Members esphil Posted December 31, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy No, actually it's called business. You obviously don't know what a monopoly is. You want to start an auction web site?... go right ahead. Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members esphil Posted December 31, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy No, actually it's called business. You obviously don't know what a monopoly is. You want to start an auction web site?... go right ahead. Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sheraton Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy Yes the eBay fees are expensive but makes selling a hell of a lot easier. With all due respect, none of eBay's fees are hidden so you should be able to ballpark your overhead before you list and adjust your price accordingly I agree. I will usually try to sell on CL first but for anything a little out of the mainstream I do much better on Ebay. I think sellers would do much better on CL if they priced the guitars they sell there relative to what they will net on Ebay. Example: A Gibson 60's Tribute SG selling on Ebay for $625 + 35 shipping = $660. Sellers fees of 9% = $59.40 Paypal fees of 3% = $19.80 Actual shipping = $30 Total costs = $109.20 Net of $660.00 - 109.20 = $550.80 So why wouldn't you list it on CL for $550 and avoid the hassel of packing and shipping? Here's a quick story to illustrate my point: I saw a guitar I was interested in on Ebay and saw the same guitar listed on my local CL for a higher price than the opening bid on Ebay. I emailed the guy and said that I would offer him his opening Ebay price in cash. He refused my offer and said he thought it would go higher. I didn't think so and said I would watch his auction, and if nobody bid on it I would let the auction end with no bid rather than bid the minimum and pay him the opening bid price in cash to help him get a little mor for it than if he had to pay sellers fees and Paypal. Sure enough, no bids on Ebay and the auction ended. I emailed him again to make arrangements to pick it up and pay the opening amount in cash. He backed out saying that he wanted to get more for it. Jackass. I should have just bid the minimum and let him eat the fees. Moral of the story? If you know what Ebay will cost you, subtract that from what you ask on CL or the Forum and you'll sell more stuff faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sheraton Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy Yes the eBay fees are expensive but makes selling a hell of a lot easier. With all due respect, none of eBay's fees are hidden so you should be able to ballpark your overhead before you list and adjust your price accordingly I agree. I will usually try to sell on CL first but for anything a little out of the mainstream I do much better on Ebay. I think sellers would do much better on CL if they priced the guitars they sell there relative to what they will net on Ebay. Example: A Gibson 60's Tribute SG selling on Ebay for $625 + 35 shipping = $660. Sellers fees of 9% = $59.40 Paypal fees of 3% = $19.80 Actual shipping = $30 Total costs = $109.20 Net of $660.00 - 109.20 = $550.80 So why wouldn't you list it on CL for $550 and avoid the hassel of packing and shipping? Here's a quick story to illustrate my point: I saw a guitar I was interested in on Ebay and saw the same guitar listed on my local CL for a higher price than the opening bid on Ebay. I emailed the guy and said that I would offer him his opening Ebay price in cash. He refused my offer and said he thought it would go higher. I didn't think so and said I would watch his auction, and if nobody bid on it I would let the auction end with no bid rather than bid the minimum and pay him the opening bid price in cash to help him get a little mor for it than if he had to pay sellers fees and Paypal. Sure enough, no bids on Ebay and the auction ended. I emailed him again to make arrangements to pick it up and pay the opening amount in cash. He backed out saying that he wanted to get more for it. Jackass. I should have just bid the minimum and let him eat the fees. Moral of the story? If you know what Ebay will cost you, subtract that from what you ask on CL or the Forum and you'll sell more stuff faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by esphil Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. Just because no one else has yet been able to succeed as an auction competitor, does not mean eBay is a monopoly. There are plenty of web sites that charge for classified listings. (i.e. similar to eBay's Buy it Now). One is called Amazon.com eBay is doing nothing to lock competition out of the online auction market. Buy a domain name, go do some heads down software development for a few months and start advertising. Go ahead and lowball the {censored} out of eBay's fee structure. You could be the one to take some market share. eBay's pricing model is not opportunistic. Premium? perhaps, but so is any smart business who is among the best at what they do. And their exclusive use of Paypal whether they own it or not is not monopolistic either. I believe if the buyer and seller agree to use cash, a MO, personal check or credit card eBay does not prevent these methods of payment. Sorry, but again smart businesses have vertical service channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by esphil Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. Just because no one else has yet been able to succeed as an auction competitor, does not mean eBay is a monopoly. There are plenty of web sites that charge for classified listings. (i.e. similar to