Don't worry, it won't last. There's never been an online business (so far as I know, anyway) that's held such a huge % of a market share for as long as Ebay has, and you can bet there are plenty of other corporate heavy hitters that have noticed this. At some point in the not so distant future we'll see a viable alternative to Ebay, and it will probably be one that has more stringent requirements to become a seller, since the biggest complaint that most Ebay buyers have is that Ebay isn't concerned about the integrity of their sellers. When will it happen? I don't know. But I'm sure that it will.
Well its nice to see Bidville has resulted to smear tatics in order to get users. Most of the "sellers" there are reject from Ebay. Bidville is a great place to buy to resell on Ebay, but I would not waste my time selling there.
Where yahoo shined was that I could post some thing for free and then point people to the auction page. Would work nice in conjuction with the "buy, sell, trade thread" here. It would be real easy to include a link to the Yahoo auction page.
As far as people "drifting" in from the internet, it was pretty bleak.
My sets: 1977 Topps Star Wars - "Space Swashbucklers"
I think the next model that gives Ebay some genuine competition will be something that makes a point of letting buyers know that the seller's are FIERCELY regulated. If a company could convince the general public that their sellers aren't a bunch of 17 yr. old meth addicts hanging auctions with stolen scans or selling phony Louis Vuitton handbags they could probably do quite well-- particularly if they made higher end goods (over $100, say) their primary focus.
Comments
Another scenerio...
If the feds require that ebay/paypal start issuing 1099s - that will slow things down it bit also.
mike
bv is a viable venue for sellers.
Test item up five days, and no visitors.
Same item on eBay, 22 visitors.
Good thing bidville listings are free.
storm
1099s would certainly bring my selling to an abrupt halt!
Where yahoo shined was that I could post some thing for free and then point people to the auction page. Would work nice in conjuction with the "buy, sell, trade thread" here. It would be real easy to include a link to the Yahoo auction page.
As far as people "drifting" in from the internet, it was pretty bleak.
1977 Topps Star Wars - "Space Swashbucklers"