Ebays days are numbered

jr666

I think ebays days are numbered. The market place is FLOODED with sooooooooo many similar items ebay will become a victim of its own success. Let me explain.

Ebay works on the system that there are more buyers after an item than there are sellers to provide it. this is great it produces bidding wars and bumps prices up making loadsa cash for ebay and the seller.

however the system is approaching an equilbrium point were there will be as many sellers as buyers for each item. there will be no competition. If you get out bid then just start bidding on the same item elsewhere at a lower price. this i believe is already here on many items such as mp3 player accessories (have you seen the nuimber of ipod cases?!).

what happens when there are more sellers than buyers? Ebay makes no money. Crash.

Is this inevitable anyway though?

black-saturn

I agree. Ebay is not what it used to be. There are far too many people on it and I'm sure it will implode on itself very soon.

grex9101

lets hope we find a viable competitor with some morals and SAFEGUARDS

MickKnipfler

I think they need to differentiate between traders and private sellers...

BillyMansell

In a buyers market there will actually be more buyers looking for better bargain, increasing Ebays earnings.

It is the sellers who will suffer and It will be up to the sellers to raise their game and accept lower profit margins and achieve higher sales, therefore again increasing Ebays earnings.

Johntea

eBay is very slow these days, reason could be because now more people have fast Internet connections they find bargains before looking on eBay, and now a lot of people don't feel as unsafe ordering goods online!

soolin

People have been forcasting ebays demise since it started, in fact the numbers signing up and the turnover of items is increasing year on year.

The flaw with the OP argument is that there are few exclusive buyers or sellers, most of us do both, so I will continue to buy the items I am interested in whilst maintaining my selling id. Yes there is a finite number of buyers, but that applies to any selling venue and is only limited to the number of people in the world with access to a PC, so we are unlikely to run out for a good while yet.

No doubt the whole internet craze will finish at some point and we will all move onto something else, but for the forseeable future I can't see ebay losing its grip.

Soo

Spilt_Milk

Can't see it myself.

A lot of technology and web companys are on shaky ground with 'estimated' earnings and future revenues. Take Google, it it makes about a a tenth of the profit of Timer Warner but it has a much higher share price. That share price reflects its future.

I think Ebay posted net profit last year of around $4 billion (sorry I don't have figures to hand) which is serious money. Most of that revenue amazingly comes through its motoring section which is by far its highest earning area of the site.

They will slow down - there is always a ceiling. But ebay know this and I'm sure they'll be looking to the future. I think they just brought up Skype and internet phone calls is tipped to be a big earner in the near future.

I'm sure there gonna be a round. I collect rare analogue systhesizers from the 70s and the only place I get 'em is ebay. Its kinda specialist and there is always furious bidding on ebay. But I take your point with popular products.

If there's anything I can see as hurting ebay its the government. There are huge amounts of money and goods chaging hands tax-free. I reckon Gordon will want a peice of the action.

Long live the flea market of the world!

Tahiti

Ebay will be here for years to come. If they improve their safeguards, I fully support them in their success.

Unfortunately, things do go wrong, and they are not exactly helpful when people rip others off. Same goes for Paypal I understand, however I am not speaking from personal experience.

The problem seems to be that scammers can easily get through the security measures in place.

pinkfluffybabe

I have noticed though, that the number of listings in some catogories are much higher than before. I was waiting till the Christmas rush had died down to sell some stuff, but prices arent so good just now due to volume, so I am biding my time!

superscotsman

Horses for courses. If you are looking for mp3 covers then you will probably find that there are too many sellers - some of them no doubt bought these items specially to flog on ebay. As spilt Milk says, for the collector there is nothing better than ebay. There is few other places where I can buy Jeff Lang CDs - not in the UK at any rate. There is a lot of things on ebay you just can't buy (or sell, come to that) anywhere else.
Things might fall back a little turnoverwise, as happens with all epidemics; but go out of business - certainly not.