eBay's Buy it Now). One is called Amazon.com eBay is doing nothing to lock competition out of the online auction market. Buy a domain name, go do some heads down software development for a few months and start advertising. Go ahead and lowball the {censored} out of eBay's fee structure. You could be the one to take some market share. eBay's pricing model is not opportunistic. Premium? perhaps, but so is any smart business who is among the best at what they do. And their exclusive use of Paypal whether they own it or not is not monopolistic either. I believe if the buyer and seller agree to use cash, a MO, personal check or credit card eBay does not prevent these methods of payment. Sorry, but again smart businesses have vertical service channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members illinismitty Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Think ebay is bad? Amazon takes 15%, and pretty much dictates what you have to charge for shipping, which is absurdly low. They expect me to ship a box to CA for $5.99? My cost is at least double that. They expect you to charge the rates that they charge, but us small fish don't get the special rates of a multi billion dollar company. Bottom line- if you want to sell something and reach a wide audience - it's going to cost you. Build it into your cost and hope it's competitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members illinismitty Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Think ebay is bad? Amazon takes 15%, and pretty much dictates what you have to charge for shipping, which is absurdly low. They expect me to ship a box to CA for $5.99? My cost is at least double that. They expect you to charge the rates that they charge, but us small fish don't get the special rates of a multi billion dollar company. Bottom line- if you want to sell something and reach a wide audience - it's going to cost you. Build it into your cost and hope it's competitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by esphil Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. No, they really aren't a monopoly. Have they tried to buy out Amazon? Have they tried to shut down CL or the for-sale forums here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by esphil Of course it is a business, have you ever heard of a non-profit that is a monopoly? "In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power, to charge high prices." What other viable website alternative is there? Ubid? Ebay owns paypal, and will not even allow other checkout methods such as amazon or google payments. YES they are a monopoly. No, they really aren't a monopoly. Have they tried to buy out Amazon? Have they tried to shut down CL or the for-sale forums here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tele0507 Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 better than a pawn shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tele0507 Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 better than a pawn shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy No, actually it's called business. You obviously don't know what a monopoly is. You want to start an auction web site?... go right ahead. Ebay certainly is a monopoly. They dominate the industry and because of that there are high barriers to entry. Nobody with any sense is willing to start another auction site because of the dominant market presence of Ebay. Ebay has virtually no competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Meowy No, actually it's called business. You obviously don't know what a monopoly is. You want to start an auction web site?... go right ahead. Ebay certainly is a monopoly. They dominate the industry and because of that there are high barriers to entry. Nobody with any sense is willing to start another auction site because of the dominant market presence of Ebay. Ebay has virtually no competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by tlbonehead No, they really aren't a monopoly. Have they tried to buy out Amazon? Have they tried to shut down CL or the for-sale forums here? This is uncorrect! Ebay is a monopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by tlbonehead No, they really aren't a monopoly. Have they tried to buy out Amazon? Have they tried to shut down CL or the for-sale forums here? This is uncorrect! Ebay is a monopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius This is uncorrect! Ebay is a monopoly. Have they squashed your efforts to start a competing auction business? If so, how? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius This is uncorrect! Ebay is a monopoly. Have they squashed your efforts to start a competing auction business? If so, how? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius Ebay certainly is a monopoly. They dominate the industry and because of that there are high barriers to entry. Nobody with any sense is willing to start another auction site because of the dominant market presence of Ebay. Ebay has virtually no competition. that may be. But that is certainly not because they squash every attempt for anyone else to start a similar service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius Ebay certainly is a monopoly. They dominate the industry and because of that there are high barriers to entry. Nobody with any sense is willing to start another auction site because of the dominant market presence of Ebay. Ebay has virtually no competition. that may be. But that is certainly not because they squash every attempt for anyone else to start a similar service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by tlbonehead Have they squashed