...COULD... anyone successfully compete with eBay?
topstuf
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I'm not sure some smart dealer (or consortium of dealers) has the brains to start a coin listing site.
Of course it wouldn't have the "eyes" of eBay, but a ridiculously low commission structure and a forward looking attitude could sure do a helluva start.
PayPal was a stroke of genius.
Sure seems a big bank would assist just to get the float.
...COULD... anyone successfully compete with eBay?
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I prefer GC
Excellent example.
Nobody even close today, eBay was in the right place at the right time.
They're sure doing a swell job of getting out of it..
I think if usacoinbook.com had some backing(upgrade their site a bit) and advertised they could give them a run for their money with coins.
The coin part of eBay is possibly more trouble to eBay than what it is worth. Too many kvetchers.
Not for me as an occasional buyer.
“...COULD... anyone successfully compete with eBay?”
Sure, why not? Just need a twist or find a niche.
Facebbeak, Tweety, eBayu, Amasses, and not to mention those in foreign lands with other names doing the same thing. Whew!
Find an innovative twist write the code in your bathtub while humming “In the Money” and have your friends promote.
Billions later...
Any would be competitor faces the same challenges that eBay does.
Would you sell a coin on Coin Site X that came with zero insurance against fraud, for example?
On eBay, you pay for services. Those services include EYEBALLS! EYEBALLS! EYEBALLS!, but also things like buyer/seller protection, business services, etc. There are also all kinds of fixed costs associated with website design, development and support. Those fixed costs would be HIGHER (as a % of business) on a smaller platform.
Your answer is already available in the absence of such a platform. People like to make money. If there was a way to successfully compete with eBay, it would be happening. You have attempts like Etsy out there. But, guess what, they aren't any cheaper to use.
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Keep in mind to compete with eBay on their scale they just can't sell coins.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Not really. AFAIK, GC only deals in coins.
Ebay is awesome.
This right here. They came of age when they internet started booming and quickly became the name/face for collectors of all types. You not only need dealers and coin experts, but probably more importantly, you need marketing and tech experts.
Positive BST Transactions (buyers and sellers): wondercoin, blu62vette, BAJJERFAN, privatecoin, blu62vette, AlanLastufka, privatecoin
#1 1951 Bowman Los Angeles Rams Team Set
#2 1980 Topps Los Angeles Rams Team Set
#8 (and climbing) 1972 Topps Los Angeles Rams Team Set
Are any foreign sites successful outside of their home country, specifically with coins?
I have on occasion bought off of BidOrBuy, South Africa's equivalent. The problem I see with any alternate site is that it's mostly used by local collectors and dealers. In South Africa, it means it is a potential source for South African coins but on the few occasions I have looked, nothing else for the discriminating buyer because South Africans don't collect anything of value from elsewhere and I have never seen a foreign seller list anything.
To compete with eBay, it would take a company like GC that wanted to grow their selling platform. Imagine GC adding a BIN and Best Offer section to current platform where coin sellers could post their own coin photos and a membership was required to eliminate scam sellers, AT sellers and counterfeit sellers. Imagine a company that really cared about the quality of their coin sellers and product that was for sale. Imagine a seller group that provided photos and coin descriptions that were accurate. Imagine a site with reasonable rates for sellers. Yes it could be done and all that would be left at eBay would be the garbage coin sellers.
the short answer is Of course.
just think of...
J W Woolworth
W T Grants
Sears
K Mart
Toys R Us
Myspace
AOL
All industry leaders at one time, now if not just a memory, a poor shadow of what they once were. Someday E Bay will join them
For a shortwhile back in 2011 and 2012 i was quite successful selling coins on yardsellr.com until they shut down unexpectedly. I think a successful competitor could happen with determination and enough capital behind the business to start.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
E_Bay takes a 5% comm from a store selling coins? Is a deep pocket co willing to set up the infrastructure for 4%? 3%? 2%?
Seems easy to compete but expensive to build a brand.
