Quote from Hydroblunt:
Good point about Paypal. By the way, Paypal fees have skyrocketed from the time they initially started till they sold to Ebay. And then, once Ebay got a hold of them, they jacked up fees again.
Ebay made a lot of self destructive mistakes around that time.
Their biggest flaw was that they went to large scale retailers and enticed em to sell on Ebay. They destroyed any margins for the small sellers and basically made pricing for new items the same as in the physical stores. Which kinda defeated the purpose of why Ebay was so great, the savings of e-commerce which benefited the buyers & the sellers. Nowdays, there is little cost advantage, the sellers just make money on shipping, the buyers save on tax (maybe) and exchange the chore of driving to the store for wait time of shipping.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as sellers who started early on and hold quality relationships with wholesalers/distributors, those who get overstock and those who get their products the "five finger discount" way.
It's still useful for used items, since even with the absurd fees, it's all profit anyway. Personally, I used to be an avid user but have not touched Ebay in at least 3 years.
I don't think Ebay is going anywhere but their best days are long behind em. I have not seen any effort by EBAY to innovate or improve in years either, seems like they just don't care. Maybe the CEO is too busy decorating her office and scheduling sexual harassment classes.