On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, Marvin wrote:
> I fully agree!!!!! Going head to head against ebay is the height of
> stupidity at this point. However Ebay is continuing to do some pretty
> stupid things that are getting a number of sellers pretty pissed off.
> They are probably hoping to pick up enough business from that fallout
> to stay in business.
I've been following the stories (it seems that eBay is such an institution
now that anything major they do becomes news worthy enough to be published
in major newspapers). But at this point in time I can't imagine any
circumstance by which eBay would lose it dominance. There would have to
be a mass exodus of regular sellers to another service, and a major
advertising campaign by a competing service, in order for eBay to lose the
marketshare it currently enjoys.
You have to realize that eBay got to where it is today because of two
major factors. They were one of the first (if not the first) organized
auction sites on the web, and more importantly, they advertised like mad.
Once they went public and got the cash influx needed to accelerate
advertising, the race was over.
When people think of online auctions, they think "eBay". eBay is
everywhere now. They have tie ins with at least one or two tv shows (I'm
sure most people have seen the auctions advertised on The History Channel
by now), they've bought some major "real world" auction houses, and they
are even being quoted in comedy routines (you know you've arrived when
you're mentioned in a David Letterman or Jay Leno monologue).
Also, the sellers that are pissing and moaning about eBay's latest move
with regards to the new software know full well that they aren't going to
take their wares to another site and be as successful as they are on eBay.
Another thing that eBay has that other auction sites don't is the buyers.
Again, this goes back to advertising. When people get online to go look
for used stuff, what's the first site they visit?
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
Received on Wed Jun 06 2001 - 12:40:10 BST