Sunday, April 26, 2009
Why eBay seems to have cracks in its armor....
I read a number of stories about eBay prior to posting this. Some talked about ill-advised purchases (Skype, StumbleUpon), while others discussed the need to clean up some of the decisions of former CEO Meg Whitman, but the idea for this post actually started when my father-in-law asked me the difference between Craigslist and eBay. The answer should have been easy, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wasn't that simple. Craigslist has decimated newspaper classified sections, and it still feels like a on-line garage sale, but it is growing forward into having a wider and wider number of items available. eBay, though slick, nation-wide, and easy to use, is restruggling with identity. How do they position themselves between Amazon.com and Craiglists.org? What is the future of eBay as you see it?
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Well this is kinda related to the next article a decade ago. What is becoming more popular? eBay used to be the most popular site, it seemed to be directed mainly towards local people selling and buying important and unimportant items. This problem with ebay can be assimilated to the news paper epidemic and why it is quickly disapearing. Craiglist has alot of information locally even a medical section. Bob is right, when comparing ebay and craigslist they are quit similar.Craigslist and many other sites are full of helpful information that can be benificiary to many. Maybe ebay can think of something to push them ahead, someone is always inventing a new idea that advances our technology.
ReplyDeleteAmazon seems to be eating Ebay away slowly by slowly. I noticed this when buying text books online.I was searching for a Business text book of which Ebay had and it seemed i was not the highest bidder at the time.There were three more days to bid on this book but i didnot have time to wait. I ended up going to Amazon.com whereby i got an international version of the same book, Had same material and the cost was reasonable. Registered members of ebay aim to make the maximum profit they can get. With sites like Amazon, at this time of bad economy, then this is not significant. Craiglist on the other hand seems to be falling on the same platform with ebay compared to amazon. Although people can advertise their merchandise freely and can decide on what to charge. There are as many people taking advantage of this site especially car sellers.If not careful, you can easily buy a broken car in craig list. People have become aware of such circumstances and are staying away from such sites.-Annah
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