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 Can Amazon catch eBay in person-to-person auctions? (April) (Page 1)
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| Author | Topic: Can Amazon catch eBay in person-to-person auctions? (April) |
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slurm |
posted 10-23-2000 04:41 PM
 
10/1/00: eBay: "more than 4 million" (they no longer publish the exact number) Yahoo: 3 million eBay shareholders, watch out... your growth has stalled. |
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slurm |
posted 03-01-2000 10:58 AM
3/1/00: eBay 4.1 million Yahoo 1.8 million The question is, if Yahoo didn't offer auctions, would eBay get those 1.8 million listings? In any case, regarding the original question of eBay vs. Amazon, I haven't been impressed by Amazon's efforts in this area yet (although they don't reveal their numbers so it's hard to say for sure how they're doing). When I buy books and CDs on their site the pages are littered with suggestions for 'related' auctions, but it's always junk. Not much synergy there. |
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scripter |
posted 01-27-2000 10:56 AM
Updated numbers: eBay 4 million Yahoo 1.6 million I have to admit, eBay's growth doesn't seem to have been slowed by Yahoo too much yet. I expected that Yahoo would have almost caught up to eBay by now, due to their huge audience and the fact that their auctions are free for sellers. It hasn't happened yet, but it still might. |
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scripter |
posted 11-04-1999 04:26 PM
gatsby, here's something to make you think three times: eBay 8/1/99: 2.5 million items eBay 11/1/99: 3.1 million items Yahoo 8/1/99: 500,000 items Yahoo 11/1/99: 1 million items So eBay's growth was slightly larger in absolute terms, but far slower in percentage terms. The reason to invest in eBay a year ago was that they appeared to have a lock on person-to-person auctions. Even if Yahoo doesn't catch up to them, the market is clearly fragmenting (Amazon, Fairmarket, etc.) and their monopoly is vanishing. I see the stock continuing to fall. |
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gatsby |
posted 11-04-1999 09:45 AM
Forget Amazon - i think the real battle is between Yahoo and eBay. Check out this quote I just read: "But now that Yahoo! has crossed the million daily auction mark, and with eBay's site continuing to have downtime problems, eBay's single revenue stream of seller fees looks quite vulnerable, especially considering that the competition offers the same service for FREE. Amazon and Yahoo! have the advantage of multiple revenue streams, which allows them to compete in auctions without charging sellers a fee. Eventually, that price competition is going to put a hurt on eBay's model." This makes a great point, and suddenly makes me think twice before investing in eBay. |
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infooverload |
posted 08-05-1999 04:13 PM
Personally, I think the main problem with eBay is that their business plan, though it works very well, is not scalable. Amazon, on the other hand, can easily grow in any direction it wants. They can always add another product or service on top of its existing ones; adding auctions was kind of an easy afterthought. eBay will find it much more difficult to move and expand beyond their core business, diversifying their revenue stream. So sure, eBay is doing fine now, but the key to long-term success is adaptability and scalability (and of course exceptional management, which neither has), so I think eBay comes up a little short in those areas vis-a-vis Amazon. |
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newinvestor |
posted 08-05-1999 12:08 PM
Machiavelli, I also am not sure if I agree with you. You have to remeber the size of the userbase that yahoo has(outside of the auctions) I don't know how many people are registered with Yahoo but its a lot! A lot more than the total number of ebay users i'm sure. Anyhow, I think as sellers realize that yahoo is free for them they will begin to use it more often. If I was in the business of selling in online auctions i'd probably go with them, and assume the difference in population of the sites will be made up for by the lack of selling fees. I also think the gap between their sizes will continue to shrink as Yahoo is continues to cross-market its auction services with its other services. So, i guess i didn't really answer the question, but rather changed the question to say i think yahoo will end up a major player, if not the biggest player in this market. |
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Trader Joe |
posted 08-05-1999 10:47 AM
I'm not so sure. Check out the growth numbers for the last two months: eBay 6/1/99: 2.1 million items eBay 8/1/99: 2.5 million items Yahoo 6/1/99: 260,000 items Yahoo 8/1/99: 500,000 items Which is more impressive? eBay grow more in absolute terms (400K vs. 240K), but Yahoo grew much more in percentage terms (90% vs. 20%). Based on this, I don't know if Yahoo will ever catch eBay, but I do think it's a realistic possibility, especially considering that Yahoo is free for sellers whereas eBay isn't. |
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Machiavelli |
posted 08-05-1999 09:00 AM
eBay reached critical mass too quickly to have to worry about Amazon, or Yahoo for that matter. Even after all of their high profile outages, eBay's site still has more than four times the listings that Yahoo's free auction site has. |
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Art Vandelay |
posted 05-24-1999 02:24 PM
Two important points in the Amazon vs. eBay comparison: - eBay has a community. Amazon doesn't. - eBay is enabling something to be done which couldn't be done without the internet. Amazon isn't. (You wouldn't be able to find the stuff on eBay anywhere offline, but you could visit your local bookstore or CD store to get most of what you can get from Amazon). I give the edge to eBay... |
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Ernie Atkinson |
posted 05-17-1999 03:46 PM
Long term; best *service* wins. My guess, eBay. |
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Ronnie Rogers |
posted 05-08-1999 10:05 AM
The auction business has been great for Amazon.com, but some of the 100 charter merchants who helped the company launch its auction site are pulling out in frustration. http://www.news.com/News/Item/Textonly/0,25,36022,00.html |
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Lee R |
posted 05-04-1999 01:11 PM
Pat, I agree that Amazon will be acquiring someone in the auction space, but it won't be eBay, because eBay's market cap is almost the same as Amazon's now. |
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Pat Kelly |
posted 05-01-1999 11:53 AM
Amazon will have shored up it's auction site with customer incentives to its own subscriber base and/or everyone to come near to catching ebay and with it's future financial clout might even takeover ebay with an offer it can't refuse. Definately I see Amazon trying to acquire Ubid or some CO"s like that to fatten it's auction prospects. |
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JHirsch |
posted 04-28-1999 07:07 PM
Humanity, If i'm not mistaken, users aren't bound by any type of contract at either Amazon or Ebay so they could conceivably use both to attempt to auction online. This might allow Amazon to get more of a user base and compete more easily with Ebay. Also, Amazon's existing customer base can probably be pushed to try the Amazon site, and since they will already be there buying books, cds, and just about everything else they will likely at least give it a shot. After that its got a lot to do with how easy the software is to use and what restrictions Amazon, or in the future, the Government puts on these types of purchases. Jake Hirsch |
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