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What stops alternatives to ebay?
Dangle_kt - 3/8/10 at 07:29 PM

I love a good discussion, gathering opinions of knowledgable professionals and amatures alike so, topic for today...


I dislike ebay with a passion, my wife hands them hundreds of pounds a month in sellers fee's and runs a tight ship keeping sellers happy in the main - yet she still gets rude emails from ebay who seem obsessed with alienated sellers, who they seem to forget are their revenue stream.

No one moves ship, because ebay is where BUYERS come to, and the alternatives are very flakey but if someone set up a well resourced alternative and invested heavily in advertising so that buyers would go there too, then ebay would have competition.

As soon as they did I am sure they would loose a massive chunk of their market share.

So - what stops it?

discuss


rf900rush - 3/8/10 at 07:39 PM

I always thought our struggling post office should set one up.

As they could set up a easy to use postal service into the system.

And as most items have to be posted how could it not work.

Even if it became a threat to ebay they should get thier investment back
when ebay buy them out.

Although ebay is a PITA it works.
I've been very careful what I sell/buy and I had more gains than losses.


55ant - 3/8/10 at 07:41 PM

well at the moment it seems because anyone with enough money to fund the marketing to launch a competitor to ebay is an idiot, the best thing they can come up with is madbid.com,


iscmatt - 3/8/10 at 07:41 PM

ebay stops it! they would probably buy out any major competition? Plus supply and demand, if demand is high then surely the best price you will receive as a seller will be on ebay? and initial investment to start a rival company would be astronomical. How much have eBay invested in their product, it would have to have a massive backing to be a competitor.


russbost - 3/8/10 at 07:44 PM

It's simply volume of buyers/sellers, because ebay has been established so long & is the one everyone has grown up with - it cemented it's position by buying Paypal.
Ebid has been around for a while & still appears to be going but will take years to build the volume ebay has


balidey - 3/8/10 at 07:54 PM

I was on Yahoo Auctions before I heard of ebay. They were the two main rival auction sites, but they shut themselves down just before ebay got big.
I remember when ebay was a good place to buy and sell, you could find the hard to find items, and find bargains. Trouble is now its got way too big, its full of 'shops' which to me is not what ebay is / was about. Type in any word now and you get thousands of listings, all the same cheap tat.
But for anyone to 'overtake' ebay, unfortunatly they would also have to be big and need to attract the sort of buyers and sellers that I don't want to see.

So, IMHO, its ebay or nothing. Which is why for the past few years I have not used it anywhere near as much as I used to.


pdm - 3/8/10 at 08:13 PM

Hmm

Needs someone like Branson - he's done it against British Airways, BT and Sky, Coca Cola etc etc

apparently he only starts these things as he reckons he can do better. He must think he can do better than ebay and paypal.


Confused but excited. - 3/8/10 at 09:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Dangle_kt

I dislike ebay with a passion, my wife hands them hundreds of pounds a month in sellers fee's


If I was in your position, I think I would love it!
How much do you have to sell/make in order to pay hundreds a month in seller's fees?

[Edited on 3/8/10 by Confused but excited.]


Stott - 3/8/10 at 09:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pdm
Hmm

Needs someone like Branson - he's done it against British Airways, BT and Sky, Coca Cola etc etc

apparently he only starts these things as he reckons he can do better. He must think he can do better than ebay and paypal.


He couldn't do better than Coca Cola, it's the real thing


steve m - 3/8/10 at 10:11 PM

trust me, we do NOT need Branson doing it,

I work for him!


mangogrooveworkshop - 4/8/10 at 05:16 AM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
trust me, we do NOT need Branson doing it,

I work for him!

Ditto


Gav - 4/8/10 at 12:01 PM

At a bit of a tangent.
There is a site called freecycle
I've signed up for my surrounding area, its quite amazing what some people are willing to give away for the sake of free removal.

[Edited on 4/8/10 by Gav]


Ninehigh - 4/8/10 at 02:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mangogrooveworkshop
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
trust me, we do NOT need Branson doing it,

I work for him!

Ditto


If you're working for the mobile phone section could you get the billing system to not be retarded? My stepson keeps getting cut off because next month's bill goes on before the DD for last months one is taken... Apparently this is how it's done (not by Orange, Voda or O2..)

And as for the OP, Craigslist? No idea how big it is over here or even if they operate in the UK...