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Technology Stocks : eBay - Superb Internet Business Model -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Markowski who wrote (5405)	9/17/1999 4:00:00 PM
From: GCAT	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7772

If ebay has no earnings, then why is everyone trying to knock them out of the ballgame? This will be the last attempt to overthrow ebay, and after it fails, this stock will never see the ground again. Ebay has the magic, and it will always have the magic. Microsoft STILL has the need to make more money...Haaa. I wouldn't buy an ice cube in the summertime from them. I'm disappointed that they have a monopoly on operating systems, but if enough people get fed up with the way they do buisness, they will lose what they have(IMO) If Linux continues to grow, and more software is available, I would spend three times the money to avoid buying microsoft products.

To: Tom Markowski who wrote (5405)	9/17/1999 10:33:00 PM
From: Doug Fowler	Respond to of 7772

Tom: Nobody ever said eBay stock was cheap. I feel eBay is overvalued and that is why I am out of the stock. However, eBay is FAR and away the leader in this market. Sure, the technology is relatively easy to duplicate. But eBay's value lies in huge traffic of QUALITY sellers AND buyers. That is what is VERY, VERY, VERY difficult to duplicate. Sellers are going to go where the buyers are and buyers are going to go where they have the most choices. Nobody else comes even remotely close to this combination. eBay has had a lot of problems recently, and the sellers (including myself) have tried the other auction sites. As a seller, I would like nothing better than to have several good alternatives to eBay. With the exception of Amazon auctions, nothing else is worth the effort (especially Yahoo, which is free!). Can this change? Yes. And Microsoft has the cash to make it happen. And they will have to use a LOT of cash if they expect to be a serious player in this market. But the MSN network is one of the biggest pieces of garbled mess I have seen. If Microsoft were SERIOUS, they wouldn't be banding with these other crap auction sites. They would spend money to build their own brand. And they would RECOGNIZE that if they are going to have ANY chance whatsoever of toppling eBay, that they will either have to buy eBay, or they will have to BUY sellers and buyers (by paying them to sell and buy). In my opinion, that is the ONLY way anybody is going to make any meaningful mark in online auctions. When Microsoft announces THAT strategy, I will go short eBay. --Doug