eBay Elsewhere : links for 30th November 2008

November 30, 2008

Silicon Alley Insider* has some rather depressing figures on the decline in eBay.com’s traffic, which has been accelerating since the summer. Henry Blodget blames eBay’s management, pricing structure and competition for the decline; Jemima Kiss for The Guardian thinks it’s the arrival of big retail merchants which has alienated smaller eBay sellers.

But it’s not all bad news: eBay in the UK continues to grow, with a year-on-year increase in the number of unique users of 9.6%, according to Nielsen figures. Of course, “more users” doesn’t necessarily equal more sales or more profit, and one set of figures doesn’t create the stellar Christmas that eBay UK really needs.

eBay Ink has a post (no, that’s not news in itself ) talking to Dinesh Lathi, eBay’s VP of seller experience about Diamond PSs and the famous level playing field: “it doesn’t mean we will treat everyone the same”.

Santa’s not the only person making lists this week: Mark Buckingham has 14 sizzling sales tips for eBayers, while Dan Wilson tells us 7 things we need to know about eBay on the always excellent SmallBizPod. Dan also wrote what is, for my money, the best eBay post of the month: I already linked it in our comments but I make no apologies for linking it again: Not eBay’s VAT Announcement.

*Is it just me, or does their piccie of JD seem ripe for some LOLcaptions?

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 6 Comments

eBay Elsewhere : Links for 16th November 2008

November 16, 2008

A Denbighshire mother is changing her name to Pudsey Bear to raise money for Children in Need. 37 year old Ellen de Bont had put her name up for sale on eBay, saying that she would donate 80% of the money raised to charity. She made several suggestions of names she was willing to adopt, including Semi-Detached House, Piccadilly Circus and Scunthorpe Travelodge (Paris Hilton, eat your heart out).

A Guardian reader asked for advice on his plan to buy from charity shops and resell on eBay: a couple of the usual suspects replied

There’s speculation about Meg Whitman’s next move now she won’t have a place in a McCain government: California here we come?

eBay Ink watches PayPal blog a bug:

the fact that the issue was proactively blogged about from within is fairly significant. … PayPal identified a problem, communicated it publicly, and got back to trying to fix it as quickly and as seamlessly as possible.

Richard’s right, but the fact that eBay’s official blog is trumpeting this single post as such a triumph only goes to show how far the company has still to go. One blog post doesn’t overcome the decade of non-communication and inertia that surrounds eBay bugs: it doesn’t alter the denial and disbelief that those reporting bugs have to deal with from eBay staff. Lets hope this is the beginning of a sea change.

Auctionbytes and “an eBay employee” (she means Griff) have a little disagreement over just how Google is using eBay data. What’s really interesting here, I think, is Griff referring to eBay listings syndicated via Googlebase as “listing on a competitive site”. As sellers, we tend to think of Googlebase as “advertising our eBay listings”; clearly, eBay think of it rather differently.

“And finally”, Dan has a very naughty suggestion on how to beat Best Match.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 5 Comments

eBay Elsewhere : links for 26th October 2008

October 26, 2008

WebProNews lists what it claims are the top ten frustrations for eBay sellers. I’m always suspicious of anything that claims to speak for “eBay sellers” as a group: we’re such a disparate bunch, frankly I don’t believe it’s possible for us to speak with one voice. What’s your top frustration with eBay selling? Leave us a comment.

Continuing the whinging theme, TechCrunch says that eBay is facing a “revolt by its power sellers” about feedback.

And when we’ve all finished complaining, Dan has some home truths for eBay sellers:

eBay has never loved you … If you’re staying out of some sense of misplaced loyalty, switch that chip off now. Stay ‘cos it works, makes you money… don’t base a business decision on an emotional attachment to eBay. Your love will always be unrequited.

Finally, making a nicely cheery change, Etsy gets a lovely write up in The Guardian.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 16 Comments

eBay Elsewhere : links for 19th October 2008

October 19, 2008

If you only read one eBay-related post this week, make it the one that Alan Lewis wrote:

One of the ideas that I had voiced many times was to add each employee’s eBay user ID in the company web directory. When eBay bought Skype, it added everyone’s Skype ID to the directory, making the omission of eBay IDs all the more striking. This small change would give those who don’t use the site nowhere to hide (and come to think of it, eBay IDs should probably be added to public announcement board posts too). “Oh, Bob, I see you haven’t sold anything for six months… are you sure that the changes you are suggesting to the SYI page are a good idea?” Working at eBay without using the site is like being a chef who won’t eat what they cook.

And if you haven’t already read the Forbes piece that Alan refers to, that’s worth a read too.

Unsurprisingly, the Q3 results and gloomy forecast for Q4 brought about a lot of comment. The Motley Fool calls eBay this morning’s most popular four-letter swear word. CNNMoney asks has eBay hit its twilight? And Barron’s, who predicted the eBay staff layoffs a month ahead of time, predicts that more radical moves may be ahead.

