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Technology Stocks : eBay - Superb Internet Business Model

EBAY 83.82

+3.7%

Nov 7 9:30 AM EST

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To: Doug Fowler who started this subject	9/6/2004 2:58:39 PM
From: Doren	of 7772

eBay seller's take on eBay. I use eBay. But only when I have to. And I mean that. I'll use eBay but I avoid it like the plague. I'll use Amazon, or Craigs or several other auctions I don't want to mention. Forget seller fraud. Buyer fraud is the reason. And eBay service is crap. It's nearly fraud. There is NO service period. I have a personal beef with eBay for putting half.com out of business. I'm moving thousands of bucks worth of stuff over to Amazon. No way am I going to put up with the squeeze when Amazon is right there to absorb all those half.com sellers. Here's a great scheme swindlers use on eBay. 1) if there are multiple items auctioned by different sellers they bid on them all making sure they win all auctions. 2) they then only pay for the one they get for the LEAST MONEY screwing all the other sellers. eBay still gets it's money unless the seller goes through a huge hassle that is not worth it. eBay ignores this type of fraud. All the buyer has to do is establish another account and he's back in business. The worst thing about eBay is I have to collect the money. What the hell do they do for me? Not much. The "conversion" (actually anticompetitive monopolistic destruction of half.com) is coming and I predict it will put a large hole in eBay profits as thousands upon thousands of half.com sellers migrate to Amazon and other sellers. I've talked to a few and all of them are livid with eBay. eBay puts on this happy face and pretends all is well and that we will all enjoy getting screwed, that's the eBay way, and they would get away with it except there are others now. I found other places to sell because of eBay, and it's actually improved my business, I'll never go back from these businesses, eBay has in effect promoted other online auctions by their predatory tactics. They tried to back off putting off the conversion and by temporarily sweetening the deal but it won't wash with me (or the others I think). I figure I might as well start my migration now so what I'm doing is dual listing my products to accellerate my sales, and listing them only with other auction houses when it makes sense to cut my inventory and specifically cut my half.com inventory. I'll just delete what's left of my half inventory on destruction day and add anything that's left to Amazon. No biggie. I think you folks might want to temporarily short eBay near the end of the quarter, in which, the conversion date happens (October 14) and put that money into short term Amazon futures. Amazon is smart. They put Towerrecords into bankruptcy and they were smart enough to understand half.com's business model and emulate it. They are jumping up and down and clapping hands over the destruction of half.com. They know they are going to get a huge percentage of half.com's business. Other auction houses have also caught on. Who knows what will happen after all the dust dies down. Now I know that Microsoft has made it big despite the hatred it's engendered but that may not be the case with eBay. The people they alienate now may never be back. Time will tell.

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