One company is doing just that! See the fastest growing site for auctions, classifieds and the best seaching at Best Bidding.com and Best Searching.com

This makes a LOL.
One reason they CAN'T
.....MONEY......

Many have tried and failed, Ebay does one thing only
AND THEY DO IT WELL.

It would take hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing for any new auction site to make a dent in ebay.

While ebay management has made some decisions that many find questionable, their marketing program has been dead on. Do a "Man on the Street" survey and ask 100 people to name an online auction site. I'd bet that, if they know any, the first one out of their mouths would be ebay.

They've done a great job of making "ebay" a common household name like Zerox, Kleenex, etc.

While other sites might be as good or better than ebay, the new guy coming online, and there are still lots of 'em, looking for an auction will go to ebay first.

I'd think a new auction site would have to have some really deep pockets and be willing to live with massive losses before they could expect to have any results even close to ebay.

The eBay "Magic" was born of a time when everything on or about the internet was mystical. A platform for trading accessible by millions changed the world of books, pottery, glass, pez, marbles, ephemera, and just about every market category of used, vintage, and antique merchandise by largely eliminating an inflated perception of rarity. Millions upon millions of people flocked to the site and purchse items that were previously difficult or impossible for the average consumer to find. The "magic" that initial experience of finding and buying such an item created for a consumer is impossible to recreate post-eBay even if all the current competitors auction platforms were to merge or cooperate.

eBay's early execution was remarkable and created the huge wave of buyer/seller synergy they are still riding today. Buyers felt great because they were getting something they really wanted and sellers felt great because they were selling something that was either languishing stock, an unwanted dust-catcher, or some hidden treasures -- and because perceived scarcity was still the rule, the same items realized significantly more than they do today.

For most items this is no longer the case but perceived (or forced) scarcity was demonstrated by the sales of Xbox360 in the weeks following its release. It will happen again when Sony releases their PS/3. If you look today new xBoxes on eBay sell below retail. This is also true of most of the collectable categories I listed above. There are exceptions, but it's a very solid rule. Today what eBay has is the ability to churn merchandise at wholesale or below wholesale prices and a network of sellers that for one reason or another have not or can not leave.

eBay continues to market itself well to buyers by keeping the corporate name in front of them with huge online ad buys, somewhat comic television campaigns, and a world full of sellers whos best interest it is to promote them. Over the years, they expanded their category structure to accomodate new product categories... and today you can still usually find just about anything you want.

Back to your blog. We've seen the auction competition you mention come, go and largely do nothing. Overstock, Amazon, MSN, Yahoo all tired or keep trying... yet nearly every volume eBay seller I know who has tried any of them find the results hardly worth the effort. To compete with eBay, I believe it would take the entry of another mystical player (Google), someone with internet and street credibility (Google), a national and worldwide voice (Google), near flawless execution (Not Ford, Google?), bottomless pocketbooks (Google, Microsoft), and the will to do it (that's the question). The previous entries to the market are tarnished in sellers minds by poor results and in buyers minds by higher prices and fewer choices.

We would move our 1400 items Google in a heartbeat if they made a whole-hearted play for the online auction space with the intention of unseating eBays monopoly. I want someone to come in and overnight kill-off eBay and make a mockery of their management. I can not argue that eBay done us significant good, we make a living selling there. But at the same time they have matched it with senseless harm, pain, turmoil unnecessary roughness and in some cases near financial rape. My business sense dictates a slow migration to any new platform (we are moving products to our own website) but I crave the ability to completly free our business from the clutches of a company that simply does not care how, when, why, or even if it harms us.

Nice idea Sheldon,

It does make sense. The Ebay seller exodus are flocking to numerous sites all of which are far too small to provide proper competition to Ebay. A mass merger might change things. Nice to see Ms Lambert's usual Ebay 'company line'; are Ebay paying you commission or something?

It is possible that ebay could be shut down almost overnight. If everyone removed thier listings and went elsewhere, the buyers would go elsewhere because the shelves were empty. Ebay seems to have a Svengali hold over some sellers it seems. It needs sellers or else it doesn't have a business. It just needs sellers to show them who is the boss. See the CUE campaign, just Google it, no selling or buying for 4 days from 14th September, that will make them take notice.

In fairness to Sheldon, this is not the forum for the ill felt seller and their situations,
Ebay is a global enterprise, like all company of this size, the single and most challenge is LOGISTICS (traffic, exposure, balanced form, etc), not to mentioned their tech engineers and AD budgets.
EBay has formulated the discipline, that what makes them the singular and an important comfort brand. Google payment fell, much to their attempt at auctions?

