5 X 7" Watercolor
I have a Google Alert on Ebay and throughout the day I get articles and blogs about Ebay - most I delete. I'm only interested in other opinions on the present Ebay and how it is being run. Some of the articles amaze me in how wrong they are about the problems at the world's largest online auction site. Here's my take on it:
Ebay has and is making a big mistake. Donahoe is determined to go toe to toe with amazon and he’s in for a very rude awakening….that awakening has already started only he is too stubborn or uninformed to see it. Amazon built its business model over years of non-profit before it began to make its niche the hard way - thru hard work, determination and a good business plan. Donahoe believes he can bully his sellers into offering some of the same things (customer service, free shipping) that Amazon offers and then Ebay can sit back and rake in the money. He forgets a couple of things. The outraged small sellers are doing a great job of getting the word out about the bully Ebay has become…about its absolutely hostile environment to all but its large diamond sellers and buyers are not only listening they are finding their favorite small sellers elsewhere! Also in Ebay becoming a cheap imitation of Amazon…it is just that….a cheap imitation and nobody likes an imitator! If you want to buy Amazon style why would you go anyplace else but Amazon? Ebay’s niche was in the rare, vintage and unusual items that people could find nowhere else. How foolish they are to kill the very thing that gets people to its site….the very thing that interests people enough to buy on Ebay. Hey…I can get an iPod anyplace (in fact I bought my direct from Apple)….but the 5 milkglass lamps I needed for my vintage chandelier could only be found on Ebay.
The board of directors needs to wise up and fast. They need proper management…management schooled in the hard knocks of online selling. Otherwise, after this next drastic decline in quarter sales they will finally see that Ebay is on the path to destruction! Its rapidly becoming too late for Ebay to survive
My painting for today is something bright and cheerful to hopefully warm up the rest of the country. Take heart...Spring is next month.
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