The New York Times reports that eBay is considering making PayPal the only form of payment allowed on eBay auctions. The company is test marketing this concept in Australia starting next month, and loyal eBay buyers and sellers there are furious.
eBay's stranglehold on internet auction enthusiasts is already clear. It is the most popular auction site, and if you're a seller, you have few other choices that get you as much exposure. But that's not enough for eBay. In addition to all the fees generated from auction listings and sales, they apparently want to ensure that they'll get extra fees from the payments if they require everyone to pay with PayPal.
Company officials say this move is an effort to cut down on fraud. They say that by requiring the use of PayPal, they are able to see buyers and sellers through the payment process, rather than them risking fraud through the use of outside payment services.
I'm actually finding the cries of anguish coming from eBay sellers a bit amusing these days. Yes, in my opinion they're getting what they deserve over on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).
Why do I say that with a cold-hearted grin you may ask? It's because I did my part so long ago. Yes, we had a seller's strike once before, and it was a pretty damn good one. It didn't work then either, or at least it didn't change any eBay corporate minds in reference to anything that matters.
So now eBay has raised fees again. I don't need to say I told you so, but I did. This time though there's a significant additional angle to the rift. Due to pending changes to eBay's feedback system, sellers could be left defenseless in the face of potential deadbeat buyers, four of which have struck my wife's eBay selling account in the last week. It's great service to eBay's vision and it's easy logic to grasp and accept if you have insight into eBay's plans.
When we took a look at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s fourth-quarter earnings last night, we also made note that long-time CEO Meg Whitman would be stepping down, to be replaced by John Donahoe. We wondered what changes Mr. Donahoe would be bringing to his new position, and some of those answers have come quicker than we expected, as Donahoe has already announced a few changes that we can expect to see.
One thing consistently on the mind of eBay users is the website's fee structures. Since last year, users have been openly voicing their disappointment with what they consider to be abnormally high selling fees, and it seems like Donahoe will quickly look to address these concerns.
Donahoe said that within a few weeks, we will be seeing a brand new fee structure from eBay. In response to what users are demanding, eBay is planning to lower its upfront listing fees, but at the same time will be raising final selling fees. These final fees are only paid once an item has been successfully sold, and I am sure that users will not like to hear this too much, but they should be happy to hear that the initial listing fees are going to be reduced.
MarketWatch writer Dan Gallagher offered a brief synopsis of comments by Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck in reaction to Peck's January 17 upgrade of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). In my opinion, Gallagher was too kind with his writing. Peck's comments are a weak attempt to cloud perceptions, nothing more. Let's take a look at some of those words, shall we?
In using a pendulum metaphor, Peck refers to eBay investors as being either greedy or fearful. I believe that to mean he thinks investors who sold in the $40 range were greedy and investors who are now resisting the $30 mark live in fear. I give more credit to the investors in their reaction to issues we've discussed. Mr.Peck seems to think they've overreacted on both ends.
Peck concedes that eBay could be affected by changes in consumer spending due to recession but he would like us to believe that increased bargain hunting will offset possible negative affects. What he doesn't mention is that a bargain binge could deeply affect the bottom line of PayPal, eBay's lion-hearted revenue generator. We must also not forget that a checkout service has taken hold via Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and now we're hearing whispers of increased payment services from Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced second quarter results not too long ago and easily beat estimates. Sales were strong across all business segments.
Soon the webcast will begin and I'll be right here liveblogging the event with Meg Whitman and company. I want to hear what eBay has to say about the lower listings growth.
You can listen yourself to the webcast or just stay here and remember to refresh your page.
4:59 pm: Listening to violin music and waiting for the welcomes and the disclaimers that are bound to follow before we get to the real interesting stuff.
5:01 pm: OK, the webcast is officially starting late. I'll try to refresh, maybe it's me.
5:03 pm: And we're starting! Meg Whitman, Bob Swan and Bill Cobb. Disclaimers galore now. Checking eBay's stock price, down 0.9%.
