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

To: Buster O. Hype who wrote (2233)	3/13/1999 4:30:00 PM
From: Doug Fowler	Respond to of 7772

I never said I thought eBay was reasonably priced. And I certainly don't recall EVER telling anybody to buy eBay stock. In fact, I have thought that eBay's stock price has factored in many years of good news from almost the beginning. I still think it does. A few months ago, I thought that Yahoo and a few others had a decent chance at eating into eBay. Now, I think the chances that anybody will eat into eBay significantly are extremely slim. And a few months ago, I didn't think there was any way eBay would grow 60 percent over the Christmas quarter. I just happen to think that eBay is a lot more than just an auction company. In fact, I don't view them as an auction company, but rather as the infrastructure for buying and selling almost anything. I could probably get more selling my car on eBay than I could from a trade-in at a local dealership. When I decided to sell my Digital Hinote Laptop, I didn't want strangers coming to my house to take a look. And I didn't want the hassle of placing a classified ad in a local newspaper. I knew a local dealer wouldn't give me anywhere near its value. So I sold it for $1600 on eBay and the guy who bought it got a good deal. I can't find more than 2 pieces of Roseville pottery in my town of 50,000 people and a half-dozen antique shops. I can find 1500 pieces at any given time on eBay. (And by the way, the lady at one of the antique shops I do visit told me last time I was in there that her daughter had sold about $1000 worth of stuff for her in a few weeks on eBay. She said it was a lot better than sitting around on her shelves collecting dust.) Whenever I need a rough idea of what something is worth, I go searching for auctions completed in the last month and see the range of prices they sold for on eBay. eBay opened up the markets for the little guy who doesn't want to open a shop, to be able to sell stuff he doesn't need or want anymore, without the hassle of having to run an ad in the local newspaper and let strangers into his home. What is boils down to is that I think eBay has just begun to scratch the surface. And they absolutely have the right business model. OnSale, uBid, Egghead, etc. are just cutting one another's throats and I'll be surprised if they EVER make real money. With eBay, they make money on every transaction and their margins are around 90 percent. Sure, I wish eBay stock were a lot cheaper. But quite frankly, I can't find one company with the kind of real potential eBay has.