eBay

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-15-2017

Evening Folks,

As many folks know, we were one of the first mid size broad based homesteading sellers here on ebay.

The early years were very good to us and we thank ebay for making those years better than we anticipated.

We also have found the challenge we faced was, and is, being faced by so many other folks not even selling here.

Tonight I needed to restock some of Mrs C's organic goods that we do not produce here so I did an internet search to see what was coming up in the www.

The Titans are fighting it out and they must be sinking mega bucks into search placement.

If I was new to the internet I would think that it was only Amazon, Walmart...a little bit of Target and only a few of the Original whole living sellers coming up in my search.

A couple of years ago one of those companies, intentionally not mentioned, came here in a torrent of 100's if not 1000's of organic food listings with prices barely above shipping cost with FREE shipping pretty much ended any chance we could ever compete. Now those sellers have prices that are double.

Do folks see that only a few companies seem to have a monopoly on the internet now?

If so do you think it will be broken up?

How do you plan on surviving this over the next 2 years as the momentum continues?

Mr C

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-15-2017

@seafordtradingco wrote:
I'm a small seller...not even mid-size. But I see the hand writing on the wall. Amazon and Walmart are going to bascially take over all brick and morter and online. BUT...I have had niches in the past that worked well on ebay. And after I get rid of my current slower selling stock, I'm going back to those. I won't be on ebay full time anymore. But when if I hit a motherload of items that I know Amazon and Walmart can't compete with me on...I'm going for it.

Hi Seaford,

Absolutley...if you can find those items that few folks have and still desire you will have better success then drop shippers trying to shave off a couple of more pennies to race to the bottom.

I also think that the stronger Amazon gets the stronger they will compete against their own sellers until they too push all but the few small folks out the door.

Mr C

nawlinsron2 · ‎10-15-2017

Nobody ever points out that ebay owns NOTHING...OK, they own a web site with questionable functionality and eye-rolling marketing ability.
Amazon owns, I believe, about 40%+ of the inventory on their site.
...not a bad lever.

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-15-2017

@nawlinsron2 wrote:
Nobody ever points out that ebay owns NOTHING...OK, they own a web site with questionable functionality and eye-rolling marketing ability.
Amazon owns, I believe, about 40%+ of the inventory on their site.
...not a bad lever.

Hi Nawlins,

And that is why the Walmarts and Amazons of the world are crushing their competition.

Mr C

mistwomandancing · ‎10-15-2017

thenobletuckylife wrote:..........I also think that the stronger Amazon gets the stronger they will compete against their own sellers until they too push all but the few small folks out the door.

That's a strong possibility, eventually. It is never just static, though. Marketing is like fluid.. think you've got it all corralled and you own the puddle, and notice some of it beginning to run over there, and another flow over here, building up. There's usually some seepage that the little guy sops up, enough to make it work for him.

There is always SOMETHING that isn't under the absolute control of the massive merchandiser, that's still in enough demand to be worth handling for the little guy, that can't be supplied by the Mega-Market.

Those are the niches we small sellers will continue to fill, one place or another, one site or another, somewhere.

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-15-2017

@mistwomandancing wrote:
thenobletuckylife wrote:..........I also think that the stronger Amazon gets the stronger they will compete against their own sellers until they too push all but the few small folks out the door.
That's a strong possibility, eventually. It is never just static, though. Marketing is like fluid.. think you've got it all corralled and you own the puddle, and notice some of it beginning to run over there, and another flow over here, building up. There's usually some seepage that the little guy sops up, enough to make it work for him.

There is always SOMETHING that isn't under the absolute control of the massive merchandiser, that's still in enough demand to be worth handling for the little guy, that can't be supplied by the Mega-Market.

Those are the niches we small sellers will continue to fill, one place or another, one site or another, somewhere.

Hi Mist,

Yes there is always the rogue ones...the ones folks that think they have corraled...except this one group:

The counterfeit, fake knock offs that pour into here and other places from all over the globe now.

Mr C

mistwomandancing · ‎10-15-2017

@thenobletuckylife wrote:
Hi Mist,
..except this one group:
The counterfeit, fake knock offs that pour into here and other places from all over the globe now.

Well, ya' got that right! I think that stuff will always be around.

Had to laugh though.... somebody was telling me about all the counterfeit china pieces that came out of Japan (I think after WW2, but maybe even before... maybe in the early 1900's???...) and they said that now, all of that true counterfeit stuff is highly collectible and has great demand for it.

I only WISH I had invested my allowances in tons of those cheap little tin and early plastic toys that filled the toy section of our local Ben Franklin 5¢ and 10¢ in the very early 1950's. They weren't counterfeit or anything. Just cheap.

retrose1 · ‎10-15-2017

@thenobletuckylife wrote:
@mistwomandancing wrote:
thenobletuckylife wrote:..........I also think that the stronger Amazon gets the stronger they will compete against their own sellers until they too push all but the few small folks out the door.
That's a strong possibility, eventually. It is never just static, though. Marketing is like fluid.. think you've got it all corralled and you own the puddle, and notice some of it beginning to run over there, and another flow over here, building up. There's usually some seepage that the little guy sops up, enough to make it work for him.

There is always SOMETHING that isn't under the absolute control of the massive merchandiser, that's still in enough demand to be worth handling for the little guy, that can't be supplied by the Mega-Market.

Those are the niches we small sellers will continue to fill, one place or another, one site or another, somewhere.
Hi Mist,

Yes there is always the rogue ones...the ones folks that think they have corraled...except this one group:

The counterfeit, fake knock offs that pour into here and other places from all over the globe now.