Will Netflix be gone in a few years? Isn't it easy for a deep pocket co to compete?
I wonder if Yahoo were to have an auction site if it would succeed? Oh wait, didn't eBay take the lead and win that war.
To successfully compete or replace eBay, they would have to have a great site capable of taking the eBay flow for EVERYTHING, not just coins. Then they would have to somehow get an edge on eBay which I think would be very difficult. At this point in time I am sure it is possible, just not probable.
Can GC compete with eBay coins? I do not see GC allowing individual users to just log in and posting coins for sale at will. With counterfeits and such it would be a headache to monitor. Can they do it, I am sure they could. Could it be a great competitor, I am sure it could be. But eBay will still be a competitor and I could only imagine the headache and additional infrastructure that would be required to make it work. Just imagine your thoughts and complaints if all you saw on GC were the never ending list of over priced cleaned PCGS/NGC coins in your search lists...over and over and over and over again...
I think eBay is eBay and they made a good run. Good luck to anyone trying to compete. The listers and bidders have spoken.
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Kidding. It needs to happen
Of course!! I still prefer a couple of my favorite websites then ebay and there all over the country!!
That's all we're considering. The narrower the niche, the better it could flex for the market.
eBay wouldn't ....laugh... at losing coins.
PCGS took ANACS to the woodshed.
Imagine a company that could provide all that for less than what eBay charges. All that stuff costs. Is that GC? I don't know.
I think this is GC fanboy nonsense.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
This is the issue. These people are living in an unrealistic business world where everything of value can be had for free. There's a reason that auction companies have BP/SP of 10-30% and still aren't making billions.
I mean, people, THINK! Your credit card company charges a couple percent just to transfer payments. How are you going to run a full service auction company for a couple percent?
Any eBay equivalent is going to have equivalent fees.
Amazon has 20% fees. Even GC, everyone's hero, has fees of OVER 10%. GC is 13%+ if you include PayPal or CC fees which you would have to pay. I mean, how many of you are going to do a direct bank transfer to some stranger selling coins on GCBay?
eBay remains the cheapest venue for coins and other items outside of "classified ads".
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
You lose all the economies of scale by shrinking. Amazon didn't start to make money until they got huge. And, again, ask Ian if he could run the company for less than the 10% he charges now.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
And if that's true, I GUARANTEE it will NOT be because someone co-opted the Ebay business model. It will be because someone had a disruptive business model.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
Any competitor would have to allow people to list their stuff and ship directly. Great Collections, while beloved, is not a competitor of Ebay in any way. I think the only company that could pull it off is Amazon.
Exactly. There's no way a seller could get more money shipping their $50 coin to GC and letting them do all the work than if they did it themselves through eBay.
And Amazon's cost structure for sell-through businesses is higher than eBay which is probably why there is essentially zero coin business on Amazon.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
I keep hearing how much it costs to sell through E-Bay. My wife complains how much her selling commissions have been in the 2 months her store has been open.
I ask her if she would be happy if E-Bay cut her sales commissions and paid for it through the reduction of the Ebucks program? She told me that the program increases her sales and helps her buy some new inventory at discounted prices. I said, are you truly paying a 5% commissions to sell?
So I ask..... are E-Bay's competitors starting to give their customers $100 off for each coin they buy (up to 5 a quarter?
Amazon could do it, Google could, Facebook could...but!!! If a serious competitor does emerge, eBay would likely improve until said competitor failed and then they'd go back to their current format.
Amazon tried, but abandoned the effort.
A lot of the complaints with eBay costs are people that were spoiled by the lower costs in the early days of eBay. The cost of doing business on eBay remains lower than any other venue...except classified ads. But the fee structure is higher than those halcyon golden days TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! Of course it is also a more mature marketplace with more eyeballs and more services, but those services do have a cost we pay.
The online environment remains robust for most market segments [clothes, books, etc]. Coins are a problem because of the thin margins. For example, 3% PayPal fees alone makes selling bullion unprofitable even if the eBay fees were zero. When you add in 3% PayPal and 6% eBay and now sales tax costs, it creates a rather challenging fee structure RELATIVE TO THE OLD DAYS.
