KPA / August 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

CONGRATULATIONS Paypal!!!

Now to address a few points Michelle has brought up. Before you get defensive let me say I have my issues with Paypal. BOY-O-BOY as a seller do I have issues with MANY of eBay’s policies being shoved down seller’s throats these days…but I understand them completely.

Competition is a very good thing in the market place but one thing day to day working folks don’t always understand is the fact that the global market is dog-eat-dog with the only “winner” being the powerhouse dominating the top rung of the ladder at the time. eBay/Paypal ONLY have to answer to Wall Street and its shareholders, not their customers, the lowely sellers who help them achieve that power and dominance in the market.

I do not begrudge them their success one iota and know they have done the necessary work, investing, leveraging or whatever method they have used to get to that position. While I don’t agree with their buyer is always right decicions I have two choices play by their rules or find a new venue.

Paypal is not the reason Google Checkout has not been able to grow. Google’s management team is the reason and I’d bet money they know it too. It is not eBay’s responsibility to give Google a piece of the pie and I’d bet money Google wouldn’t give eBay the time of day is they owned it and eBay/Paypal wanted a piece of it either.

Putting the shoe on the other foot here I wouldn’t want a competitor to put their items in the same listing as mine that I paid to post on any site for sale. Why should eBay allow a competitor onto their site? Google hasn’t invested the time or money to grow eBay’s business, eBay has done that and they have been successful doing so.

eBay execs were smart to not allow other checkout companies to get a piece of their market share, that’s smart business whether we like it or not.

The one drawback to the total dominance of the market at this time that I see is Paypal’s desire to make every country use Paypal only as they tried in Australia. That was the testing ground to pave the way to doing it elsewhere. It’s nice that there are checks and balances when companies get to big for their britches but let’s not forget that we live in a free market economy. As a stockholder eBay had darned (I said that nicely Richard) well better make me money by whatever means they have to or I’ll dump their butts and be out of here looking for a company who did want to make me money and grow my portfolio.

I too am a eBay Powerseller and I honestly don’t like many of the changes Donahoe and company are implementing on sellers but on the flip side of that I applaud their predecessors for capturing Paypal and turning it into the money maker that it is for stockholders.

Now if they can just learn to protect their sellers…THEIR CUSTOMERS more instead of ALWAYS siding with bad buyers it would be the best of both worlds at my house :)

Again, I congratulate the folks at eBay and Paypal for taking a good idea and making it successful. That’s no small feat in the treacherous world of ecommerce and they have truly earned it.

KPA / August 6th, 2008 at 5:51 am

I have been working my butt of making money :)

I have yet to see another consignment seller putting their items in my listing. On my office furniture listings right now I see ZERO listing for office furniture besides my own. Nor do I see mine in competitors listings. I have from time to time seen eBay’s advertisers down at the bottom but it wasn’t for what I had listed.

eBay execs do have to anwer to people other than the board members. They are not immune from liability. Donahoe and company know the SEC will crack their knuckles big time if they catch them doing something illegal or unethical. They can screw their sellers over all day long and get away with it but not the SEC, it just doesn’t work that way Henrietta.

As for your statement, “I am interested to learn how owning stock in a company that has never paid dividends and declined over 50% in the last two years could be considered growing your portfolio?” Unless you are a stockholder of ANY company, not just eBay where you are in it for the long haul then I can’t explain this to you. This blog wouldn’t be the place to go into that much detail. Plus, that is the job of your investment advisor to educate you on how the process of investing for your long term retirement works. What I will say to make it as easy for you to understand as possible, sometimes a stock price does decline throughout the quarters, it isn’t always a steady upward climb. Fortunately gains are made long term.

I truly believe if Donahoe and company will start supporting sellers by reducing more of the fees and stop giving bad buyers free reign to ruin reputations that took years to build in the market then sellers will support the site more. One thing I don’t think Donahoe realizes is PEOPLE SUPPORT THAT WHICH SUPPORTS THEM. He is looking to please stockholders and Wall Steet and not his customer base. Sure, the recent changes have hurt stock prices because sellers are not being supported by the changes. This is only part of the problem. I think there is time to turn it around, maybe not with the current management team but only time will tell if Donahoe’s strategy will work. If not then we sell our stock and move to a company that knows how make money for their shareholders. Again, time will bear all this out.

My husband and I are debt free and looking to continue the growth of our portfolios for retirement in the next year or two. Some divisions of eBay are money makers, some are not right now. I sincerely hope Donahoe will be able to find the right combination of strategies for each division of eBay to help us do that.

Patricia1 / August 6th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

From what I understand we will soon have competitor’s items right on our listing pages like it or not! So, between hiding duplicate listings and watering down our listings with other competitors – one wonders how far ebay thinks it can go before the last seller leaves?

KPA / August 7th, 2008 at 5:14 am

what makes you think he’ll have second thoughts? The only thing I believe will accomplish this is if the changes his organization are implementing do not produce the results they are hoping for the value of their shares to increase. Most analyst believe two quarters are needed to determine if changes are working or bringing about a turnaround or upward increase in price. If this does not happen then Donahoe and company will be in a very bad position. CEO’s are not immune from being run off. Granted they negotiate their golden parachute ahead of time so it’s no strain on their finances but their reputation in the marketplace suffers greatly.

Even if eBay’s auction sites suffers if the rest of their holding produce profits then they can focus on the problem for the low producing segment and keep chugging along. Since they own more than just eBay.com U.S. the picture is much bigger than what buyers and sellers of the site see. Think of it as one spoke or rib of a large umbrella, just because one rib is broken the umbrella can still function. Fix the broken rib and VOILA, everyone dry and happy again.

Donahoe is not a stupid guy and neither is his team. They have a plan and only time will tell if it will increase profits for the company and its stockholders. If it doesn’t they will definitely be having second thought.

Patricia1 / August 7th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Rexibit – I saw something on their site once that was a key – a tiny little thing that supposedly changed numbers when you used Paypal. I didn’t take the time to look into it. Is that what you’re talking about? If so, it should still be on the site somewhere.

Henrietta / August 7th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

@ Rexibit:

I believe you are thinking of the PP security key for logging into your account. Here is the PayPal information page, http://tiny.cc/7xwjY