Move to mobile killing eBay ??

[tonycea]

One has to wonder if the move to mobile devices is killing off eBay in general with the way things are going now days ??

Wondering what you all think the future is going to hold when the majority of users are on tiny screens ??

I still sit at home on a PC, but wonder how many of the general public still do, the people I talk to at the flea markets all tell me their computer is their phone, so I don't know how well that bodes for eBay down the road.

[18704d]

"Do they know what eBay is ?"

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Yes,

and I don't want to say this but

They say it's for old people.

They all shop on Amazon.

Lynn

[tonycea]

Same thing the people at the flea market say............

Seems the only guys that use eBay are pawnshops so they can see what stuff is selling for when they make a loan.

[thenobletuckylife]

My children are 29 and 27 and between them I am certain they have consumed closed to 40 to 45 phones, I have probably been through 12 and I purchased my first "Mobile" phone back in 1988/89 and it was a Blaupunk (sp) mounted in my truck connected to my horn. Matter of fact My son was not even a year old when I bought it.

It was $1700 and it had a hands free standard hand set with mounted cradle, separate auxiliary speaker and independent transmitter/receiver much like Motorola back then. When a call came in I could have it set so my 1989 Ford F150's horn would honk to let me know a call was coming in.

I purchased it because I was spending upwards of $40 a day calling the guys at the jobsites so it made sense.

I was also one of the first folks to buy a PC...it was an IBM...needed it for business. Our first accounting software cost us $1200 but it saved me far more than that just in labor let alone accounting fees.

Yet I do not buy through them...I buy through my Viao Laptop or my Dell Desktop.

My children do everything on their phones...everything...EXCEPT they DO NOT shop on ebay...they loath it. They used to 8/10 years ago but they moved away from it about the time we were just becoming pretty big sellers ourselves.

Mr C

[thenobletuckylife]

My Children mostly shop at Amazon...they have almost everything...they zip through the checkout super fast and they have it in 2 days...done...no hassles...if there is a problem...one quick call to Amazon...taken care...done.........ok what were we watching on Netflicks, is there next thing out of the mouth half the time!

Mr C

[tonycea]

Yeah, eBay has lost a lot of momentum, then we wonder why sales are slow, between Amazon and folks not even using PC's and Google taking traffic away I just don't see it right now, and that is sad for many who have worked for years hoping things would turn around.

[godzilla_goose]

@sharingtheland,

No, I believe I would win the Luddite contest. I own a landline and that's the ONLY phone I use. People that know me can get a hold of me via e-mail if I am not picking up the phone. As it is, the "Do-Not-Call" list appears to be a misnomer since the ONLY way that I have avoided being harassed by telemarketers is turning the ringer OFF my landline (permanently). As I wrote, if people know me and they want to get a hold of me, they can e-mail me and I will see their e-mail on my computer.

@18704d,

Lynn,

Those young folks are quite perceptive. They say [eBay] is for old people and they would be correct.

People,

Amazon's financial results FAR surpass eBay's on numerous metrics and this is absolutely NO surprise to me whatsoever. WHY? Because Amazon caters to a significantly larger segment of the buying population who are spending money. BUYERS' MONEY is what has fuelled Amazon's exponential growth over the last two decades EVEN though Amazon doesn't list the same kind of goods that many eBay sellers do on eBay. That fact alone should tell eBay sellers that there is a limited market for their "collectibles" and "vintage goods" that appeal to a certain aged demographic which is limited and likely to age-off or die.

eBay is increasingly going mobile.  For eBay sellers, they have to go mobile too and cater to those people for ANY sales.

[klassic*kids]

Mr. C,

If you had this phone in 1988/1989 then you had what used to be called a "car phone".   And you must have paid a fortune for your call's "minutes" and all the landline fees and way higher if you were "roaming".

I worked for Bell Atlantic which is now Verizon in 1996 right out of college and cell phones and mobile phones were very new at the time.  I got a company discout on my equipment and air time so I had one and I was the only one among friends and family who had one.  I still remember -- a Nokia 100.  

Everyone wanted to look and touch my phone as if it was a magic latern.  They were amazed with how it could actually work no matter where i was.  The idea of something truly wireless was mind baffling to them.  My how things have changed.

[tonycea]

Well, when 80% of America's wealthiest families are Amazon Prime members that should tell you the trend that is producing the growth for them.

[ted_200]

Totally agree with posts 2 and 4. 

The transition to mobile,  which is in part just the constant age demographic shift too, is also happening along side an intentional shift to new-in-box mass market retailing and support of large scale retailers.  They want to compete with Amazon, Walmart, et al.  Mass market anything is going to be mobile oriented by necessity. 

I don't think mobile is killing anything, but it isn't helping me much, here on this site... the buyers of my items are much less mobile oriented than the rest of the site.   They don't shop on phones, and they aren't going to start either.

[thenobletuckylife]

Another thing needs to be addressed here as well. Back 5/6/7 years ago tons of our business was driven to us by google and/or other search engines.

At the time i was enamored at ebay giving them the credit.

Then I got a store and began doing the daily "Omni" search info review...remember...ebay allowed us to access this tool to see where and how traffic/hits/unique visitors etc through graphs to show us what was REALLY happening. I then began to realize much of our business especially for our organic foods was driven to us through google...not through ebay searches.

This is when I began to realize why we were so busy and successful. It wasn't so much because of ebay....it was because of the search engines directing folks to my ebay listings.

When that collapsed some years ago so did our sales.

Mobile device users are finding their goods through SEARCH ENGINES...not necessarily by going to ebay FIRST and then searching

Mr C

[yuzuha]

Last I checked, something like 43% of my sales were from mobile devices, so I'd say it's actually doing me a favor.

[thenobletuckylife]

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@klassic*kids wrote:

Mr. C,

If you had this phone in 1988/1989 then you had what used to be called a "car phone".   And you must have paid a fortune for your call's "minutes" and all the landline fees and way higher if you were "roaming".

I worked for Bell Atlantic which is now Verizon in 1996 right out of college and cell phones and mobile phones were very new at the time.  I got a company discout on my equipment and air time so I had one and I was the only one among friends and family who had one.  I still remember -- a Nokia 100.  

Everyone wanted to look and touch my phone as if it was a magic latern.  They were amazed with how it could actually work no matter where i was.  The idea of something truly wireless was mind baffling to them.  My how things have changed.

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Yes Classic many times my "car" phone bill was over $400.

I loved it when folks would say...hey your truck horn is honking...and i would say "Yeh...got a call coming in"...back to the future kinda schmazzle!

Mr C

[tonycea]

Mr C, that still holds true today, Amazon is growing because they are Google's largest spender on ads, in turn Google gives them strong editorial support in the organic search results.

Donahoe picked a fight with Google and it killed the company.

I think if eBay was smart, they would sell the company to Google ASAP !!!

[klassic*kids]

@tonycea

I admit it -- I do most of my online shopping on amazon though I don't do it from my phone, I use my laptop so I can bigger photos.  I also by original art by the artist/seller on etsy.  Only occasionally if I am looking for something rare, unusual, pre-owned or vintage I will shop on eBay.  

I don't ever see myself shopping by cell phone though.

[godzilla_goose]

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@tonycea wrote:

Mr C, that still holds true today, Amazon is growing because they are Google's largest spender on ads, in turn Google gives them strong editorial support in the organic search results.

Donahoe picked a fight with Google and it killed the company.

I think if eBay was smart, they would sell the company to Google ASAP !!!

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tonycea,

Oh my God.  I hope for Google shareholders' sake that Google does NOT buy eBay.  And, for the record, I don't own any Google stock either nor Amazon's nor eBay's.