eBay wonders

[Tom]

Guess how many people in America 'earn their living' from eBay? [scroll down for answer after making your guess]




















The company now has a higher stockmarket valuation then General Motors and 430,000 people earn their living by trading on eBay. Amazon is a tuppeny-halfpenny company by comparison.

[francis]

I read a book on site redeisgns once, and one chapter was by one of the eBay developers - he said that they have to be so incredibly careful with redesigns and playing with tools/features because so many people make their living from it. A scary level of responsibility.

[James]

I'm not at all surprised. My eBay seminar for Tom pointed to its 100 million + registered members worldwide. Where else can you get that kind of exposure for your goods?

There is a second hand record shop in Tunbridge Wells called Criminal Records. I regularly buy records there purely to sell on via eBay. 95% of them sell for more than I paid (eg bought for £5, sold for £20) - admittedly I know my records, but then so do the shop staff.

The store have to estimate the value of rare records and SET A PRICE WHICH IS NOT NEGOTIABLE - it's how retail outlets work. Maybe Criminal Records have a few hundred unique customers through their door each month, some browse, some buy as well. They could get hundreds of thousands of browsers and buyers if they shut up shop and listed their entire stock on eBay.

It mystifies me why such shops bother to trade - they have to pay rent on the premises, council tax, heat and light, staff etc etc. If they switched to eBay their overheads would be tiny in comparison and I'm convinced they would make more sales.

At the moment I am taking the p*** by buying up their stock and selling it on eBay at a profit - if they won't show their wares to millions of punters, I will!

[Tom]

Very well done re your local record shop!

Not so well done re expressing astonishment re eBay!

Come on now. GM is no ordinary company. Digging into my shaky memory: (1) 'what's good for GM is good for America' (2) 'GM is not so much a company - its more a small country, with an outpur greater than many small countries' (3) GM used to make about 40% of the world's cars.

And eBay? Its just a bunch of marketing hicks with some not-very-fancy software. To me, it is the outstanding example of 'the Dotcom dream come true'. Still, the company revenues are only $2.2 bn and it could be horendously overvalued by the stockmarket (its actually TWICE the valuation of GM). But maybe not. Just think '430,000 people in the US make a full-time living from eBay' [Fortune, Aug 9 2004). The same page of the magazine has a note on Steve Jobs. His power is 'the power of ideas'; he is 'transforming the music and movie industries.

[Tom]

Cor! Now I understand the eBay phenomenon a little more. Success in my first bidding race! It went from $91 to $141 in about 3 minutes - and I feel as though I had just laid out Achilles in single combat. No wonder they say it is the most admired (or is it most envied?) of all web businesses.

[Phil]

go on tom, what did you buy? first edition signed copy of "city as landscape?" by t.turner?

[Tom]

Not so cheap for first editions! I only got Henry a Xmas pressy - 44 back issues of Cinefex (http://www.cinefex.com/home.html). Maybe he'll just sell them on - they seem to go for $15 each in the US.

[Tom]

Is there any way you can see the eBay entry for an item you have bought after the auction has closed?

I have now made 2 complaints about items I have bought and been told (correctly I do not doubt) that I was wrong both times.

[Phil]

look under your "items i've won" section. or as a link from your feedback. the full adverts remain for three months