It was announced today that AOL was acquiring social networking site Bebo for $850 million. Know many in the United States have probably never heard of Bebo and if they have it is far far behind Facebook & Myspace. Perhaps AOL's purchase of Bebo was a prelude to being acquired by Google. After all Google has their own social site Orkut that lags very far behind as well and would love nothing more than to combine the two.
There have been rumors circulating that AOL & Ebay would be a very good fit. My personal thoughts would be that the union would be a disaster. AOL has been plagued with problems since their merger with Time Warner. AOL has been on an acquisition phase for the past several years. However their acquisitions has seen Time Warner price continue to plummet. TWX closed today at the very low price of $14.51 share.
Why would Ebay even want to attempt to combine with AOL. The legal headaches would be huge and would take Ebay away from their core business. Ebay has the capabilities to build a huge social site, however thus far they have lost their creativity. They can combine Stumbleupon with Skype and Rent.com and built their own community. They can even have a contest to come up with a really catchy name.
It boggles the mind why Ebay hasn't build a search engine to date. You can search for videos on stumbleupon, you can search for things on Skype. Why not come up with something, anything that searches the entire Net? Why not build a dating site similiar to Eharmony. It can be called Eheart for all those lonely Ebay sellers and buyers and can utilize Skype's video features. How about a feedback system for dating. I can see it know, this person has three negatives or if this person has 20 positives why is he/she still single?
Please get with the innovative program Ebay and get those brain waves humming. Why is it up to me to continue to submit my brilliant ideas? After all you are not paying me a penny but yet reward the majority of your employees with lucrative options and salary.
So the morale is stay away from AOL, after all Bugs Bunny and the other characters were flying high near $70 to $100 per share before they ran into the AOL truck that was out of control.
Part 2. A Solution for eBay and Its Frustrated Seller Community
I seemed to elicit quite a angry response to my first article titled "A Solution for Ebay & their Frustrated Seller Community. Through various articles, boycotts etc, the concensus seems to be that sellers are fed up with Ebay and are leaving in droves.
I simply suggested a link which would allow them to fulfill their request. Notice these frustrated sellers are always approaching Ebay with angry comments and threats. It reminds me of all of the so called celebrities; George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, etc who promised to leave the country if George Bush was elected President. However they are still here to this day. They had eight years to leave the country. Why haven't they left? Because they realize that there is no better country out there. The same can be said for Ebay. For example so many people chimed in and left comments to my article. However if these people have already left Ebay and are finished doing business with Ebay why are they still leaving comments about Ebay.
Enough is enough already. For example I love Sports however the ticket prices have gone through the roof; thus I do not attend any games. I have the freedom not to attend the sports venue; thus I do not which is a very simple logical way to look at the situation. I have been selling on Ebay since inception and Channel Advisor, formerly auction rover recently announced that they were doing away with my lifetime membership fee of $120 per year. If I remain with Channel Advisor I would have to pay $29.95 per month. How is that for price gouging?
This move barely created a stir in the Ebay community. This is ironic as Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor is always lambasting Ebay for their price increases. Think about it, an increase from $10 per month (supposedly guaranteed for life) to $29.95 per month for basically the same service. Can you guess what I am going to do? I am going to Leave Channel Advisor. I will not whine and whine for months on end
For those who stated I have no clue about Ebay; I have been a seller on Ebay longer than if not equal than you. Ebay did use to use billpoint and it flopped as most buyers and sellers where using Paypal. Thus by acquiring Paypal Ebay made it easier for buyers and sellers. Ebay had purchased Kruse International and Butterfields and Butterfields. Both companies flopped with sellers thus Ebay sold them for a loss.
The huge majority of the buyers and sellers I have met on Ebay have been wonderful. As for the law of averages you will always have one or two out of 500 that cannot be satisfied no matter how hard you try. Additionally the post office will always wind up losing at least three out of 200 of your packages once a year. However the majority of people understand problems that cannot be controlled. Thus buyers will not hold sellers hostage with any new feedback rating system. If you are a deceptive seller and charge $15 or more for domestic postage under one pound or sell inferior products than of course you are going to be upset. After all no one hates the authority more than the criminal element. For those of us who are honest sellers the feedback system will not effect us and only make the Ebay community continue to grow.
I only encountered what was fraud once on the site since inception and Ebay went out of their way to help me. Thus from the so called stories people tell about frustrated customer service you are probably contacting the wrong people to being with.
