@dhbookds wrote:
So people expect Wenig to quote sources when he gives as talk.......otherwise what he says are lies?
Certainly there are few/non on this board who want pay per click or warehouse facilities, we are overwhelmingly one off, very small operators.......but the fact is there are, ebay is betting, those who will use them and pay for it........ they have the perspective of ALL sellers as well as the facilities to explore the "need" of the overall market for fulfillment centers.... It's sure a better fit for them to expand their business than Skype was when Meg bought it............
While I understand and concur with alot of criticism of ebay.......ignoring that ebay makes BILLIONS a year, even tho we, as individuals, aren't doing well, is simply being blind. Ignoring that they owe their stockholders FIRST, ignores a very basic tenant of business.
Ebay actually does more business internationally than in the US......I think the figure is 57%......those that think this is an entirely US business would do well to accept that fact.....it's pointless to try to convince ebay not to work in an international environment.
Competition at the top of a category is even tighter than it is for average sellers.
It's not like dropshippers with similar prices all fighting for a sale. It consists of sellers trying to cut manufacturing costs without sacrificing quality, in addition to taking a smaller margin just to get sales.
As a seller who has competed at the top of the category for years, spending for Sponsored Listings alone has been brutal, even at just a small percentage. The "trending rates" is often the difference in price between being a "top seller" and borderline dropshipper.
Margins are so tight at the top of a category that these features will NOT work well for any top sellers competing up that high.
I don't think many people understand this. They think if you manufacture an item, you're getting such a large discount compared to everyone else. But this isn't the case. It's those few percent cheaper than the competition that separates manufacturers from dropshippers.
This has already caused damaged to the market, as top sellers have to raise their prices to be equal to the competition (inadvertently making it more important to constantly check competitors and compare/adjust prices), and you have the sponsorship in exchange. But this has already severely hurt sellers ability to compete with each other, as if you don't use sponsorships you still have best price but lose out. If you do sponsorships, in order to keep enough profit margin to pay the shipping department, you have to raise the prices.
Competing at the top of a category is extremely tough, and based around very tight profit margins, that come down to how much you can optimize your packing/shipping department. Sponsored Listings has made it even tougher, just to get LESS visibility than you had a year and a half ago. Premium is just going to make it worse.
This is besides the fact that raising prices on eBay just makes us less and less competitive against Amazon and other markets. It's sickening to see eBay making intentional decisions that make us less and less competitive, as they claim they're trying to be "more competitive"...
