back to article eBay defies 'softening' economy

eBay says that a softening economy has slowed its online auctions on both sides of the Atlantic. But the company still made an awful lot of money during the year's first quarter. And it still has high hopes for the future. "We are encouraged by what we are seeing," brand-spanking-new CEO John Donahoe told investors during a …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not that surprising

    The economy goes south, people start flogging their useless junk for cash.

  2. Gareth
    Thumb Down

    Profit from fee rises...

    Maybe the profit is coming from raising fees yet again. Seems like everyone I know is stopping selling on eBay due to the feedback changes and fee rises, from power sellers to occasional listers.

    eBay's jumped the shark.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Why, why, why....

    ...do I keep reading about this stupid bullshit. A CEO telling the public that their company is doing great, and that profits will continue to rise, even after they have completely dominated a market? Who falls for this bullshit? Ebay has reached an inversion. If they were continuing to grow, then they would have more users and more gross sales. They don't, and instead they are squeezing blood from a turnip. This can keep up for a quater or two, maybe even a year or two, but their user base is fleeing to Craiglist, and whatever else they can find.

    Publicly traded companies cannot have a quarter-on-quarter revenue increase forever! There I said it. Everybody go run out and sell all your shares of Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Comcast and Verizon: congratulations, you've won! There is no more fucking market, you own it, you are a monopoly, and your fucking done. Revenue growth will now match inflation, and that is that, maybe you could start paying real dividends! If you did, maybe you would avoid the total price collapse that is about to befall you. But you won't. You'll run the god-damned company into the ground, and retire on a nice fat bonus, or maybe hop to the next company near the pinical of success. Fuck off, the whole goddamned lot of you.

    John Donahoe, the best thing you could do for the world is to fucking die.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Ebay the true 'pirate'bay?

    And as ebay in Australia will soon offer only paypal as an online payment option, with all those extra fees that paypal charges, profit rises will look good for ebay in to the future.

    The only hope for Australian ebay guinea pigs is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deems ebay's move as anti-competitive. As ebay sent the ACCC a letter begging to be excluded from having Australia's Trade Practices Act from being applied to this anti-competitive practice, here is hoping that ebay's little anti-consumer tactic is nipped in the bud.

    But as Australia has shown in the past, that it will prostitute itself for the patronage of any large multi-national, Australians consumer are lubing up and bracing themselves for a unwanted roggering.

  5. Matthew

    'Auction house'? Shouldn't that be 'tat bazaar'?

    I'm sick of inflated postage charges on eBay. The changes to billing mean this is an easy way for sellers to sell at a loss and make back the profit on the part that isn't subject to charges.

    All it will take is a rival to get a half-decent advert so that the unwashed masses know about the alternatives.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Brent .... and I thought I felt strongly!

    WOW! Heh....... strong words........

    I was just gonna add that essentially eBay is now just ripping off it's customers and most are in search of alternative auction sites.....

    Way to go eBay.......

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Heart

    @ brent

    great flame, love it. Granted you may need a lesson in global markets, but hey ho.

    Comcast and Version? Who are they? Can't say they are huge players in the UK (and I guess Europe). So they could make more money here.

    Apple and Microfsoft? We'll Apple certainly don't have a monopoly in the PC market, but there share is growing, so I guess you mean iTunes? the iPod? the Jesus phone?

    The amazing thing about companies, is how they release new products and open new markets, thus profits can contune to grow.

    Tesco, a little UK company, has managed year on year profits for many, many years. They open new markets and sell new products. So even they may not actaully increase their basic user base in their home country, the range they suppply increases, so therefore people spend more with them.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Just use the others...

    Ebid and QXL. Spread the word so that ebay will die.

  9. wim wauters

    UK alternatives to eBAY

    UK alternatives to eBAY would be eBid and CQout

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like