Sales and Fees ???

[sportscards-n-more]

Sales appear to be down for me and a large percentage of sellers, eBay erodes margins everywhere you look. Due to their constantly changing fee structure, it appears you need a degree in theoretical physics to keep up. 99% of customer service calls seem to be routed to Southeast Asia. I personally feel due to factors such as online sales tax eBay is not making the same profits so they are trying to find newer ways to compensate for lower profitability. eventually, they will go the same route as blockbuster video, sears, Kmart and now even Walmart due to a newer unforeseen seller technology that is in development somewhere. Unless eBay becomes more seller-friendly and less greedy, they are bound to be surpassed by a more profit friendly technology and go the same route as blockbuster video.

[richard1rst]

I am a firm believer that the essential fact about Capitalism is incessant Creative Destruction.

Somewhere, someone, some time will create the proverbial “better on-line mousetrap” and Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand will take over.

I remember when AT&T, GM, Sears, Toy-R-Us were the top dogs. But for all their prestige, money and influence they were incapable of withstanding the force of the Invisible Hand.

OK it is not going to happen “overnight”. But considering how quickly Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc and even eBay itself, rose from nothing to prominence it is not going to take “forever” either.

I suggest that at least one viable eBay competitor is already up and running (maybe even a couple). They have filed all the necessary incorporation papers, gotten their tax paperwork in order, have all the necessary infrastructure and employees, have a national web site and are already competing. In other words competition does not have to be built from scratch.

Unfortunately, based on my and other’s on these boards experience, they are not doing a very good job of it. But what would happen if a new tech AND retail savvy executive team led by a no nonsense modern day version of Ben Cartwright took over?

I’ve been here since ’04, I do this full time and I have made a pretty good living at it. But growth does seem to have flattened out (to be generous). In statistical mechanics it is called Entropy.