John Donahoe Interviews Pierre Omidyar

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 11:08 am Said:

“my sales did great up to 2005, ”

Funny - 2004 is when ebay started to pull away from the excitement of the auction format. (At that time the artists of ebay protested for almost a year and got nowhere and sales there have not been the same since). The auction format should have been enhanced and not the other way around. When they got rid of Going, Going, Gone in 2004 and changed the Browse button to a Buy button the writing was on the wall and the excitement started to seep from the site. Everyone loves an auction atmosphere. When they are in town there is often standing room only. They’re killing that on ebay - totally failing to realize that’s part of what made it so wildly famous in the first place and now they turn around and wonder where all the excitement went! Heck….must be the sellers’ fault - lets bash them but good! Utterly foolish thinking….two wrongs never made one right.

Bill Cosby often told the story of the chicken heart that ate Cleveland. It depicts him as a young boy home alone and watching a scary movie on TV. “The Chicken Heart that Ate Cleveland”. He mimics the sound of the chicken heart…boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom….its coming closer and closer and Cosby’s voice has more and more fear…..finally he can’t contain himself and screams….”the chicken heart is coming…burn the couch!” Of course, burning the couch does no good, and his mom gave him what-for when she got home, but he’s so afraid of what’s coming that he’s not thinking straight. Whenever I see an action that makes absolutely NO sense to me I always think of that and say….hmph…the chicken heart syndrome!

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 11:12 am Said:

@ Crunchy

“I’m not so quick to dismiss Pierre’s continued importance to eBay, because it is his core principles which made eBay so appealing to the average joe in the first place. Without those guiding principles, eBay would have grown into a large corporation, without a care for the community, much sooner than now. eBay is now primarily dominated by corporate managers, who are out of touch with the original intended users, average joes, and that is causing several problems and negative experiences for sellers and buyers.”

I’m not dismissing Pierre’s early principles of what really made the heart of ebay….I am indeed dismissing the principles he’s talking about in the interview. They directly contradict all of what ebay is about and what made it famous.

MechelleOn 05.02.2008 at 12:22 pm Said:

The term disruptive innovation is ridiculously redundant - innovation is new to the system- that’s what it means - the introduction of a new way of doing something that disrupts the norm . Even within an organization a new method, perspective, strategy, or whatever is in fact an innovation - therefore a disruption of the standard practice. The innovation’s worth is measured by its efficiency once it is no longer efficient it is replaced by a new innovation.

Economics is the driving force of the human experience- a simple cost benefit analysis determines changes and/or not making changes. eBay is correct it their acknowledgement that to survive individuals, societies, corporations, and any other business strategy needs to participate in behavior that lends to efficient practices with long term benefits realizing cost effectiveness. I am sure that they recognize , appreciate, and applaud are recognition that to continue doing business within the eBay marketplace is no longer cost effective and it would be a vital mistake for any business to remain within the eBay marketplace if it wants to continue to see the success of its own business goals. The fees, the new default search best match, the role DSRs play in the seller’s market presence, and the feedback changes are all burdens of the success of the businesses subjected to the changes making eBay as a business venue for individuals no longer cost effective.

However, I don’t see how eBay can know that success is dependant on cost effectiveness yet clearly make a choice that will and already is realizing an increased cost to eBay’s success. Why, would anyone with their self-proclaimed superior business sense- intentionally enact policies that with certainly are economically disadvantageous to the health the corporation- that clearly degrade the benefit to the shareholders of eBay stock? As a matter of fact their new policies are neglecting the demands of corporate officers in their fiduciary duties to the corporation , and the board of directors are also noncompliant to the standards of corporate behavior in that they have failed to halt the actions that are clearly harmful to the corporation. If the shareholders had any sense they would be cleaning house before they are left with nothing but valueless stock due to eBay Inc.’s core holding being depleted resulting in the crashing of every other eBay Inc holdings.

All of eBay Inc.’s holding are dependant on the eBay marketplace- lacking insight and long term perspective- they have built a business with one centrifugal independent focus and have made acquisitions that are dependant on the strength of that core business. They have not offered these “complimentary services” and allow them to develop naturally which likely would have resulted in their achieving their own independence within and outside of the eBay marketplace- instead they have forced the utilization of the various services onto the customers of the core business. The only possible outcome is with the fall of the eBay marketplace the rest will crumble as well.