5:05 pm: Meg is speaking, saying the quarter was great and giving some highlights. She sounds relaxed and calm, the best I've heard her in the past year.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has finally admitted that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) isn't its friend. This is long overdue.
For months, CEO Meg Whitman and other top eBay executives have used some convoluted logic to argue that Google Checkout doesn't compete with its PayPal service. Google executives also argued not-too-convincingly that there was enough room for both Google Checkout and PayPal in the marketplace.
While it's true that PayPal and Google Checkout aren't exactly alike, they do compete. Everyone knew it but the companies tried to maintain this false image that the Internet is one big politically correct summer camp where everybody is a partner and there are no winners and losers.
That analogy bit the dust Wednesday when Google scheduled an event in Boston to promote Checkout to coincide with a big eBay sellers' event. In response, eBay yanked its search advertising from Google. Remember that eBay has been one of the biggest buyers of search advertising on Google for years.
At long last I can give eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) a pat on the back about something. Most of you know that's pretty hard for me, but this time eBay has gone the extra mile to prove to me that it at least recognizes there are some nasty pirates and profiteers operating on its site. With the direction of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office, eBay assisted in putting the clampdown on an unscrupulous jewelry seller that was ripping off eBay customers by placing price inflating bids on its own merchandise.
EMH Group, the company in question, is said to have placed nearly a quarter million fraudulent bids on nearly $5 million worth of merchandise within the period of one year. Of course, EMH claims no wrong doing, but it has agreed to pay $400,000 in fines and will be "banned" from the online auction industry for four years. As for its victims, it is said that there will be a buyback incentive program "for certain items." I'll bet those certain items are all gold and EMH expects to purchase them back at the previous sale price. Yeah, ain't that just peachy.
Yes, I'll give eBay a pat on the back for exposing just how easy it has been to make millions of dollars of fraudulent business on its site. As far as Attorney General Cuomo's part in this, until he sends someone to prison for stealing from the public like this, in my opinion he's just blowing smoke in our eyes to the tune of $400,000. Without even checking, I'll give you 15 to 1 odds he's a Harvard man.
Yes, it's June already, and as the heat begins to rise, so does rumor rage. PACKETEER INC (NASDAQ: PKTR)
On the block? If some investors have their way it is. The developer of wide area network, or WAN, Application Optimization systems expects first quarter revenues to fall about 20% from the fourth quarter's $42.7M. Leading the insurgency is "activist investor" Elliott Associates which holds 6.3% of the shares. In a letter to the firm's board, Elliott wrote that the company has "proven unable" to take advantage of its "leading technology." Better to be in the arms of a bigger company? The vultures think so.
Quicker than you can strum your guitar, this number appears to be up. Up for sale. The information is coming faster than a high strung solo. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is playing the lead. What an auction it will be. For the leading retailer of musical instruments, the stock disappoints, the direct response business is out of tune. A Goldman analyst reportedly said the company is a turnaround candidate, but may sell. Talk about blowing your own horn. We hear the LBOs are lined up right outside the Westlake Village headquarters in California. Everyone have a number?
How many pesetas, uh Euros, does it take to make about a billion dollars? Ask Spain's LaNetro Zed. That's about what some think they're offering to buy InfoSpace, the developer of tools and technology that helps "regular" folk find content and information on the Internet or on their mobile. Privately-held LaNetro Zed provides mobile phone content and services. What's the hook here that they'd pay that much? Access to the U.S. market, of course. The answer, by the way, is about 800M Euros. OFFICE DEPOT INC (NYSE: ODP)
If you just lined up $1B worth of borrowing, which could go up to $1.25B, what would you do with it? Buy something, maybe? Sound like a good idea? Well, that's what Office Depot just did, and may do. Now who are they going to buy? OfficeMax Inc (NYSE: OMX), maybe? Maybe. If true, then, along with Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS), there would be just two biggies in retail office supplies, and the Depot would be number one.
