay for a service that can sometimes cost you money. I have paid for BINs and someone bids on the auction, so the BIN goes away. Half of the time the auction ends higher than the BIN, so I come out ahead, but Ebay would have profitted either way. They have a quicker turn around on a BIN and usually a slightly higher FVF. It is just greedy to charge for an option that is in their best interest and does not cost them anything!!
They charge extra for too many things, 10 day auctions, Gallery, etc., etc., etc. Give us a break!! At least give us BINS free and not just for a day or so. It is a no brainer. It would help their bottom line, also.
posted on August 14, 2006 09:53:29 AM new
Ebay los a major lawsuit on patent infringement on the BIN concept, and it's still in the courts. The BIN fees are designed to eventually go to the owner of the BIN patent. I doubt you will see free BIN anytime soon. In fact, there is the very real possibility that BIN may dissapear from Ebay altogether.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on August 14, 2006 10:07:15 AM new
I would rather see BINs go away than pay for them. If you are sure of the price, why not just use a Fixed price sale? If you are sure of the price and want a fast turnaround, do a 1 day or 3 day auction. BINs are not worth paying for. IMHO.
posted on August 15, 2006 07:44:07 AM newEbay los a major lawsuit on patent infringement on the BIN concept, and it's still in the courts.
Sparks,
You are a little behind the times. Ebay won that lawsuit, with the judge siting that the patent owner did not act upon using the patent, making it basically null and void. (Just put in legal terms)
posted on August 15, 2006 08:01:32 AM new
If eBay really wanted to "get back to basics"
and increase so-called "core" listings,
it would make more sense to lower auction fees rather than raising store fees.
If returning to core listings was their only stated goal, I would agree with you.
However, Bill Cobb also said:
Store listings on average take 14 times longer to sell (than auction or fixed price). In some media categories, Store listings take more than 40 times longer to sell than core listings.
And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store listing and an average core listing – factoring in the duration of each – our cost to host a Store listing is more than 50% higher than for a core listing. In fact, current Store insertion fees don't cover eBay's costs for hosting them.
Dropping the fees on core listings would not have the effect of incentivizing Stores sellers to move their inventory to core listings. This has been demonstrated during special listing days (10 cent, half-price). Stores sellers have the tools to convert their listings to core listings but they don't do it, probably because they know their things are slow-moving items and it would be a waste of money. It is clear that Stores sellers put stuff in their stores and there it sits, usually for 28 weeks or more.
