eBay is the greatest thing that ever happened to sites like Craig's List and Etsy... and one of the best examples you could find of how to make a sow's ear out of a silk purse full of money.
Maybe they're right and they'll end up making more money this way, but I can't help but think that all they're doing is opening the door for other people to pick up the market that they're abandoning --the small, individual sellers. That's where CL, Etsy, Audiogon and other "niche" players can come in and take up the slack. Less hassle, easier to list, and friendly to the little guy. I thought one of the great advantages of the computer and the Internet is that it lowered the cost enough for the little guy to access a big market. Some sites, fortunately, still focus on that.
I don't accept that somehow all the little stuff has disappeared because it has already been sold on eBay. For everything sold, there is a buyer. That buyer --or his/her heirs-- eventually becomes a seller. People's tastes change, their financial circumstances change, their priorities change, and they die...all reasons to (re)sell. Also, brand new things are bought that gradually become old things. People "upgrade" stuff and have previous versions to sell. There will ALWAYS be old stuff around that someone wants to clear out. It may not be the exact SAME stuff, as gradually things break or wear out or get destroyed in disasters, but there will always be old stuff around that someone no longer wants, and therefore always a certain supply of goods for a market like eBay.
They didn't HAVE to change their focus to larger-scale suppliers of new stuff. They didn't HAVE to try to be Amazon. But they decided to.
To some extent, I think maybe they did "have to", though, because Amazon added a feature for smaller sellers to sell USED items, as well. With that one relatively simple stroke, they must have cut deeply into the eBay market.
Sadly, though, eBay's response has been to try to become Amazon and focus primarily on the bigger sellers of newer stuff, instead of trying to build on their strengths as a better place for the smaller, individual seller. OF course, it's easier and less expensive and more profitable to serve fewer, larger sellers than more, smaller ones... but only if you are competitive in that market.
The real question is... does the Internet need more than one of each type of channel, or is it (are we) best served by one semi-monopolistic seller? Is a single, unified marketplace more efficient and/or effective than a more splintered one, given the ease of the net interface to sub-divide things? Should AK have so many separate forums? More, or fewer?