In consideration of the reality that eBay is implementing costly policies how can their actions that result in a clear undermining of the health of eBay Inc. be viewed as acting in the best interest of the corporation, which is a legal requirement for the officers and directors.? It is their fiduciary duty. The share holders apparently are not concerned about their financial solvency or they are being deceived by eBay officers.- from what I see I am inclined to believe there is deception taking place.

Regardless of eBay’s intentional actions of self-harm the lesson we all need to take from this is when something is no longer economically cost effective financially and /or emotionally to remain is to commit suicide. We need to act in our best interest and for me the eBay marketplace is a burden I am no longer willing to carry.

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 1:24 pm Said:

I know of one bit of business they lost already. I have a $20.00 feature plus listing - it is now over 4 days old with just 54 views. Do you think I’m gonna rush to shell out another $20.00 anytime soon? Most of the artists are complaining that views are way way way down…thanks Best Match or whatever other mysterious nonsense ebay is tinkering with lately. On top of the reduced views, last year or so they introduced delayed indexing. This was so they could pull out any suspicious looking listings, check them and put them back (yeah, right)? Or so we were told. Well, that created a Frankenstein in the arts categories. Some sellers have learned how to constantly revise their auctions and because of delayed indexing, they are place right back up at the top of the newly listed list. Some feature plus listings spend their whole 7 to 10 days on page one forcing other listings down in the ranks so that most others never get their chance on that important first page - then they go into the doldrums and finally get some views when they hit ending soonest. We’ve complained about this and they were watched for awhile and now are back in full swing again. Look at the service and the money we are being cheated out of - between Best Match and glitches like this ebay is no longer bringing buyer and seller together! These are some of the things they NEED to look into….do they? Nope…neither will they look into anything else - like protecting their sellers from bad buyers. It all boils down to they’re getting theirs and to heck with the rest of us…and we each know it! Sorry to be so blunt about it - others might add some expletives…even a LOT of expletives. I’m just stating facts…and I see no ebay people coming in here to refute anything I’ve said about the arts categories so far, not about the glitches, not about the fraud…still waiting, but nothing so far!

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn 05.02.2008 at 2:02 pm Said:

@ Patricia

“@crunchy - sounds familiar but the documentary I’m thinking about was all on ebay.”

If you are able to find out what it is called, can you please post it. From what you have written, it sounds like an interesting and informative documentary. I would love to watch it!

CrunchyPostingGoodnessOn 05.02.2008 at 2:06 pm Said:

@ Patricia

“I am indeed dismissing the principles he’s talking about in the interview. They directly contradict all of what ebay is about and what made it famous.”

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding or missing something. Can you elaborate on what principles he is talking about in the interview that are contradictory?

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 2:32 pm Said:

@ Crunchy - in particular the part about us not knowing what’s good for us. He was all for “community” and listening to his customers before this. Now, we’re just so much noise and no longer know what’s good for us. Feedback was supposed to be a two way street - now its not. I could go on and on…but basically Pierre is simply enforcing what Donahoe is feeding him

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 2:36 pm Said:

@ Crunchy - I could be wrong but I believe it is this one:

http://tradermike.net/2005/06/cnbcs_the_ebay_effect_documentary/

It ran a lot in 2005/2006 but it still runs now and then.

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 3:10 pm Said:

@ crunchy - lost my last post….anyway, I think its this documentary: “The eBay Effect - Inside a Worldwide Obsession”. I thought everyone would have seen it by now.

It ran primarily in 2005/2006 but I still see it listed from time to time. I believe that’s the one that had a section with Pierre explaining the very beginnings of Ebay and how he came about to taking Whitman on board.

SandiOn 05.02.2008 at 3:18 pm Said:

@Patricia:

Is it the one MSNBC runs every once in a while?

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 3:33 pm Said:

Yes…I believe it is. Are you familiar with it? Do you remember if it had a segment where Pierre explained how it all began? I think its the one.