Biggest surprise of the week though, is perpetual eBay bad mouther Gary E. Sattler who says he’s not giving up on eBay yet. He calls eBay’s shares “a serious bargain right now”. His one sticking point? Sellers not being able to leave negs for their buyers. Feedback is the least of the issues that eBay sellers, buyers and the company itself face right now: analysts shouldn’t base their opinions on their wives selling off a few of their kids’ old clothes.

Myself, I’m with JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan, quoted on computing.co.uk: “We believe eBay’s biggest challenge is an inferior technology platform, which is making it difficult for the company to compete with other e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon’s.”

‘And finally’, there’s a lively discussion going on in AuctionByte’s comments about who should replace John Donahoe as eBay CEO. I wasn’t aware there was a vacancy.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 17 Comments

eBay Elsewhere : links for 28th September 2008

September 28, 2008

Steve Lindhorst from GenuineSeller.com writes a superb post analysing a ~~recent~~ speech from John Donahoe.

An excellent, excellent post from The Brews News: if you haven’t already read this one, please do.

Scot Wingo spots some eBay/Google weirdness. This one needs watching: I think it’s more likely to be eBay not putting out product feeds rather than Google cutting them off, but time will tell us more.

The Telegraph reports on psychologists studying auction behaviour: fear of losing rather than desire to win motivates bidding.

And someone, somewhere in the world, downloaded the billionth copy of Skype today. That’s pretty impressive.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 6 Comments

eBay Elsewhere : links for 6th July 2008

July 6, 2008

Unsurprisingly, eBay’s fine for sales of fake Louis Vuitton via the site has garnered rather a lot of comment over the week. The Times predicts a run of copy-cat lawsuits from other manufacturers, while the LA Times asks should eBay be the world’s copyright cop?, and seems to come out on eBay’s side:

There’s a fairness issue too. If Vuitton is responsible for enforcing its trademarks, the costs are passed on to Vuitton customers. If EBay has to enforce them, the costs will be borne by everyone who buys or sells there — most of whom aren’t in the market for haute couture.

Tiernan Ray on Seeking Alpha also comes out against the fine.

The Telegraph tells us how to spot a fake on eBay, and also observes that eBay’s changes are making it more like a shopping mall than a car boot sale.

And the award for headline of the week goes to The Guardian for A handbag? eBay is going to have to be more earnest.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | Comments Off

eBay elsewhere : links for 6th April 2008

April 6, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Following on from the rumour that Google are buying Skype, or at least going into partnership with them, Skype Journal uncovers what might be the original agreement from August 2006. And Wired think eBay would be nuts to sell.

CNN Money watches the fight for the US classifieds market between eBay-owned Kijiji and part-eBay-owned Craigslist.

Meanwhile, speculation about the effects of eBay’s management changes continues. The Motley Fool asks if Meg Whitman held eBay back, and concludes that “it may be too late to reinvent eBay”. Ecommerce Times looks to the future, predicting rough weather ahead for JD, and digging out the obligatory quitting sellers and buyers who now prefer Amazon.

And e-consultancy.com carries an interview with some bloke called Chris Dawson.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | Comments Off

eBay elsewhere : links for 16th March 2008

March 16, 2008

This post was written in March 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

After AOL’s purchase of Bebo, Paul Rapa considers why eBay shouldn’t buy AOL.

And another from Seeking Alpha, what is frankly a great big rant about John Donahoe.

I can’t figure out if this one’s serious or not: Democrats should now boycott eBay.

The Sun spots Amy Winehouse’s D&G dress selling for Â£2k.

And back to the serious news sources: The Onion marks Meg’s retirement.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 2 Comments

eBay elsewhere : links for 2nd March

March 2, 2008

This post was written in March 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

photo credit: ninjapoodles

The Washington Post reports that eBay faces “challenges in the U.S., U.K. and Germany”, as the growth of the auction market and ecommerce in general slows.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the eBay coverage this week has been The Strike, The Fallout from The Strike, and people wondering just how many 6s are on the back of JD’s head:

Michael Fowlkes gets it right: “now we are basically in posturing mode between eBay and its sellers”.

Timothy Church calculates that the seller strike is costing eBay “$3.6m PER DAY!” and rolls out the old chestnut that eBay needs hobby sellers because they’re the people who buy from business sellers. (Wrong: the reason eBay works is because it has buyers - millions of them - who don’t sell at all.)

TheStreet.com says eBay’s woes won’t end with the seller strike.

The Register has a problem not uncommon amongst Sites That Don’t Like eBay: when the company and sellers are at loggerheads, which side do you sneer at? (Gary E. Sattler, take note.)