Regarding the price increases.the higher your item sells for the more you make and the more Ebay makes. For example a famous actress once e-mailed me and asked me to sell her an old deck of playing cards she was planning to throw away. These cards went on to sell for over $300 dollars on Ebay. Thus this actress was expecting zero dollars. She wound up selling her cards for $300 dollars. So from an angry sellers comments Ebay took a percentage of her $300 dollars. However if it wasn't for Ebay she would have made 0 dollars.
Ebay has also pumped most of their funds into making their site and paypal safe. Try going to another site and see how safe they truly are? If you really left, you may get fleeced and wish you were back at Ebay.
A company has to increase fees in order to enhance and make the site better than ever. Again this is a free country if you don't like Ebay leave already and quit whining. What hubris, to think that you are all irreplacable. The minute you leave there is someone to take your place. If you put as much effort into your constant whining as you do into your business you would be a success.
Thus for the final time, for those sellers who issue threats and vile comments. please stop whining and leave already. That will give sellers like myself and others who have pride in Ebay your business(if we are to believe you contributed any). For it is common logic that most whiners contribute the least and are a deterrent to morale Just look at the NFL Football New York Giants, the year that Tiki Barber, their biggest whiner left, they won the Super Bowl.
I simply suggested a link which would allow them to fulfill their request. Notice these frustrated sellers are always approaching Ebay with angry comments and threats. It reminds me of all of the so called celebrities; George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, etc who promised to leave the country if George Bush was elected President. However they are still here to this day. They had eight years to leave the country. Why haven't they left? Because they realize that there is no better country out there. The same can be said for Ebay. For example so many people chimed in and left comments to my article. However if these people have already left Ebay and are finished doing business with Ebay why are they still leaving comments about Ebay.
Enough is enough already. For example I love Sports however the ticket prices have gone through the roof; thus I do not attend any games. I have the freedom not to attend the sports venue; thus I do not which is a very simple logical way to look at the situation. I have been selling on Ebay since inception and Channel Advisor, formerly auction rover recently announced that they were doing away with my lifetime membership fee of $120 per year. If I remain with Channel Advisor I would have to pay $29.95 per month. How is that for price gouging?
This move barely created a stir in the Ebay community. This is ironic as Scott Wingo, CEO of Channel Advisor is always lambasting Ebay for their price increases. Think about it, an increase from $10 per month (supposedly guaranteed for life) to $29.95 per month for basically the same service. Can you guess what I am going to do? I am going to Leave Channel Advisor. I will not whine and whine for months on end
For those who stated I have no clue about Ebay; I have been a seller on Ebay longer than if not equal than you. Ebay did use to use billpoint and it flopped as most buyers and sellers where using Paypal. Thus by acquiring Paypal Ebay made it easier for buyers and sellers. Ebay had purchased Kruse International and Butterfields and Butterfields. Both companies flopped with sellers thus Ebay sold them for a loss.
The huge majority of the buyers and sellers I have met on Ebay have been wonderful. As for the law of averages you will always have one or two out of 500 that cannot be satisfied no matter how hard you try. Additionally the post office will always wind up losing at least three out of 200 of your packages once a year. However the majority of people understand problems that cannot be controlled. Thus buyers will not hold sellers hostage with any new feedback rating system. If you are a deceptive seller and charge $15 or more for domestic postage under one pound or sell inferior products than of course you are going to be upset. After all no one hates the authority more than the criminal element. For those of us who are honest sellers the feedback system will not effect us and only make the Ebay community continue to grow.
I only encountered what was fraud once on the site since inception and Ebay went out of their way to help me. Thus from the so called stories people tell about frustrated customer service you are probably contacting the wrong people to being with.
Regarding the price increases.the higher your item sells for the more you make and the more Ebay makes. For example a famous actress once e-mailed me and asked me to sell her an old deck of playing cards she was planning to throw away. These cards went on to sell for over $300 dollars on Ebay. Thus this actress was expecting zero dollars. She wound up selling her cards for $300 dollars. So from an angry sellers comments Ebay took a percentage of her $300 dollars. However if it wasn't for Ebay she would have made 0 dollars.
Ebay has also pumped most of their funds into making their site and paypal safe. Try going to another site and see how safe they truly are? If you really left, you may get fleeced and wish you were back at Ebay.
A company has to increase fees in order to enhance and make the site better than ever. Again this is a free country if you don't like Ebay leave already and quit whining. What hubris, to think that you are all irreplacable. The minute you leave there is someone to take your place. If you put as much effort into your constant whining as you do into your business you would be a success.