your efforts to start a competing auction business? If so, how? Yes they have. I no longer have the desire to go toe to toe against an industry giant that has 70+% of the market share of an industry. It would be a futile effort. And obviously other entrepreneurs have felt the same way because ebay is still the dominant player with little to no real competition. Just because a few people on an internet forum are confused about the definition of the term monopoly, that does not change its meaning. Ebay still remains a monopoly. Originally Posted by tlbonehead that may be. But that is certainly not because they squash every attempt for anyone else to start a similar service. They don't have to squash any attempts when there are no real world threats. They only need to create a psychological barrier to entry. Q: Why doesn't anybody today try to start up a new company to compete against UPS and FedEx? A: Because these two industry giants have the market sewn up, ergo it's a loosing battle. Same is true with Coke and Pepsi. Two industry giants selling nothing more than sugar water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by tlbonehead Have they squashed your efforts to start a competing auction business? If so, how? Yes they have. I no longer have the desire to go toe to toe against an industry giant that has 70+% of the market share of an industry. It would be a futile effort. And obviously other entrepreneurs have felt the same way because ebay is still the dominant player with little to no real competition. Just because a few people on an internet forum are confused about the definition of the term monopoly, that does not change its meaning. Ebay still remains a monopoly. Originally Posted by tlbonehead that may be. But that is certainly not because they squash every attempt for anyone else to start a similar service. They don't have to squash any attempts when there are no real world threats. They only need to create a psychological barrier to entry. Q: Why doesn't anybody today try to start up a new company to compete against UPS and FedEx? A: Because these two industry giants have the market sewn up, ergo it's a loosing battle. Same is true with Coke and Pepsi. Two industry giants selling nothing more than sugar water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius Yes they have. I no longer have the desire to go toe to toe against an industry giant that has 70+% of the market share of an industry. It would be a futile effort. And obviously other entrepreneurs have felt the same way because ebay is still the dominant player with little to no real competition. Just because a few people on an internet forum are confused about the definition of the term monopoly, that does not change its meaning. Ebay still remains a monopoly. They don't have to squash any attempts when there are no real world threats. They only need to create a psychological barrier to entry. Q: Why doesn't anybody today try to start up a new company to compete against UPS and FedEx? A: Because these two industry giants have the market sewn up, ergo it's a loosing battle. but the only "bad" thing they've done according to your version of "monopoly" is come up with a great idea and then put forth the inspiration and perspiration to make it successful. You make it sound like that is a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius Yes they have. I no longer have the desire to go toe to toe against an industry giant that has 70+% of the market share of an industry. It would be a futile effort. And obviously other entrepreneurs have felt the same way because ebay is still the dominant player with little to no real competition. Just because a few people on an internet forum are confused about the definition of the term monopoly, that does not change its meaning. Ebay still remains a monopoly. They don't have to squash any attempts when there are no real world threats. They only need to create a psychological barrier to entry. Q: Why doesn't anybody today try to start up a new company to compete against UPS and FedEx? A: Because these two industry giants have the market sewn up, ergo it's a loosing battle. but the only "bad" thing they've done according to your version of "monopoly" is come up with a great idea and then put forth the inspiration and perspiration to make it successful. You make it sound like that is a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 31, 2012 Members Share Posted December 31, 2012 Originally Posted by Doctor Morbius Yes they have. I no longer have the desire to go toe to toe against an industry giant that has 70+% of the market share of an industry. It would be a futile effort. And obviously other entrepreneurs have felt the same way because ebay is still the dominant player with little to no real competition. Just because a few people on an internet forum are confused about the definition of the term monopoly, that does not change its meaning. Ebay still remains a monopoly. They don't have to squash any attempts when there are no real world threats. They only need to create a psychological barrier to entry. Q: Why doesn't anybody today try to start up a new company to compete against UPS and FedEx? A: Because these two industry giants have the market sewn up, ergo it's a loosing battle. Same is true with Coke and Pepsi. Two industry giants selling nothing more than sugar water. which company is older between UPS and FedEx? I believe it is UPS. So there is room for both of them to co-exist. Does that make them a co-monopoly? And what about USPS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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