Question
Meg finally admits what we've all known for years - EBay is moving away from auctions.
eBay Evolving Away From Auction Roots
Meg Whitman says eBay well on its way to becoming an electronic-commerce site.
Simon Taylor, IDG News Service
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
BRUSSELS -- eBay is fast moving away from its roots as an online auction site and becoming an electronic-commerce site, president and CEO Meg Whitman said today at a press conference here.
More than a third of sales on eBay sites are bought instantly at fixed prices rather than through the online auctions that established its reputation, she said. "Globally, 34 percent of the gross merchandise value of sales are settled through the 'Buy It Now' fixed price format," she told journalists. The total value of sales on eBay was more than $10 billion over the last three quarters.
Buyer-Driven Changes
The trend in sales is driven by the need to satisfy "convenience-orientated buyers" who do not want to wait for the end of an auction period to see if they had bought an item or who do not want to run the risk of losing the item, Whitman said. She highlighted eBay's plans to launch a new service called eBay Express that would further encourage the trend by collecting all items for sale at fixed prices in one place.
Full article: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124648,00.asp
Blanche
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Darn. I always liked the auction ending thrills, but haven't had any in quite a while. I was hoping for a return.
However, she ruled out further major acquisitions in 2006, saying that this is a year to "integrate and digest" companies eBay has bought, "making sure we exploit the synergies."
She predicted that eBay and its PayPal online payment service face increasing competition from Google.
Bolding mine.
Maybe I'll find that thrill again.
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Increasing competition from Google won't come as auctions, I would wager. Fixed price sales, perhaps, and certainly payment services will be on the horizon, but what spawned eBay still belongs to eBay. Then again, I'd love to be proven wrong on this belief.
Bring 'em on.
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eBay Evolving Away From Auction Roots
Meg Whitman says eBay well on its way to becoming an electronic-commerce site.
Well, she had to name it something new. Afterall, like B.B. King said, the thrill is gone.
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A lot of auction listings end with only one bid.
Some sellers, myself included, will occasionally list items in the auction format without expectation of more than one bid (or any bids). This keeps the listing active for the duration of the listing and has some value for advertising eBay Stores. Other list with the hope of two or more bidders but experience a lot of one bid sales.
I wonder what the total number of sold items on the main site and from Stores including Fixed Priced, auctions with BIN that sell with the BIN used and auctions with one bid represent as a percentage of the total number of sales.
I expect, lumping them all together, that the total percentage already exceeds 50% of all sales.
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[quote]["Globally, 34 percent of the gross merchandise value of sales are settled through the 'Buy It Now' fixed price format," she told journalists/QUOTE]
It never made sense to me why they started charging a "scale" for BIN additions to an auction. If they want to "turn" the merchandise and give the buyer a choice BIN should go back to being FREE or at least no more than a nickle. I always used it until they went up over a nickle so the buyer had a choice (at least until the first bid came in). I rarely use it anymore unless it's something listed under $10.00 or a way more expensive item that I might even have a reserve on. I know eBay is trying to get every nickel they can but this one just never made sense to me.
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this is a year to "integrate and digest" companies eBay has bought
I guess we all know what comes out at the end of the digestive tract.
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I do have the hope that with Fixed Price/store listings on eBay Express, the main eBay will return to more of a collectibles site. eBay may focus more on eBay Express, but I don't see them dumping auctions entirely. They'll still make money from them.
Maybe with their new "toy", eBay will quit messing around so much with the main site.
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Originally Posted by DareMe
I do have the hope that with Fixed Price/store listings on eBay Express, the main eBay will return to more of a collectibles site. eBay may focus more on eBay Express, but I don't see them dumping auctions entirely. They'll still make money from them.
I wish they would take all the Fixed Price and BIM listings and force them over to eBay Express.
I like auctions too.
It was fun to watch them climb, and it is fun to bid and win. It is even fun to bid and lose sometimes! I found some cute plastic cups and I bid $10 on them - they ended up going for $65. It was fun to watch and see how high they went, even if there was no way I was paying that much.
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As I understood Ebay Express, the new stuff would be listed as long as it met the criteria. BUT unless I'm confused, it's a double listing for the new stuff. It's STILL going to be listed on the regular Ebay.
So all the new stuff will still be in each category as it is now PLUS it gets listed on Ebay Express. Is this correct?
Jo