Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (69648)	7/26/1999 11:52:00 AM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>>I have never been confronted by a bear (including >>some well known "public" analysts on the bear side) >>that have read Meeker's and Blodget's stance on Amazon >>and are ready to argue the merits of that. Michelle - please don't interpret my remarks as an expression of any antagonism on my part - but I cannot resist: I've never been confronted by a bull with any prediction on when Amazon will be profitable (and I have posed the question many times on this thread). My AMZN short position is still in the red - but it's getting less red as I type. Thanks, -Eric

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (69648)	7/28/1999 12:49:00 AM
From: dbblg	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164684

>> The entry into electronics gives me the creeps. >> Why? Hi Michelle, sorry I didn't see this sooner. When AMZN announced it was getting into electronics, I assumed they were talking about selling some high-end toys--PalmPilots, Thinphones, one or two varieties of digital cameras--and I was all for it. Being a full-fledged electronics store is a lot tougher. First, book publishers are the ultimate patsies: unsold merchandise is fully returnable, even a year or more later. (These terms, originally extended during the Depression, and never rescinded, imo, help explain the bookselling industry's vaguely precapitalist feel.) Electronics vendors are a lot less obliging about assuming the inventory risk, which is, of course, vastly greater given how quickly products lose value. Not a longer term problem if AMZN executes, but it makes the ramp-up a lot riskier. Second, the price per item is higher in electronics than in books or music, so a lot of people (myself included) who are unwilling to visit a new site, look up its shipping policies, trust that they'll handle the order properly, etc., in order to save 10-15% on a book or cd will do it for a video camera or DVD player. Additionally, I suspect more orders will be for single items, which makes price comparison easier. (I recently tried to compare AMZN, buy.com and barnesandnoble for an order including 7 books and 4 cds, and found that the different items were available on different schedules at each place.) I understand that AMZN plans on becoming so big and so efficient that they can be profitable offering the lowest prices, but their strategy in books and cds has so far relied on higher prices in exchange for better reliability and customer service. I don't think that will fly with electronics. Those are the big reasons. (I have to admit that Bezos' tone on the cc may have spooked me a little also.) I know you are a lot more knowledgeable about this stuff than most on this thread, so I would appreciate your thoughts. FWIW, I do think there's a better than even chance that AMZN executes and William and the other buy-and-holders are vindicated. I just know I'm not mature enough to buy and hold, and would likely be one of those poor souls who "buys for the long term" and then turns into a trader at the bottom. I'll gladly pay up for this, or any other stock, when the execution risk is lower. cheers.