10-02-2006, 11:49 AM
Another article from former eBay seller Randy Smythe (GlacierBayDVD):
full article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...their.html
Quote:The Real Future of Ebay; After Their Recent Agreements with Yahoo and Google!
Is EBay Trying to Become a Shopping Portal?
I didnÂt see it initially, when the announcements were made, but it has become very clear to me now. Ebay appears to be modifying their business model; they are moving towards an advertiser supported shopping portal rather than a shopping destination. To be fair I see a hybrid of the two models, and I think investors will like the move if they only think short term. From the Store Sellers standpoint I would prepare for life outside of eBay. More on that later!
What has me intrigued is how this introduction of sponsored links on eBay dovetails with their fee increase in stores... Ebay is now serving up ads when there are limited search results and there were far too many items showing up in search with the flood of store inventory, limiting the number of sponsored ad possibilities. Stay with me here. A reduction in slow moving search hogging listings will open the door to more sponsored links, therefore more incremental revenue for eBay. With fewer items listed on the site (In EbayÂs view, the items that werenÂt selling anyway) there would be an even larger number of null or limited items searches for Yahoo-sponsored Ads. Brilliant! Brilliant! IÂm not suggesting this was the sole motivation for the fee increase but I do believe it was part of the discussion...
full article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...their.html