And we're off! The stock has been on an upward trend for about a month. Volume is increasing. Sybase Inc (NYSE: SY) is in the lead to buy the phone browser and messaging company. What about Harbinger's push on the inside? Now it's BridgePort Networks in the pack. Will Openwave overtake it? The field is tightening. Others could move up and take the lead. No one knows for sure how this one gwill end, folks. What a finish it's going to be!
In a broad and sweeping move that will send out reverberations similar in impact to the first sixteen bars of a Van Halen song, the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau announced that they shall have nothing further to do with a major attempt to commoditize television advertising time by making that time available for purchase in an online auction type venue. New York Times.com (registration required) reported that the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, a New York based trade group, has officially backed away from the proposition citing a quote from Sean Cunningham, president and chief executive of the cable association clearly stating that, "We don't believe that eBay is going to get this right."
Using the word "boycott," cable entertainment providers including ESPN, Discovery Channel, and Lifetime have officially exited the program, leaving the eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) headed project without any air time to sell. A consortium of heavy hitters were backing eBay in the experiment and had committed up to $50 million to build and test the model. Now though, they may be left high and dry, wondering if they have hired eBay expertise for zero gain after all.
Perhaps the most powerful statement in this situation so far is the reluctance of Google to issue any statement at all regarding the cable television pullout, as evidenced in a Jupiter Research blog post by David Card. Being that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is so deeply entrenched in the internet as an advertising sales vehicle, one must suppose that they have taken this development pretty hard. That is, of course, unless they approached it with a "wait and see" attitude right from the start. If no statement issues from Google in the coming week, we might be tempted to think that Google suspected that the effort could fail miserably from the time it got off the ground.
I warned of this development quite some time ago in a comment section right here on a BloggingStock eBay post. I cited the fact that the television advertising industry has had a very firm grip on what they are doing for about 50 or so years now. I find it silly to think that the program would be changed over night. Just because a few talking heads say they want to take over the sale of television advertising time won't make it so. Personally, I think trying to change the dynamics of how television advertising is sold would be something similar to trying to sink the USS Enterprise with a .22 pistol.
Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 0.24 to 13.53
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) calls (quoted in Pennies) busy on chatter of private equity cash infusion. AMD is recently up $0.46 to $13.87. AMD has been frequently subject to LBO chatter; today chatter is circulating that a friendly private equity-strategic partner could surface to make cash infusion. Speculation is that AMD could announce a deal similar to the deal Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) announced on 1/23/07, when it received a $700 million dollar private placement from KKR. AMD call option volume of 73,560 contracts compares to put volume of 9,747 contracts. AMD April option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) implied volatility is low. Meg Whitman enters ninth-year working as eBay CEO. EBAY is recently up $0.23 to $31.72. Meg Whitman has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, much of it in EBAY stock. Years ago, Whitman said she would leave EBAY after eight to ten years. Whitman joined EBAY in 1998. EBAY has a market cap of $43 billion. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a market cap of $270 billion. EBAY overall option implied volatility of 34 is below its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, indicating decreasing risks.
Option volume leaders today are: SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK), AtheroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIX), Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL) and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).
Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
In November 1962, a U.S. collector shelled out a measly $250 for an Andy Warhol paint and ink and portrait of Marilyn Monroe. "Lemon Marilyn" was one of a series of 13 paintings Warhol created in the immediate wake of Monroe's August 1962 death. Auctioneers with London's Christie's (LSE: CTG) said Monday that the unnamed collector is now looking to cash in this investment at 60,000 times its original value just 45 years later, as the painting is expected to fetch $15 million or more. Such a price tag is certainly not out of the question -- the "Orange Marilyn" painting was sold for $16.3 million last year.
Reportedly, the 1962 transaction occurred at the gallery in New York where Warhol held a one-man show that featured eight of his Marilyn paintings. If you'd like to view before you buy, "Lemon Marilyn" will be on public display at Christie's until tomorrow, and will go on sale at auction May 16 in New York.