Mr C

It isn't just knockoffs that isn't going to be sold by the megas...anything that has a limited marketshare will be ignored by them because limited market takes way too much space for the money they will make, takes too much cash outlay and is too great of a risk.

Mega stores go for top 40 and that is all they do. If they expand, they will expand into territory that has it's own top 40. It is rare that you will find top 100 there. What megas are doing is taking away individuality and converting shoppers into wanting top 40 merchandise and nothing else.

Years ago Walmart came to town and quickly wiped out a local mom and pop craft/department store that had been a staple in the area for over 50 years. Shoppers were enthralled by the new store that had what the mom and pop had, just a lot less of it. By the time shoppers realized that they couldn't get alf of what they were interested in at Wallyworld, the craft store with it's handmade beads and independent company merchandise, the store was gone. And so they had to settle for Walmarts ever shrinking craft department. And Walmart is happy to let JoAnns take over the craft genre because it takes up too much space for so little profit.

No store can sell everything to everybody. The megas understand that and just sell the most they can to as many as possible.

(*Bleep*)

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-15-2017

Amazon has bought Whole Foods.

Wal Mart is upping their groceries.

Amazon and Wal Mart are allegedly fighting over Nordstroms.

So I see the Megas fighting in two main areas, food and fashion. Ebay concentrated their marketing recently on fashion.

Someone in a previous post mentioned data. I saw an article that asked what was the buying of Whole Foods by Amazon about? and it said, data.

campesinoplastic2014 · ‎10-15-2017

The country, and indeed the planet is moving toward a big oligarchy. Soon there will be a few big (really huge monopoly-type of BIG) corporations running it all. A few dozen families calling the shots, and the middle class is gone. One cable company, one huge automaker, one or two electronics companies and that's it. You have to do business with them on their terms, no competition. These companies are swallowing up competitors, manipulating elections and government contracts, and they are getting so huge and bold nobody can do a thing about it.

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-15-2017

@mr_lincoln wrote:
@thenobletuckylife Thank you for the reply Mr. C ... I saw articles earlier this year about Costco and some other starting to offer limited food items for sale and delivery online. Other than perhaps perishables I could see an increase in food items being purchased online and delivered to the home, providing DELIVERED pricing is better than what the Buyer might get at the store. I can almost see the return of the Dairy box on the front porch too ... years ago we had a butcher make a weekly trip through the neighborhood ... it was not only a convenient way to get meat for a week but also a little of a social event for neighbors.

My grandmother told me stories of how the ice man would make his deliveries and leave a big hunk of ice; remember before we had refrigerators, there were ice boxes!

thenobletuckylife · ‎10-15-2017

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
Amazon has bought Whole Foods.

Wal Mart is upping their groceries.

Amazon and Wal Mart are allegedly fighting over Nordstroms.

So I see the Megas fighting in two main areas, food and fashion. Ebay concentrated their marketing recently on fashion.

Someone in a previous post mentioned data. I saw an article that asked what was the buying of Whole Foods by Amazon about? and it said, data.

Hi Castle,

And Walmart bought out Jet.com as well.

We had purchased from Jet a couple of times because of the volume discount...buying 5 saved us say on coffee...From $6.78 down to $5.97. It also gave us a discount for using a debit card and a further discount for waving any returns.

We had an order back I think in June...went to reorder...many of the items no longer had the bulk pricing for multiple quantities etc and in addition to that almost evrything on our order from June had jumped 40% in price. By the time I was ready to check out our order would have been about 50% more than just in June.

So we looked again and found the same items online at Walmart closer to the price we had paid back in June. A year ago it was the other way around. At this point we haven't placed any order to anyone.

Mr C

ijazzu · ‎10-15-2017

@mr_lincoln Sorry off topic but your post made me remember my favorite thing as a kid. The Helms Bakery Truck, every day I'd do things for my Grandmother so when the truck came down the street she would give me change. My ears were tuned into the bell so I could hear it a block away and prayed every day someone else stopped it so I had time to beg my Grandma to hurry and get the change for me before it went by. All I remember are those long wooden drawers that seem to go on and on filled with fresh donuts and baked goods and candy..lots of candy.

Sorry Op

mr_lincoln · ‎10-15-2017

@ijazzu

@ijazzu wrote:
@mr_lincoln Sorry off topic but your post made me remember my favorite thing as a kid. The Helms Bakery Truck, every day I'd do things for my Grandmother so when the truck came down the street she would give me change. My ears were tuned into the bell so I could hear it a block away and prayed every day someone else stopped it so I had time to beg my Grandma to hurry and get the change for me before it went by. All I remember are those long wooden drawers that seem to go on and on filled with fresh donuts and baked goods and candy..lots of candy.

Sorry Op

Don't apologize to the OP, they LOVE donuts!!!!!

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-15-2017

Sorry to the OP as well!

Remember the Mr Softee truck? You would hear the music and run to get ice cream?

Remember penny candy??

Smarties, Mary Janes, Frenchies, Bazooka, Sour Cherries, various colored dots on long white streams of paper, candy cigarettes, wax lips and teeth, wax flutes, and wax pop bottles filled with "soda"?

Bonomo Turkish Taffy? Good n Plenty (plenty good), how many licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? One, two, three...three!

ijazzu · ‎10-15-2017

I remember them all, I can't lie I used to make fangs with the wax bottles.

I was on a high all week, last week I paid $5 at the carnival for the lady to guess my age...she said "43" I picked a Super Girl Cape as my Prize and wore it all day.