Regarding “company line” I am not paid by Ebay. I am a firm advocate of anchored business model.
I will share this “When you change the way you look things, the things you look at Changes”

Put in practice. Best wishes.

David's post hits the nail on the head. The biggest problem the disgruntled seller's have is that there's no organized plan for leaving.

If 5000 seller's all left ebay and went to ONE spot it might attract some attention (and I'm really not sure it would even then). When 5000 leave and a few hundred go here and a few hundred go there...so what?

As far as the four day boycott...that'll be fine for the disgruntled seller's, but why would the folks who aren't mad at ebay (a MUCH larger percentage) want to join in? The seller's who are satisfied with ebay are probably licking their chops in anticipation of the 14th. Less listing means less competition.

But their not going to be buying either! Who's not? The seller's who are angry? How much do they actually buy anyway?

I'd almost bet ya 99% of the people who only buy on ebay don't even know about fee increases, search problems, Meg & Bill's obsession of fixing the few things that aren't broken and ignoring the rest.

All they know is that they come to ebay, find something they like, buy it, get it, and they're happy. They certainly aren't going to boycott for four days.

Sorry...gotta come up with a better plan if you wnat to get Meg's attention.

Let’s consider hypothetical scenario when eBay drops all fees on sellers. In that case, everyone who’s not lazy will put zillions of listings on eBay – both listings they expect to sell and those they only hope to sell. Would their be enough buyers to cope with such a flood of listings? Probably not. But there would be those sellers who would scream and complain that eBay sucks and management must be replaced because there are not enough buyers on the site. Now, it is what’s pretty much happening on eBay Stores. 30day listing was so dirt cheap that something like 85% of all eBay listings were store listings and the sell through was something like 8% (facts from eBay). People were putting all kinds of items in their eBay stores which didn’t sell fast and it was ok because it was dirt cheap. It’s plain obvious that supply far outpaced demand. The only right step was to correct it by raising the price so that the supply drops. Those who declare jihad wars on eBay are pathetic narrow minded people living in their self centered world completely unaware of bigger marketplace picture. What can anyone do about ignorance and unjustified emotions of such people? Try to explain it to them? Maybe. They will probably misinterprete and distort explanation and only start scream loader. I would say just ignore them. Time heals and seller’s emotions will calm down over time and it will be business as usual (historically it’s been exactly like this upon every fee hike).

The power of eBay is that buyers love it and seldom skip eBay when they go price hunting. eBay is number one not because of sellers, but because eBay has the buyers. Most sellers (I hope) are not acting upon some childish anger (and I can sense anger from the above comments)- most sellers are rational people and will continue listing on eBay. Go open your website, go advertise on Google - nothing works even remotely as well as eBay to move stuff quickly. Maybe profit margins are lower because of lower prices (and that's what attracts buyers), but volume is huge and as a result cash flow and turnover are the best one can get anywhere. Those who act upon anger or even worse fight some stupid jihad wars against eBay are only doing harm to themselves.

I think what is happening at eBay is the gradual increase in seller outrage. I believe sellers, as they are able, are diversifying their listings (some on eBay, some on their own websites, some somewhere else).

Considering how many items are in eBay stores, a sellthrough rate of 8% for slower moving items is not bad. Even eBay expected items in stores to sell more slowly. Keep in mind that for most of the rating period store items were not included in eBay's regular search results. 8% of store inventory sold with limited visibility. Store sales should skyrocket if store items are included in regular auction search results.

As the internet matures and buyers look more and more to general internet-wide product search sites, lesser known (and lower selling cost) venues will gain in sales volume and popularity. eBay is the full service broker of the ecommerce facilitator industry. In time lower cost ecommerce facilitators will begin to rise up. eBay can either adapt or fall.

Profit margins lower because of lower prices?? Don't make me laugh!

Prices are 20% higher than on similar auctions. If I want to buy something rare, sure I'll go to Ebay. Its bigger at the moment so there is a better chance of finding it. (That won't last now slow moving items aren't on there). If I want to buy something cheap, I'll go to Ebid.

Its free to list an auction on Ebid, hence the lower prices, whereas Ebay listing costs are so high all the sellers call it variously Feebay, Sleazebay or Greedbay. The customers haven't cottoned on yet they are paying too much - because its all still cheaper than a department store, but eventually they will.

I would not be rushing to Google and making my own website eother. In the organic serps (that is - the usual search results) Google have been steadily removing commercial websites in order to force people to pay for Adwords instead (the paid results on the right hand side.) Google just booted out a load of small stores from Adwords too for not being in keeping with their elevated corporate image).

