EBay losing money, 7% workforce axed

paddyrg

Must admit I do wonder how they managed to lose $41m this year, all based on people paying them handsomely to sell their stuff to other people, with eBay just pocketing a slice of each sale. Anyway...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/22/ebay_q4_redundancies/

RFW

As a single entity Ebay has been losing money for a while, the profits come from Paypal. Who knows what will happen after the split?
I suspect there is a plan somewhere for shoring up Ebay or, perhaps, something happening with Gumtree and some of the other Ebay offshoots.

There are plenty of costs that aren't seen, gaining and retaining customers is an expensive business, in the last year they've had to do more after they peed off Google.

Marktheshark

It made profit when it was an auction site.
These days they think they are some kind of retailer where customers can claim refunds if they change their minds.
Some even treat it as a free 120 day free hire service.

RFW

Marktheshark wrote: »

It made profit when it was an auction site.

I doubt it. As a single entity, I doubt Ebay has ever actually made any money, it would be nearly impossible to show that though.

techspec

RFW wrote: »

There are plenty of costs that aren't seen, gaining and retaining customers is an expensive business, in the last year they've had to do more after they peed off Google.

Ebay try and retain people?

The Ebay i know throws sellers off at the drop off the hat or drives them away with crazy policies.

Thats a lot of money they throw down the drain.

They don't nee to retain buyers. I HATE Ebay with a passion - but will always buy on it because there are some decent people , items i can't get elsewhere - and its CHEAP!

Wonder if they will hike fees AGAIN.

RFW

techspec wrote: »

Ebay try and retain people?

The Ebay i know throws sellers off at the drop off the hat or drives them away with crazy policies.

Thats a lot of money they throw down the drain.

They don't nee to retain buyers. I HATE Ebay with a passion - but will always buy on it because there are some decent people , items i can't get elsewhere - and its CHEAP!

Wonder if they will hike fees AGAIN.

They do spend money retaining buyers. They spend a lot on affiliate links, not as much as they used to, but I've earnt a few quid on it. This site does pretty well out of it too.They also spend on advertising.
They spend on acquiring big sellers too.
Us little guys they couldn't care less about.

Most of the more unique fixed price stuff is finding its way on Amazon and Rakuten. They're losing a lot of their uniqueness, the only usp are auctions and they don't really like them.

The new CEO is going to be in charge of a lost little company, losing money and nothing to bail it out. There's bound to be some big changes.

sequence

I can't quite believe they're losing money! How can that be possible the amount of sales they take 10% of ? Where do they spend their money ? Not on ebay I guess...

bris

You can lose money through acquisitions, spend more than you make but in the long run it all pays off. Ebay are a billion dollar company 41 million is petty change.

RFW

bris wrote: »

Ebay are a billion dollar company 41 million is petty change.

Ebay Inc includes Paypal, it soon won't. Ebay Inc is profitable, the Ebay selling sites are not.

Ebay is being hived off from Paypal and they'll be trimming all over to make it look good for a potential new buyer. I've said before Ebay could be radically different by the end of the year.

forgotmyname

Probably spent more than that advertising Paypal.

RFW

forgotmyname wrote: »

Probably spent more than that advertising Paypal.

This isn't about Paypal, it's just Ebay. Paypal is exceptionally profitable.