Ebay Earnings Report

Just to make sure everyone knows, that phrase "31% slump in fourth-quarter profit" means that ebay is still making a huge profit, just not as much of a profit as they used to make.

It would not surprise me in the least.

Far be it from me to defend ebay, but their fees still haven't reached what is considered "standard" at virtually any auction house. Try selling something on Heritage, and you'll see what a fee is all about.

eBay's sales are down and they've changed their fee structure and feedback structure in a way that favours buyers. My own opinion is that they want to attract more buyers to an already huge base of sellers and, as an upside to their actions, weed out some of the junk on the site that doesn't or rarely sells. Are they "in trouble" financially? I wouldn't say so at this point, but they're concerned.

It is still a service that is hard to beat even with the increasing fees. The key is to make decent sales, which is still possible. The feedback, which is been discussed in volumes, is concerning as I can already see buyers becoming more aggressive in their demands knowing that there is no reprocussion to them as long as they're willing to pay.

Also, they can't be compared directly to an auction house because of those added value services the person above me mentioned.

I hope things work out as the site is beneficial to buyers and sellers when it's working as was originally intended. Right now they are scrambling somewhat though, as are most across North America.