IPO Tradin' Tall Lanky Blond Meg Whitman is out of touch with reality

[mandy]

An editorial and a blog articlefrom Auctionbytes:

eBay's CEO Meg Whitman showed she was out of touch when she told analysts that sellers were not as upset over the fee hikes that go into effect on Tuesday as they were when eBay hiked fees in February 2005 (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m08/i11/s01). Perhaps that's because Whitman thinks it's just about the fees. But when eBay told sellers things were so "out of balance" that Store listings were screwing things up for eBay.com, it motivated a lot of people into searching for ways to become less reliant on eBay. Many sellers have said it's tough to run a business on a marketplace that feels like a moving target.

on eBay drop-off store franchises:

eBay drop-off store franchises got some critical press in the August issue of Franchise Times. The magazine reported that many drop-off store franchisees are facing financial crisis, and the ones who are making money do not depend on the original business model of selling items dropped off by individuals.

full editorial: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m08/abu0173/s01

Why eBay Is Wrong about Store vs. Core

When CEO Meg Whitman told analysts that eBay had lost its magic, she blamed store inventory. But Store inventory is not what is hurting the "core" (non-Store) eBay platform.

eBay launched Stores as a way for sellers to list slower moving inventory and to project a more professional image. Store items do not show up on the eBay.com core platform except for rare circumstances.

"The marketplace has been overwhelmed with identical, often poorly-priced items that have diluted the magic of the eBay experience," Meg said. However:

- store items can't hurt the core platform with identical, poorly priced items; when you do a search on core, you don't find the store items;

- if there's a reason for core "losing it's magic," it's because of fraudulent listings; scam sellers; counterfeit items; BIN bandits; changing auction ending times due to extender tools; shipping gouging; and more. These are all things eBay has failed to fix;

- another reason for sellers moving to Store format instead of core is because of falling ASPs and STRs...

full article: http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...92366.html

[xppman]

- if there's a reason for core "losing it's magic," it's because of fraudulent listings; scam sellers; counterfeit items; BIN bandits; changing auction ending times due to extender tools; shipping gouging; and more. These are all things eBay has failed to fix;

There it is... in a nut shell.