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The below is copied and pasted from the above link...read the whole article though!

Best Regards,
Donna

EBay and Yahoo dropped an announcement bomb early this morning saying that the two Internet giants have agreed to combine their efforts on a number of projects. By 2007, expect an increase in eBay search results on Yahoo!, an increase of contextual text and graphical ads on eBay, PayPal to power Yahoo! Wallet, a co-branded eBay Toolbar, and click-to-call advertising using Yahoo! Messenger with Voice and Skype.
eCommerce Sellers Motivators "We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? But actually, who are you NOT to be?" Marianne Williamson
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eWonders, you think so? I have read several articles about this deal today and have been trying to discern what it might mean. I guess if we had any hope of an alternative auction site Yahoo ain't it now. Although I wasn't all that hopeful about them anyway.

I thought ebay was going after the retail sales outlet market with ebay express. That is fine with me. I just would like to see an alternative site that is closer to the old ebay venue, where small sellers and auction style listings can still compete. I don't mind the fees if I was still getting the same exposure I was getting a few year ago. Heck, I would be happy if ebay would just spin off a "classic ebay" site for those of us who aren't major retailers looking for cheap advertising.
Hi Doni,

I think that thew jealousy between ebay and Amazon has come to a head. Ebay has collected data from ebay members for years on sourcing of product and now have the amunition to open theier own retail market place. Like Amazon, they control, cost, price structure and customer base. What better way but to invite, 64 million customer from auction sales to "WeBay" retail market. The CEO can now control the world....They now know the lowest posibble cost form around the world and know what auction cost will bear on price. They onwn a data collection gold mine machine in the databanks. why not capitalize on it, they never say in their "terms" they wont undersell you in a new marketplace. The partnerships for software developemnt can put a full retail selling sit together in 6 months, if they havent done it already. It will be the "WALMART" of online selling. although!!! - this is just a conspiracy theory.
God Im so happy that all I sell on ebay is collectibles and mostly older items. I dont have to worry about all this competition on most of my items. Im also fortunate that I do this part time for extra income. I have looked into selling new products on ebay as a business and other places and I swear the compitition is incredible. So many willing to make just a buck or less on thier new product items. Someone like me could never compete. I feel for the sellers trying to make living from it. I wish you luck in whatever you do.
quote:
I have looked into selling new products on ebay as a business and other places and I swear the compitition is incredible. So many willing to make just a buck or less on thier new product items.

what's truly amazing is how many sellers are actually losing money and apparently dont realize it. And even the ones that are making money, many arent making enough.

there was one seller that used to be on ebay (havent seen any sign of him for some time now) that was buying from one of the same places I buy from, so i know his cost. He was selling at a mere 20% markup. And it was through his ebay store, so he was paying 8% in FVFs to ebay, plus PP fees, etc.

lessee, buys it for $100, sells it for $120, ebay takes out 9.60, paypal takes $3.78 (2.9% + $0.30), so we have $120-$9.60-$3.78 which is $106.62 And since his s/h was right about the same amount that it would cost to ship + u-pic insurance, we wont can pretty much ignore s/h expense and s/h charged to customer.

So, for a $120 item he woulda made a whopping $6.62! and that's not including listing fees, and accounting for having to relist for items that dont sell. which admittedly, it's only 3-cents to list in a store, but nonetheless...

Most of his items were less expensive than that, his avg price was right around $40. So, lesse what a $40 item works out to be. cost would have been $33.30, ebay fvfs would be $3.20, pp fees would be $1.46. $40-$33.30-$3.2-$1.46 = $2.04 profit.

and none of this is including all the auctions that were run to lure people to store, and the ones that didnt sell at auction...

lesse - a $40 item at auction has a $1.20 insertion fee, has a FVF of $1.76, and paypal fee of $1.46. this time it's $40-$33.30-$1.20-$1.76-$1.46 = $2.28 profit (IF it sells)

You'd think that his time was worth at least minimum wage....


another one of my favorites is the people that spend 15 cents in order to make a penny. Search ebay for items that are started at $1.00. If they'd have started them at 99-cents the insertion fee would be 15-cents less.

first thing you have to do when starting a business is to understand your expenses involved in said business.

course, another thing that is killing sales for people trying to make a profit is all the stolen goods being sold on ebay, all the counterfeit goods being sold as genuine (fake prada, etc), and all the fake items being sold as real (many times i've seen fake turquoise being sold as real, fake coral coral as real, silverplate as sterling, etc.). And then there's all the short Karat stuff being sold as gold (in the US it's illegal to call it gold if it's less than 10K), gold plated being adverised as real gold and then in tiny print buried in the ad you find that it's plated, etc.

between the people that cant figure out if theyre making money, the people that are selling stolen goods, the misrepresented stuff that the seller is misrepresenting simply becuase s/he doesnt know their product, and the scammers, it's tough. it's really tough.
quote:
Originally posted by wayoutwest:
quote:
I have looked into selling new products on ebay as a business and other places and I swear the compitition is incredible. So many willing to make just a buck or less on thier new product items.

what's truly amazing is how many sellers are actually losing money and apparently dont realize it. And even the ones that are making money, many arent making enough.

I don't think ALOT of person's really keep up with their pluses and minuses with eBay.

A spreadsheet helps. I know it might appear to be nickel and diming..but it's needed.

It will give you a bottom line analysis of what YOU are actually paying to "use" the convenience of eBay.

I found that the use of an accountant (I'm lucky my best female friend and godmother to my children is an accountant) just to clarify that you're making smart business moves is, To quote Martha Stewart.."A good thing."

Happy Memorial Day weekend,
Donna
quote:
another one of my favorites is the people that spend 15 cents in order to make a penny. Search ebay for items that are started at $1.00. If they'd have started them at 99-cents the insertion fee would be 15-cents less.


this one cracks me up too, it just shows that people haven't a clue what they are really doing, or that they just don't know how to read.
Well it is frustrating dealing with all the scammers and arrogant power sellers that ebay seems to want to cater to. I deal in an eclectic mix of stuff, not a retail operation, and would just like to see an ecommerce site that is geared to small sellers again.

There is no question that ebay holds all the cards in this game. So I will have to play along with them if I want to keep playing. Does anyone else think a "classic ebay" site would attract traffic and distinguish small sellers from the crowd? Too bad it seems too late for anyone else to come along and successfully compete for that market. I think there are alot of buyers who are still expecting to find the good ol' auction format on ebay and get overwhelmed by the powersellers, one day rip off auctions, and stores. That is why ebay is making record profits and yet our sell through rates are abysmal. Cheap advertising for big sellers is ok with me, but I still would like a site that meets my needs. Fat chance.

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