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

To: J.Y. Wang who wrote (6657)	10/31/2000 8:40:15 PM
From: Frederick Langford	Respond to of 7772

But Ebay is not an e-tailer. Ebay aggregates information and facilitates B2C and C2C commerce. Ebay leverages the Internet to its greatest power. Ebay will last a long time. Ebay is still very richly valued using conventional valuation methods. However, when the Nasdaq 100, the index of arguably the most important new economy stocks, trades at a 2000 P/E ratio of around 140, conventional valuation methods have been thrown out the window. The question really is which companies will be around when the dust settles, and Ebay will be. Ebay has a viable business model, it is very dominant in its market, it has significant barriers to entry, and it is growing rapidly and should continue to do so as more and more of the world hooks up to the Internet. Very well stated. Jeff Bezos may have been on Time's cover, but Meg Whitman can run a company. A CEO friend of mine was buying Luggage on EBAY when I visited his office yesterday. I was very surprised when I saw what he had on his screen. I was hoping for streaming quotes, but I saw EBAY. He said it 'was ahellova lot easier than going to the store and cheaper too' <g> EBAY reminds me a lot of AOL when everyone was so sure it wouldn't last as a company. It has tentacles in many areas and has surprised quarter after quarter, imo EBAY will be around and profitable for a long time. Fred

To: J.Y. Wang who wrote (6657)	10/31/2000 9:06:56 PM
From: Alomex	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7772

However, Ebay is large enough that I go to Ebay first for hard to find many items, items I don't know where to find, or items I don't even know exists or not. Ebay is the largest flea market / mall / garage sale / swap meet in the world and that is a barrier to entry that is extremely difficult to break unless Ebay suddenly blows up. And barrier to entry is really something very few e-tailers have -- thus their paper thin margins. Exactly. Those are the types of items explicitly listed in my original message as likely to be traded in Ebay, even after the fad aspect of it dies down... The question really is which companies will be around when the dust settles, and Ebay will be. Ebay has a viable business model, it is very dominant in its market, it has significant barriers to entry, and it is growing rapidly and should continue to do so as more and more of the world hooks up to the Internet. I agree, which doesn't necessarily imply that Ebay is a buy. You still have to check if the price is right...