You can't trust either of them, Ebay or Google. And if you make a mega-rival to Ebay by amalgamating Ebid and its competitors you'll end up with same problem different logo. The instant any company goes public the same thing happens. Any customer percieved to have a bit of cash is corralled into a special area whether its an Ebay store or Google Adwords, then they are squeezed like toothpaste and the customer ends up paying through the nose again.

Sheldon had tongue firmly in cheek when writing this post.

Although I'm sure he well appreciates the reasons why relatively small outfits based in various locations around the world haven't partnered up I sense he is trying to antagonise a serious response on the eBay virtual monopoly and whether this is a healthy situation?

He has already had the predictable eBay lovers and haters responses but has he had the one he really wants or expects yet? Of all the potential big boys he could have mentioned, why didn't he mention AOL? Yahoo? Microsoft? Could it be he suspects an unwritten agreement over on the west coast that prohibits cyber-cannibalism?

To my mind eBay is ill, but not terminally so. I think the symptoms of stale, arguably selfish management coupled with an unhealthy desire to overstretch the business in new areas under several new identities is likely to cause cash issues for shareholders to vent their anger about in time. Maybe that is what will make the present management walk in to obscurity with their handsome pay offs? But what then happens? Maybe a new management will revive the 'magic' but just as likely not.

I beleive the golden age that everyone fondly remembers on eBay is long gone now but still colors judgement. Bargains used to be gleefully snapped up as often as sellers stared in awe as a bidding war took their final price way above expectation. In those days it was a choice between little Paypal and Billpoint when you pulled out the credit card. The competition often meant discount incentives to users of either system. Sigh, I remember those days well. Then there was no automatic invoicing, it was a personal email process to organise payment and shipping - real contact between real people. Scam? What scam?

Now its sniping, Buy It Now, Paypal or else, automatic & impersonal invoices. A growing sense of alienation between buyer and seller, having to dig deeper in to feedback to weed out the scam sellers, check the shipping charge isn't ten times the bid amount, relist after relist, fees after fees and check the item isn't shipped, or worse still, made/copied in China. It's really not much fun anymore.

Yes the 'magic' has largely gone at eBay but we've no alternative and don;t want to admit it. Yes the users are grown up now and the internet is no longer a novelty. They're wise and they realise eBay is there to be used and not played with.

And eBay has adapted over time too. Whether it has risen to the right challenges I would question. It has certainly caused itslef to suffer problems it need never of had. So back to the question, what will happen in the near future? Is this monopoly cast in stone or will it rot on the vine?

At this point we have three options. Buy what clever sounding PR people say. Click over to eBay and type 'crystal ball' in the search box or, my preference, we ignore what we hear in blogs and press releases and start to use our own imagination and think outside of the box.

If you are using your imagination then you are probably thinking like eBid and uBid did some time ago. I'm not joking. Some of these sites have introduced innovations to the online auction concept that leave eBay standing. But they have failed to capitalise on it, mainly hampered by arriving too late for the party when everyone had already gone to Meg and Bills place. But great ideas can still become reality. The only question is how?

If I owned a good site but was struggling in eBays shadow to make it pay would I carry on scratching away until I realise my life has passed me by? Probably not. So what would I be looking to do?

While I promise I'm not joking, I want you to take a leap of faith with me. In that position I would have been very interested in the Jux2 meta search engine and Kiko Calendar website sales recently. Over $100,000 for a little known meta search engine? Over $250K for Kiko? And where did they get sold? Ah yes, eBay of course!

Maybe the people behind eBid and uBid have built great sites but perhaps, typical of many small businesses, it's the lack of development capital and weak marketing, the ability to attract customers to the site and the subsequent community building that's beyond them. So why not make the site available to someone who thinks they can do the job? If there is someone willing to put their money up to get the chance to take these sites on to the next stage then why not?

Maybe it's an experiment that would fail for eBid or uBid, but for a modest fee a sensible reserve can be placed on the sale at eBay and a little shareholding retained. Just think of the publicity generated for the site whether it sells or not and if a buyer takes over, who knows, you could be sitting on a 10% holding in the next eBay.

One thing is for sure IMO. Until someone presents the right opportunity and ignites the desire in someone capable of taking on and beating eBays auction dominance, we the lazy eBay users, together with the shareholders, will be forever dreaming about those golden days of Bllpoint and bidding wars and watching this poorly old man of the internet carry on regardless.

Hmmmmmm.... wait a minute. Were you serious Sheldon? We could do this you know!

Graham

What say you Graham -- not mentioned?

