Comments on: The Real eBay Magic: Irrational Commerce http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/ The personal blog of Adam Nash Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:08:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: I Need to Blog More & Tweet Less « Psychohistory http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-28348 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:07:24 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-28348 [...] Blogging allows me to collect and share opinions about topics of interest (e.g. The Real eBay Magic: Irrational Commerce) [...]

]]> By: Coin Treasure » May 29, 2009: 2009 Dime Auction, Coin Shortages and Hoarding, US Mint Commericial http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-26312 Fri, 29 May 2009 20:07:18 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-26312 [...] There have been a round of extremely thought provoking articles on eBay as the venue continues to morph into a much different experience for buyers and sellers. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s Auctions fade as eBay offers wholesale items at fixed prices, TechCrunch’s How Facebook, MySpace and YouTube Killed eBay, and fellow coin collector Adam Nash’s The Real eBay Magic: Irrational Commerce. [...]

]]> By: Bruce http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-26310 Fri, 29 May 2009 18:05:40 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-26310 eBay could gain a significant margin of its lost seller base (and their desirable inventory), if they simply made the fee structure more realistic again for sellers.

The 2008 fee structure for the new fixed price format really only helped large commodity sellers, especially those with SKU based product.

Time is money and by now, many former sellers realize that a cashier at Wal-Mart makes more money per hour than the average ebay seller in 2009. eBay underestimates that people talk and the word got out awhile ago on this…

You are absolutely right; ebay selling was more about a lifestyle than about the money actually earned. eBay could once again tap into this but they need to realize they can ultimately make MORE money by charging LESS.

]]> By: Jim Griffith http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-26306 Fri, 29 May 2009 03:59:27 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-26306 Hi Adam,

Great piece. Spot on in fact. (by the way, first eBay Live was in 2002 in Anaheim. The second, in Orlando, was in 2003.)

regards,

Griff

]]> By: James Reffell http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-26297 Wed, 27 May 2009 17:32:36 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-26297 I agree with this wholeheartedly. It’s actually easier for me to see now, out of the eBay bubble — my personal buying habits were changed by being an employee. Now that I’ve been out a bunch of years, it turns out I’m … a collector! Of old role-playing games. Weird.

Some of the game aspects still work for me. Completing a collection — oh yes. Finding something that’s undervalued? You bet. The auction and competition part, not so much — I’m that frugal collector for whom the point is to see how much you can find under $10.

Though there is this one rare game that usually goes for $180 that I’d love to get my hands on…

]]> By: Tom Vaughan http://blog.adamnash.com/2009/05/27/the-real-ebay-magic-irrational-commerce/#comment-26296 Wed, 27 May 2009 15:25:17 +0000 http://blog.adamnash.com/?p=1177#comment-26296 After reading the article on TechCrunch, I knew that you would have an insightful response. I agree with your view completely… eBay is not a social networking site, or a video sharing site like YouTube. eBay is designed around buying and selling.

Still, as a product manager, I can’t help but feel that eBay’s design is stale, and not nearly as engaging as it could be. I agree with your conclusion that sites like eBay could learn from Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. In particular… what entices a person to contribute their opinion? What (in the site design) entices a casual observer to actively participate? For eBay, does active participation always have to mean bidding or selling? Sites like Amazon have turned user contributed ratings into a valuable part of their property. I feel that eBays feedback could be vastly improved. Why not let users independently rate products (particularly standard makes and models) and sellers?

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