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Technology Stocks : eBay - Superb Internet Business Model
EBAY 95.20+0.8%3:59 PM EST

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To: Doug Fowler who wrote (2418)3/30/1999 6:21:00 PM
From: Gopher Broke  Read Replies (1) of 7772
 
My quick perusal shows a lot of stuff on the AMZN site simply entered by other online sellers. A lot in the hardware section from Insight, for example. They are offering some old kit (returns?) at discounted prices, but the new stuff seems to have a reserve price that is the normal selling price of the items. (I hope noone bids these prices up!)

Perhaps this is OK for bootstrapping a site but I am not sure how well this strategy is going to work longer term. The fun of an auction is in seeing an item you want at a real bargain price and the chance that you might get it. Kind of like gambling but without such a big downside. When you have been enticed into bidding, then the price can move upwards into more realistic territory and you tend to stick with it because it is still a bargain. But by using these online sellers with their reserve prices (they naturally enbough do not want any of their retail stock to be sold at a knock down price!) perhaps AMZN are devaluing their site. The shoppers will not easily be able to distinguish the bargains from the rest.
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