JJHOn 05.02.2008 at 5:38 pm Said:

and I see no ebay people coming in here

Nor do I, for any purpose, even Richard hardly makes any replies anymore. Replies to posts are way down, and it’s really starting to look like a one sided bitch blog. Like the discussion forums, without the pink slap.

Funny thing though, most of what everyone has said is true, when seen from the seller perspective.

Speaking of my experiences, I had a listing pulled last night for “keyword spamming”. My crime? I used the words “like new” in the title. BOOM, pulled listing. I was selling a camera lens, which is literally like new, but oh no, can’t say “like new” in the title.

I mean really, what’s all this coming too?

I contacted live help, which was no help, because the agent had no power/authority/responsibility to help me. He just kept parroting the party line, and telling me that he also sold and had listings pulled for using “like new” in the title. When I pointed out that if you did a search on “like new” 6400 items came up from all over the site, including eBay Motors, I asked why those listings were not pulled too? “Is it fair” I asked “that my listing gets taken down and 6400 other people are committing the same violation? If you’re going to make a rule, you have to enforce it unilaterally”. The response was “users report those to us, and yes, we take them down when notified”. “So,” I said “its possible then that another seller who had the same exact lens listed AND used ‘like new in box’ in his title could have reported me to get my listing removed and eliminate me as competition to his item”. I was told oh no, that’s not possible. Uh-huh, OK. Brooklyn Bridge time. Well, I guess I should start reporting those 6400 other listings then…

Patricia1On 05.02.2008 at 8:01 pm Said:

I really doubt it was another user who reported you. I kind of heard a rumor that “new and like new” were being considered keyword spamming but I never heard of a listing being pulled for it. Wow… I have New York in the title of my FP - hope it doesn’t get pulled…the poor thing is dragging along miserably as it is.

BrendaOn 05.04.2008 at 5:12 am Said:

Why does anyone feel that Pierre is being taken advantage of somehow?

I don’t get it.

It was HIS decision to hire Meg. He has Ebay stock in numbers that defy comprehension.

He sits on the board of directors. He created Ebay. Who would be more intimately knowledgeable than he. If he is ignorant of any of the aspects of what is going on that is still ultimately his responsibility.

It isn’t as though he is a child king of yesteryear at the mercy of evil regents. The man is an adult and as such is capable of making adult decisions.

Maybe some of this ” constant … let’s talk ” approach of Ebay is a little bit counter productiv;
it is possible to discuss too much and get nothing accomplished.

And there is a saying … that … Actions speak louder than words.

EricOn 05.04.2008 at 3:06 pm Said:

I remember a story of a nurse whose father had gotten sick and she quit her job and stayed at home to take care of him. She paid the bills by selling on eBay.

To me, that story is eBay. eBay improved the lives of millions through its marketplace. So, although I understand that things have changed in the last ten years, I still feel that it’s that story that is eBay. It’s not someone doing $100M in sales on the site or eBay generating $100B in GMS. It’s the many lives that it changed through the power of its many-to-many marketplace.

I understand that eBay is a public company and is obligated to its shareholders to grow. So, I understand the urge to sign up a Buy.com and import all of their listings into eBay’s marketplace. However, I would urge you to reconsider what steps like this will do to eBay, the community. And I would urge you to take a look at what happened to Google Base when millions of listings were imported into the marketplace at once. It killed it. Google Base never had a chance, and this is why. If you start doing things like importing all of Buy.com’s listings into eBay’s marketplace, you will be infusing this massive supply and completely disrupt any sense of equilibrium in the product lines that they sell for all of the existing sellers of those product lines.

This, to me, seems like eBay is headed down the path of becoming a few-to-many marketplace. I think that would be a monumental mistake to let that happen, and would basically make eBay just like Amazon; a retailer. The power lies in the many, not the few. Because with many, eBay has community. And eBay stays a place where that nurse can quit her job and take care of her sick father. I understand the need to grow, but grow by diving deeper into each of the vertical communities and growing the masses. It’s harder work, and it’s slower at first, but this allows the vertical communities to grow in equilibrium, and it allows many people to succeed.

Just my 2 cents.