I just read an article about how Skype’s value could grow from an estimated $2.5 B today to $5.0B in 2 years based on the release of Skype for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.

That’s nice.  How about instead, eBay sells Skype today to Google or MS and makes a tidy profit.  Then focuses on the online auction business.

I started using eBay in 1997 and it was awesome.  No bells and whistles. Heck, most sellers didn’t even have pictures on their auctions.  But we bought and sold a lot, at fair prices, and built a community.

Now eBay is swamped with ads, and feedback systems that are trying to solve world hunger rather than meet customers’ needs.  Antiques sell at ridiculously reduced rates because of the inherent risk to the buyer. Legitimate antique businesses can’t afford to do business on eBay.  Online auctions should be thriving in this economy as folks hit by the recession look for other ways to make money.  But instead, eBay’s  growth has slowed or declined.  (Based on what I am seeing, the business is declining)

My advice to eBay is that they need a “do-over.”  You made the market for online auctions, then you got greedy or distracted.  Sell off the businesses that don’t make sense and get back to the basics.  Maybe split the business into Antiques/Collectibles, Resale, New.  The buyers for each segment are different and have different needs.   If you want your business to grow, focus on your customers.

Tags: eBay, online auctions

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.