Thus for the final time, for those sellers who issue threats and vile comments. please stop whining and leave already. That will give sellers like myself and others who have pride in Ebay your business(if we are to believe you contributed any). For it is common logic that most whiners contribute the least and are a deterrent to morale Just look at the NFL Football New York Giants, the year that Tiki Barber, their biggest whiner left, they won the Super Bowl.
Part 1. A Solution for eBay and Its Frustrated Seller Community
Not a day passes by without word spreading of another eBay seller boycott. If you were truly to believe each seller, eBay (EBAY) is the most evil of all companies. There is never a word of praise for the company that made them what they are today. Before eBay existed, these sellers were likely selling their wares at various markets throughout the United States. Yes, they would freeze on cold days and sizzle on those days that were scorchers. If they sold their wares through trade shows, etc, they would pay steep fees. Then along came eBay and turned them all into instant business gurus. The sellers started to whine with each seller increase, albeit it a few cents there a few cents here. These sellers lambasted eBay. "How dare such a company take food from our table" was their common mantra. Little did they see the improvements on the site.
For example, eBay purchased PayPal, which made it easier for buyers to pay with credit cards and thus these buyers made more purchases. eBay purchased Shopping.com to draw more eyes toward eBay's seller's wares. eBay even started up a free classified listing sites in the U.S. called Kijiji for all of those sellers who would like to list for free. Yet all these moves are still not enough. eBay announced earlier this year that they were going to reduce fees, but the sellers are still not satisfied. It has reached a point that these sellers will always whine and complain.
I have come up with a simple solution that will make both the seller community and eBay happy. eBay can post a link on their website with the following info: "For all of those sellers who are upset with eBay, please click on this link and complete the following to be removed permanently from our site. We understand the difficulty you are experiencing. We tried to satisfy your needs to no avail. If after leaving the site you continue to harass us through vile messages, threats etc, a restraining order will be put into place. If you have had a change of heart and decide to come back, you would have to go through an appeal process that may take up to two years. We understand your complaints and are satisfying your request."
There you have it. Simple, indeed. A way to satisfy both eBay and the sellers.
Did you know that Channel Advisor did away with their lifetime guarantee of 120 per year to subscribers of their service and are forcing their loyal subscribers to pay $29.95 per month? How is that for price gouging? How about your local gym membership charging $200 extra per year to sign up? Have the prices in your local supermarket changed this year? How about your transportation costs? Movie tickets? Sports Venues? If you are a whiny eBay seller, put all of those costs into perspective and you will see how ridiculous your complaints truly are.
I have been a seller on eBay since its inception and have never complained about a fee increase since I realize eBay is still and will always be the #1 place for e-commerce. Period.
For example, eBay purchased PayPal, which made it easier for buyers to pay with credit cards and thus these buyers made more purchases. eBay purchased Shopping.com to draw more eyes toward eBay's seller's wares. eBay even started up a free classified listing sites in the U.S. called Kijiji for all of those sellers who would like to list for free. Yet all these moves are still not enough. eBay announced earlier this year that they were going to reduce fees, but the sellers are still not satisfied. It has reached a point that these sellers will always whine and complain.
I have come up with a simple solution that will make both the seller community and eBay happy. eBay can post a link on their website with the following info: "For all of those sellers who are upset with eBay, please click on this link and complete the following to be removed permanently from our site. We understand the difficulty you are experiencing. We tried to satisfy your needs to no avail. If after leaving the site you continue to harass us through vile messages, threats etc, a restraining order will be put into place. If you have had a change of heart and decide to come back, you would have to go through an appeal process that may take up to two years. We understand your complaints and are satisfying your request."
There you have it. Simple, indeed. A way to satisfy both eBay and the sellers.
Did you know that Channel Advisor did away with their lifetime guarantee of 120 per year to subscribers of their service and are forcing their loyal subscribers to pay $29.95 per month? How is that for price gouging? How about your local gym membership charging $200 extra per year to sign up? Have the prices in your local supermarket changed this year? How about your transportation costs? Movie tickets? Sports Venues? If you are a whiny eBay seller, put all of those costs into perspective and you will see how ridiculous your complaints truly are.
I have been a seller on eBay since its inception and have never complained about a fee increase since I realize eBay is still and will always be the #1 place for e-commerce. Period.
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