Is "Buy It Now" about to go bye-bye?

digicat

Gov sides against Ebay in Patent case...

I guess there's more than one way to make a lot of money on a good idea...

1) use the idea to make money.
2) wait for someone else to do a better job making money on it, then sue them.

RonBurgundy

I hope it does. I'm getting tired of seeing 10,000 BIN listings show up from Ebay stores when I do searches.



Ron

mikeschmidt

<< <i>I hope it does. I'm getting tired of seeing 10,000 BIN listings show up from Ebay stores when I do searches.

Ron >>



I think "Buy It Now" may be slightly different, from a conceptual standpoint, than a pure fixed-price listing....which is what is in the stores.

digicat

I like the BIN feature. If I'm just looking to sell something quick, I might put it up for a BIN that's a few $ less than what the normal rate for it is, and I don't have to deal with 7 days of waiting, dead beat bidders, etc.

kingraider75

They will just change the name to "Instant Buy" or something, I doubt the concept will vanish from ebay.

ArnyVee

I sure hope that they don't do away with Buy It Now. I love being able to find those hard to find cards that someone wants to sell quickly!

Plus, I love to list things in my eBay store. I'm sure that the terminology will change, but the feature will stay.

jayhawke

25 million is pocket change for ebay. They should pay it and move on or just pay the company off.



<< <i>I guess there's more than one way to make a lot of money on a good idea... >>

Microsoft has been doing it for years.

sagard

Either outcome with the case will lead to increased Ebay fees and the BIN will not go away. Ebay will either have to pay to license the "technology" and pass it on to it's users, or they will charge more to defray their ever increasing legal costs of doing business.

Tabe

<< <i>They will just change the name to "Instant Buy" or something, I doubt the concept will vanish from ebay. >>


The concept is what the lawsuit is about, not the name. Just changing the name would still mean Ebay is infringing. They should just pay the $$$ and get it over with.

Tabe

bishop

I agree it is the concept and not the mere term at issue, but I am not sure from just the article exactly what concept. Is it the alternative to "buy it now" or in the alternative make some lower bid, in which case the buy it now feature disapears. Does it also cover the "buy it now" feature if the feature does not disappear upon a lower bid ? Does it cover the "buy it now" feature when there is no alternative to bid lower, such that it functions not as an auction but more like a shop price. I guess we will find out soon enough

helionaut

I swear I will never understand patents on things like that. Amazon was able to win a patent a few years ago with their "1-Click buy" thing, so I don't see how this is any different. And yet, both things are hardly unique, revolutionary ideas. I understand that they don't have to be, but there is still the idea of inevitable invention or something. It's like if I invent a car that runs on water, someone will claim to have a patent on the hose.