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Thanks Jay…fascinating article. And ebay sellers think Chinese sellers have a tight grip on ebay….
Jay, I’m clicking, but the graphic doesn’t appear to be an active link?
Try looking in your Seller Hub, in either “Tasks” pr “Growth”…
Thanks Mike! etsy may well be in our future, so I’ll keep that in mind. Better Half actually seems to be liking SixBit….or at least not hating it, which is how we both tend to respond to new stuff like this, until we get used to it. LOL
ICE appears to be out of the picture…sounds like they had made some informal inquiries at ebay, those had not met with a positive response, and it doesn’t sound like it ever went further than that. So I’d guess ICE is out of the picture , but , of course, Starboard is still in it.
Retro, I think the hardest thing for ebay right now is to accept that , while they were one of the big boys in the online new merchandise market, they haven’t been able to sustain that, in part because they weren’t and aren’t prepared to invest the gazillions they’d need to really compete on shipping time, free shipping, free returns etc. Amazon has spent tons of money on warehouses, trucks, vans, aircraft, ships….WalMart has tons of B&M locations and warehouses…and all of them have actual produtc catalogs and inventory control. ebay never made the kind of real commitment it needed, instead, it has always tried to compete on the cheap, which worked for a number of years in the early days, but no longer works. Absent something drastic, ebay will just keep losing market share. They have spent too many years focusing on new stuff, while neglecting the old stuff.
As you say, they should OWN the used market today, but they let it slip through their fingers. The question is, can they reclaim it? Or is it already too late?
Wall Street Journal article:
New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has made a takeover offer for eBay Inc. that could value the sprawling online marketplace at more than $30 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Intercontinental Exchange, known as ICE, has approached eBay in the past and did so again recently, the people said. The companies aren’t currently in formal talks and there is no guarantee eBay would agree to a deal.
Should there be one, it would be big, given eBay’s market value of more than $28 billion and the premium ICE would likely have to pay.
ICE is primarily interested in owning eBay’s core marketplace business, the people said, and not its classified unit, which eBay has been considering selling. The classified unit could fetch around $10 billion in a sale, people familiar with the matter have said.
ICE may see an opening to apply its technological expertise connecting buyers and sellers to eBay’s core e-commerce site covering everything from electronics to collectibles.
I also wish they had provided more detail around this: “we believe there is untapped market opportunity in bringing the eBay platform
to existing marketplaces that have historically not utilized an online platform to drive commerce.”What “existing marketplaces” do they have in mind? Antique malls, flea markets, etc? Or something entirely different? I’m not sure.
Jay,
Yeah, the idea is sound, but the devil, as always, is in the details….HOW does ebay do this?And, I have to wonder: are they envisioning an ebay dedicated to only used, vintage etc? AND , if successful, would that make it an attractive takeover target for someone like Amazon or WalMart, to provide them with merchandise they don’t otherwise have?
It’s going to be an interesting year for ebay….
Sorry to hear that, but sometimes moving on is much better than staying in place. I remember when I had to explain selling online to people, explain what the internet is, and so forth. Now it sometimes seems that there’s no one left in the country who isn’t sourcing for online resale. We still enjoy it, and we still find stuff , but the pickings do seem to be getting slimmer even around here, and PA has generally been good picking territory.
01/31/2020 at 9:41 am in reply to: eBay Open canceled this year in favor of eBay UpFront events #73518Retro, I certainly agree that their poor performance probably meant that, even if they can still easily afford to throw a big party (just don’t buy quite so much stock back), the “optics” as the politicians say, wouldn’t be good. A huge 25th Anniversary Party, followed by (or worse, preceded by) “we’re selling the Classifieds business, and then offering up the Marketplace….” wouldn’t look good. With the new Board and as yet no new CEO, I think the level of uncertainty at ebay is at an all time high.
And keep in mind, a lot of the ebay Open cost was paid by “sponsors” such as FedEx, etc. Those companies may have said “Nope, not this year….”
Now, if Amazon were throwing a 25th Birthday bash, they’d have something to celebrate.
If there was an event closer to us, maybe we’d consider going to something, but I’m not sure I am willing to drive any distance just for a 3 hour event. Maybe if we can figure out some other stuff to do, and turn it into a few days vacation….
01/31/2020 at 12:26 am in reply to: eBay Open canceled this year in favor of eBay UpFront events #73514They usually announce the ebay Open months from now, so this is actually good in that people who were making vacation plans around eBay Open have plenty of advance notice that there won’t be one. I’m sure many people are disappointed, but better than waiting till March or April to tell everyone.
I think some of the surprise about this is because it is ebay’s 25th year, and I think a lot of people were hoping ebay would throw a really big ebay Open party to celebrate. Obviously, this is much more low key, but all things considered, it’s probably better to do this.
Mike, thanks, that’s great information, and yes, that’s what we’re trying to do. So, yes, I’ll wait till she’s got her computer up and running and everything else on it to her satisfaction, then I’ll contact SB. Thanks so much!
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