Comments on: Merely a venue http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/07/19/merely-a-venue Pontification without all the gritty gravitas Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:30:39 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Tozier http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/07/19/merely-a-venue/comment-page-1#comment-1168 Tozier Sun, 30 Jul 2006 14:06:13 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/07/19/merely-a-venue#comment-1168 There are cognitive conflicts within eBay, I have to imagine. The management and PR people inevitably talk as if buyers <i>buy stuff from eBay</i> --- indeed, they actively promote this idea among the general populace. But of course they don't; we sellers pay the bills. eBay's marketing, in turn, makes it seem in many cases like <i>sellers are service providers for eBay</i>. They've essentially outsourced inventory control to the sellers, and charge them for the privilege of aggregation. At some point back two years or more, aggregation stopped working for collectibles sellers. For commodities sellers, it's fine. For collectibles and one-of-a-kind items... aggregation is not good. There are cognitive conflicts within eBay, I have to imagine. The management and PR people inevitably talk as if buyers buy stuff from eBay — indeed, they actively promote this idea among the general populace. But of course they don’t; we sellers pay the bills.

eBay’s marketing, in turn, makes it seem in many cases like sellers are service providers for eBay. They’ve essentially outsourced inventory control to the sellers, and charge them for the privilege of aggregation.

At some point back two years or more, aggregation stopped working for collectibles sellers. For commodities sellers, it’s fine. For collectibles and one-of-a-kind items… aggregation is not good.

]]> By: Brett http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/07/19/merely-a-venue/comment-page-1#comment-1145 Brett Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:52:28 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/07/19/merely-a-venue#comment-1145 I'm an ebay seller as well, and I must confess that this latest announcement has pushed me as close to the brink of giving up on the venue as I've ever come. My two major objections are the obvious lie being told that store listings cost ebay more than the server space they require, and also the clear message that CEO Bill Cobb is giving that he considers ebay stores as a dead weight to the organization, in need of thinning out. And, in my dealings with googlebase and froogle, it seems pretty clear that they're still a ways off from providing a decent alternative to ebay. I’m an ebay seller as well, and I must confess that this latest announcement has pushed me as close to the brink of giving up on the venue as I’ve ever come.

My two major objections are the obvious lie being told that store listings cost ebay more than the server space they require, and also the clear message that CEO Bill Cobb is giving that he considers ebay stores as a dead weight to the organization, in need of thinning out.

And, in my dealings with googlebase and froogle, it seems pretty clear that they’re still a ways off from providing a decent alternative to ebay.

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