While art collectors are profiting from Marilyn decades after her death, the blond bombshell herself remains a bankable commodity. On Forbes' 2006 list of top-earning deceased celebrities, Ms. Monroe ranks ninth, with her estate banking $8 million during the year. Ironically, she did not achieve millionaire status until after her death.
With all of the hubbub surrounding Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB), you would think that the company was some red-hot startup that throngs of companies were eager to buy. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
Sam Zell has emerged as an unlikely suitor for the Chicago-based media company. He's made his fortune in real estate and has no experience in the media though he reportedly told the Chicago Tribune that newspapers were just like any other business.
Zell, who earned the nickname grave dancer for his ability to spot undervalued companies, is right to a point. Media companies need to sell a product that people want at a price that they will buy. There is a big point that eludes Zell and the other guys who are interested in the newspaper business.
Good news organizations will anger their major customers -- advertisers -- from time to time. If Zell is successful, he will be besieged by people looking to influence the editorial direction of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday. He has to ignore all of it.
Believe it or not advertisers -- the ones who aren't angry -- want to be seen in credible news outlets because it lends legimimacy to their brands. If a media outlet isn't credible, big advertisers avoid it. Check out one of the supermarket tabloids and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Some eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:ebay) sellers have customer service track records that would be the envy of most businesses, at least that's the impression you get after looking at their feedback.
The auction site's system of buyers and sellers rating one another was created at the dawn of the Internet age. It helped make eBay what it is today , but as Alice LaPlante points out, it is far from foolproof. It seems like everyone who either buys or sells on eBay gets an "A" rating. Plus, I find it hard to believe that any business can sell to thousands of customers and get no negative feedback. Even the most conscientious seller is going to get a crazy or stupid customer. My wife has run across those when she lists items on the site. Plus, there are people who will give "positive" feedback to a friend trying to build up their reputation. I did that myself before learning better.
eBay, like the rest of life, sometimes reminds me of high school. People gossip like teenagers. LaPlante speaks about "retaliatory" feedback when someone says something nasty about a buyer or seller just because they're having a bad day. "It is this ominous threat of retaliatory feedback that causes everyone to be so very, very nice on eBay, according to some," she writes. "Rather than risk a negative comment on their own account, many members would rather say nothing than too much." She also mentions some suggestions from Brad Templeton about improving the feedback system such as showing the number of transactions that people have done to determine how many times they didn't get a rating. That's a sound idea.
The lesson of the feedback system on eBay and other sites that rely on users to police one another is simple: don't believe everything that you read.
Not even 12 hours into the charity auction for lunch with Warren Buffett and bidding has already reached almost half a million dollars, beating last year's winning bid of $351,100.
And we still have six and half days left in the auction!
I don't know if I can take the excitement. I wish they had just put a Buy it Now option for, oh, say, $1,000,000 and we would have been done with it.
According to the FAQ only pre-approved bidders can place a bid.
The auction is open to international bidders, although there's no specified shipping to my Canadian address. Having said that, the FAQ does mention that "the expected delivery time is 7-10 business days after final payment is received and acknowledged."
Oh, and they accept cashier's checks and wire transfers, in case you were wondering how you might pay for this, and of course, the bidder is responsible for transportation.
The New York Times reports that eBay is considering making PayPal the only form of payment allowed on eBay auctions. The company is test marketing this concept in Australia starting next month, and loyal eBay buyers and sellers there are furious.
I'm actually finding the cries of anguish coming from eBay sellers a bit amusing these days. Yes, in my opinion they're getting what they deserve over on 
When we took a look at 
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Yes, it's June already, and as the heat begins to rise, so does rumor rage.
In November 1962, a U.S. collector shelled out a measly $250 for an Andy Warhol paint and ink and portrait of Marilyn Monroe. "Lemon Marilyn" was one of a series of 13 paintings Warhol created in the immediate wake of Monroe's August 1962 death. Auctioneers with London's Christie's (LSE: 
Today, June 22, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern the eBay auction for a 
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