posted on December 13, 2000 06:09:00 AM new
An excerpt from the Disney story link points to, I feel, one of Yahoo!s major problems we are dealing with on their auction site. This is having a huge impact on their ability to draw advertisement dollars to the auction site.
"Yahoo's history has shown the company to be almost fiercely independent," said Derek Brown of W.R. Hambrecht.
We are dealing with that problem now. No matter how many times we bring up the listing order here, and elsewhere, nothing at all is done about it. Making a bad decision, and refusing to accept it, has been the beginning of the downfall of many companies.
posted on December 13, 2000 07:09:33 AM new
Charlie One
I agree with you to a point - and possibly over the long haul, BUT realize eBay is notorious about never listening to their users - and it doesn't seem to have effected the growth of eBay at all -
In the normal scheme of things you are correct - but even though to some of us who have been around the on line auction business & the internet for years - actually the industry is still in its infancy.
Your hypotheses is correct in a "normal" market situation; that is in an established market such as discount stores, grocery stores, jewelry stores, or anything like these - ignoring the wishes and desires of your customers is the kiss of death - BECAUSE, you customer is not confined to the choice of only a couple of top services - they have many choices and will just leave and shop else where......
BUT - in the on line auction scene there aren't that many powerful auctions sites that produce for the seller, and buyer - therefore the two major sites, eBay and Yahoo can basically do as they please - for now - they can afford to be independent - for now - in the future when there is true competition for them, this independent attitude, and ignoring of customers' needs and wants, will taken them down if they were to continue in their stubborn ways - but for now - it doesn't matter - where else can you go and get auctions that produce and particularly for FREE - you are basically stuck with eBay or Yahoo!
SOME of the problem is created by the buyer and seller in their greed they stick to the two BIG ones and seldom give any of the new on line auction sites a chance. The two rare contradictions to this was when Gold’s opened at the time eBay was having major site problems – a major number of sellers moved – but Gold’s system couldn’t accommodate so many – IF Gold’s had been prepared, it might now be the number 2 or 3 site – AMAZON was the other which if they had continued to run the site as it was originally opened would/could have been 2 or 3 too today, but in September of last year they started playing with the site, and the bottom fell out - those are the only two sites I have seen commence and have a possibility of making a major impact on the market, but both, by their own hand, committed suicide.
Time will change things – but for now – they are most likely going to do what they chose because THEY CAN!
The impact of doing as they please is pretty obvious. A stock dropping from $250 a share to around $35, in less than a year, does not show well for doing as they please. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize they can't fly long at that rate of descent.
