eBay Rant

Is it just me or has eBay lost some of it's luster?

Don't get me wrong eBay is still the largest e-commerce site in the world but it seems to be having trouble doing what it's supposed to be doing. What's that you ask? Growing.

eBay recently announced an agreement with Yahoo and speculation abounds as to whether the pact will yield a positive or negative outcome for eBay. Per the agreement (and I'm paraphrasing here), Yahoo! ads will now appear alongside ebay listings. The ads will only contain accessory type items and not similar items which would directly compete with eBay listings. eBay will benefit by now appearing on Yahoo! searches which rank behind only Google in total searches. eBay feels the increase in traffic will more then compensate for some of the traffic that maybe departing due the new Yahoo! ads that eBay shoppers will now find alongside eBay auction listings.

I'll tell you what I think as an eBay seller myself. I've been working diligently at the continued development of my own website. There was a time when you could earn a decent income on eBay but those days are gone. eBay is a business and it is in business to make profits. eBay sellers are paying more and more in seller fees and receiving less and less in exposure. Store items are no longer found in regular searches (more on that in another post) and now your auction listings will find indirect accesory item competition (allegedly) from Yahoo! ads.

Your marketing dollars are better spent on developing and marketing your own website these days. eBay has never been a good profit center for me and I doubt it ever has been for you. The fact is that eBay is saturated up to the niches in competition and has always reaped very low margins.

What it is.

eBay is a great place to liquidate merchandise that you're having trouble moving. It's a great tool to use to drive traffic to your off eBay site. And it's a great place to get started and get your feet wet.

Better bang for your buck in developing and marketing your own website. Guaranteed.