"Why is that Yahoo Auctions and MSN Auctions or..."

AOL has no presence in this space to speak of and it has it's hands full with cable, advertising, maintaining user base now that they are free and more bugs to work out.

Only a little tongue in cheek.

Another excellent post Graham.

Sheldon, I do think a competitor can rise up to take a portion of Ebay's business. I believe, the apple that is ripe for the picking is the stores business. EBay certainly doesn't know what to do with it and no current competitor out their has the cash (or more correctly, wants to spend the cash) to go after eBay's auction business. If you get even 100,000 small businesses selling product on your site and you get a piece of every transaction plus a monthly hosting fee. Where do I sign up? Now is the time to strike.

According to eBay 1/3 of their revenue comes from storeowners, and there are currently over 500,000 stores worldwide, that would be a lot of money. That may not mean much to eBay but it certainly would mean a great deal to Ubid or some other competitor.

The key to getting storeowners to move: Make it easy for them to transfer their existing store listings and come up with a search engine that will serve as advertising for the store seller’s listings (most would tell you that’s all auctions were to them anyway.) I could go on but then I would give away too much of my business plan. Now, I just need to find the Venture Capital. LOL

Graham, maybe we should talk.

Randall,

I promise your dreams will come true faster than you think. There are business going to target ebay store users aggressively very soon.

Hey Sheldon! OK so maybe you did mention them big boys after all but at least I can see you're really reading my comments!

I promise I will throw a similar goody in to every comment I write!

Keep up the great posts!

It is mystifying why some of Ebay's lesser competitors have not cashed in on the current seller unrest. Sure Ebid have gained a few new customers, but Ebid's management have not taken the bull by the horns and capitalised. They'd better move quick otherwise they might find themselves being overtaken those who are showing the initiative:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/9/prweb434574.htm

Ok a few comments here:

1. For those questioning just how many sellers are buyers. Well, for petes sake, take a look at any sellers feedback and more than likely they have also purchased many items from the same platform they are selling! Sellers ARE buyers! Buyers ARE sellers. It works both ways.

2. Sellers outrage is incredible at the moment and can be verified on ebay's own message boards found here: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=21

3. The U.S. complains to no end and only the the U.K. and Australia actually organize and try to do something about it. Take for example C.O.R.E.
http://www.ebayauctionmasters.com/home_page_stories/august2006/9_5_06_CORE%20PRESS%20RELEASE_FOUR%20DAY%20EBAY%20PROTEST.htm
These guys are really taking it to the next level.

4. Question: Why do U.S. sellers balk so much and why are they the ones that do the least? I mean if you are going to threaten and complain so much - DO something about it. Organization is key.

TBS

Graham – If someone is close to launching something they will have a 6-month window to “make hay while the sun shines”. They will need to be serious about marketing directly to the eBay sellers and making a point that the auction business is dead and there’s a new game in town. A perfect approach would be to go after eBay’s IT campaign. In order to get eBay buyers they are going to have to mimic eBay’s feel and ease of use.

TBS - US sellers are too independent. They also will hedge their bets. Complaining keeps them involved without having to make the hard decisions. The real reason is the Big Guys on eBay aren't pushing any protest. If the largest sellers joined the protest you would see some movement. They won’t its called “self preservation”

Sheldon – There are multiple layers of dissent growing on eBay. Small sellers who feel their slice of the American Dream is being killed. Medium sized sellers that have to adjust to the new fee structure and aren’t sure they can make it and the “Big Guys” (“Big” on eBay but small to the rest of the world) who use eBay as one of many venues. It’s a little difficult to get all of them to speak with one voice.

As for your playful aside about starting your own competitor, bring it on, I think that would be a fabulous idea.

IMO, we don't need another auction site as much as we need a strong fixed price mall venue. There are literally hundreds of auction sites out there but even with consolidation making a dent in the ebay brand name would be tough.

The weakest spot in ebay, and one which has become considerably weaker the past few months, is ebay stores. Buyers have increasingly shown they prefer fixed price over auction, yet ebay has done everything imaginable to hide stores from buyers and make in non profitable for sellers. The wise move for any competitor is in the fixed price mall arena.

And yes, I am one of the "digruntled" ebay store sellers who found that I could no longer afford to pay more to ebay for less exposure. I moved 800 books and collectibles temporarily to another venue while I decide what direction I am taking my business. Amazingly enough - I have buyers. My sales have been about 40% less than I had with the same inventory on ebay stores, but I am saving an average 32% of each sale that would be going to ebay. Tells me that I am looking in the right direction.