The Merc:
eBay has decided to eliminate nearly 300 Bay Area jobs, including more than 200 in San Jose, the company has told a state labor agency.
The job cuts are due to be completed by July 20, eBay stated in notices to the state’s Employment Development Department. Affected employees were notified in the final week of June.
And:
Over the one-year period that ended in March, eBay lost $1.64 billion on revenues of $9.84 billion.
It’s not that people don’t want to buy other people’s stuff. eBay’s core model is still working. The trouble is more their growth areas that overlap with Amazon, Google, and Alibaba. Tough competition.
Interesting. We’ve occasionally used Amazon to sell used books and DVDs, but recent changes in their policy added new requirements to allow the latter. Since we don’t sell in bulk, we’re no longer qualified to sell an old copy of a movie we no longer want.
Assuming we’re not the only consumers affected by this sort of thing, I’d have thought eBay would get that business in significant enough numbers.
I think eBay still struggles with the perception that it’s an auction site. I haven’t bid more than 2 times max in the last decade, but have bought lots of stuff on eBay.
Auctions are “fun” for some, and are actually best for things like collectibles, where they really help to set prices. But most people hate the hassle. So anyway, it would be nice if eBay did a campaign to show people how (1) using auctions is not a primary feature of the site now and (2) their prices are often way better than Amazon. Most people don’t know either of those facts!