Re: eBay fixes a leak Message #24 Posted by bill platt on 10 Mar 2006, 8:03 a.m., in response to message #23 by Karl Schneider
Hi Karl,
(please see this as a friendly rebuttal:-)
First of all, I have no idea where you get the idea of "repeated relistings"--if there is yet another "loophole" it is one I was not aware of. Only one (1) relisting is possible for any initial listing--ebay software makes that happen automatically.
Your point number 3 is based on assumtptions and is not at all true nor reasonable for evey case. Ebay auctions are 10 days (unless you want to pay extra) and while the exposure is potentially huge, for many items the actual exposure to potentiual buyers is often extremely small. It just so happens that there is a really dynamic and active marketplace for calculators and so one might start to believe that it is *always* like that for *all* products--it is *not*.
Some things are listed to "test the waters." If you cannot find good data--not enough comparables--then being able to re-list with a different item, after you get no bidders, is just good business sense on ebay's part--it encourages sellers to try to sell new things, but without simply throwing money away.
Of course the sellers are paying for the service! 5% off the top, for every sale! (Less percent for big-ticket items). As well as the listing fee. Note that since the listing fee for a 99cent auction is 20cents but that for $500 is essentialy $5.00, ebay believes a couple of things:
1. That they "carrying cost" for their bandwidth is less than 20 cents per 10 days. (OK, I'm not using that term rigorously, but I think it is still essentially true).
2. That in order to encourage listing of expensive items, it is better to rely on final sale fees rather than listing fees.
Regards,
Bill
Edited: 10 Mar 2006, 9:01 a.m.
|