But if you compare apples-to-apples, you have the same problems even with a B&M store UNLESS you are in a state with no sales tax on coins. But even then, you can't transact with people in other states. And eBay rent is much lower than a retail establishment.
eBay is still the cheapest place to run any business. But the costs do make it hard on coin dealers and might cause a shift in strategy for many coin dealers as other coin segments join bullion as unprofitable on eBay.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
Thinking along these lines led me to start Collectivecoin. But what I realized was that getting a network effect going is HARD. And it's even harder if an acceptable option like ebay already exists, even if the fees and hassle make people unhappy.
I'm glad to see CC is still growing though!
Never say never but as for now eBay is the best coin shop on planet earth and there is ZERO indication this will be changing in the immediate future.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
...COULD... anyone successfully compete with eBay?
Sure. As long as they can reliably demonstrate that people can expect to sell their stuff there and end up with more money than had they listed it on eBay.
I can't address the past since my wife only had a store over the past few months.
She sells primarily $20 gold pieces. Let's say the costs (all in ) are 9%? She can't sell the low grade most common years. As you say, there is no margin there. THus she might as well sell the low grade coins to dealers (close to spot) if she wishes to move those coins. E-Bay works for her on the better years, better grades, that have a bit more elasticity regarding selling price. She offers CAC coins which can sell at somewhat better prices. So bullion? She has none for sale. E-Bay is not a market for her t sell those coins. your point is valid. She must be in the area of $20 gold where buyers will step up a bit (especially with their $100 E-Bucks) and pay the price she needs. Without the E-Bucks another group of coins won't sell.
The sales taxes? Definitely limits the market. Doesn't B&M have the same problem? Coin shows? Are taxes charged? My wife can't control what others do.
My point is that the E-Bucks really works for her both as a buyer and seller. Thus, as the thread was about competing with E-Bay all I am saying is that I want to see competition giving $100 off each coin my wife buys. With discounts/incentives are the selling costs really unmanageable @ 9%? E-Bay might have been a much better place to sell in the past but our recent experience is all we know.
Can't be both, unless eBay is forgoing income they could have kept for themselves. The E-Bucks have to come from somewhere.
E_Bay takes the full 5% vig when she sells without any promos. They indirectly redistribute some of those revenues via E-BUcks. She benefits when the E-Bucks is offered to others. E-Bay still takes their full cut from her which is mostly passed on to the buyer. However, she dells the coin for more than she normally could get since the buyer has a $100 credit.
Separately, she benefits on the buy side through the program.
Agree GC is a growing and popular alternative for coins.
I wouldn't say GC is unsuccessful, so does that mean they are successfully competing with eBay?
It is difficult to imagine a company execute their current business model much better or more efficiently than eBay. So either it will be a long, slow decline, or perhaps more likely they are usurped by a different business model.
Open a McDonalds. It will make coins your hobby.
With a lot more reliability.
I wouldn't even think of coins for a business today.
I think one can still be very successful with coins. A number of dealers and sites seem very successful including Legend, CRO, @ErrorsOnCoins and GC. Justin seems to be making a great go at it with MonsterCoinMart.
Peanuts compared to the use of the same capital with better margin.
Anything is possible. Watch who Amazon will gobble up in the distant near future.
You can’t run a company on arrogance and you can’t ignore grandmas cookies either.
I get the impression that the entire OP is about peanuts relative to eBay as it is related to "start a coin listing site" when eBay is way more than a coin listing site.
It's a different type of venue. Is Stack's or Heritage an eBay analogue? No, they are a traditional auction house as is GC.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
This is very true. Horrible margins on coins. You'd be better off selling stamps or sports cards or almost any other collectible.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, evn when irrefutably accurate.
We're talking about a coin listing site, and all of those are successful coin listing sites. Why does being a "traditional auction house" matter if all have coins and all have Internet auctions?