EBAY - Ebay

[DooDiligence]

Their mobile app still sucks (search results do NOT mirror the deals you'll find with a full sized browser.)

 

For me, eBay still remains the best choice to turn my old crap into new crap & building listings has never been easier / cheaper.

 

They pissed me off multiple times over the years with their bullshit seller policies & yet I'm still using them.

 

Kind of like cable / internet providers?

 

Lousy service & yet...

 

---

 

Also, Eddie Lampert is not involved in this business.

[Castanza]

Interesting thesis from Elliott: https://enhancingebay.com/letter-to-the-board-of-ebay/

 

Dead link, deserves a bump?

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005513/en/Elliott-Management-Sends-Letter-Board-Directors-eBay

 

 

 

75-100% upside is a rather bold claim. Are you buying it? It's not going to be a small feat to restructure management and re-adjust their algorithms to make sellers happy.

 

Thanks, I get excited about things but have a mandatory 7 day cooling off period.

 

---

 

Food for downside thought from Zacks:

 

Reasons To Sell:

 

Mounting competition from Amazon and Alibaba, increasing investments and a weak global economy are major overhangs.

 

  E-commerce, with a large user base worldwide, has turned out to be a sweet spot with more and more companies jumping into the area and further intensifying the competitive scenario. eBay’s core business faces tough competition from Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy and Facebook. Recently, Facebook rolled out Facebook Marketplace that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities. Lack of appropriate counter strategies could be a matter of worry in the long run.

 

  eBay dependence on Google for driving traffic is a cause for worry in more ways than one. First, Google makes changes to its algorithms that at times affect traffic to its site (for example the Panda 4.0 update). Second, Google is becoming more of a marketplace itself through its product listing ads and Buy buttons. And while eBay can compete for those, it could have the effect of increasing its costs, since the slots are limited and competition high. Moreover, Facebook is opening store fronts within its app, making it easier for consumers to purchase rather than through a separate eBay app, thus making deeper penetration much more difficult. eBay could have its own store there too, but this could ultimately raise costs again and impact its brand value.

 

  There remains a concern about eBay’s increased investment in overall platform technology and slower growth rate compared to its peers. Furthermore, eBay’s growth continues to suffer due to a weak world economy. The company is heavily dependent on countries outside the U.S for its transaction and Internet sales. Although the U.S. is flourishing, emerging economies are slowing down. So a weak global economy remains a major headwind.

 

I don't see Amazon or Alibaba as competition. I think eBay fills a unique niche market. One thing that nobody is talking about that gives eBay and advantage is the fact that they do not ship their own items. I know this might sound crazy as Amazon is pursuing this, but as someone who has worked in the logistics industry for a decent period of time I can tell you pricing fraud is rampant and it wreaks havoc on companies bottom line.

 

Let me explain this in more detail. I sold something on eBay the other week. I went on USPS website to create a label. Didn't realize my printer was out of paper, so I ran down to the post office instead. When they weighed my package they were going to charge me $25 to ship it from coast to coast standard shipping. But that same label I created online was $6 shipping. I naturally took my box, walked out the door, went to Walmart picked up paper, printed out my label and then dropped my box off at the local post office without an issue.

 

Now where does this discrepancy come from. Well I looked up the item weight and used that. The post office weighs the entire box etc. Point being, most eBay sellers simply put 1 lb for most packages and call it a day. USPS (and everyone else) is loosing a ton of money because of this. At UPS I remember they were always restructuring the contract with Amazon because they kept shipping boxes with inaccurate weights and unnecessary box sizes for the product they contained.

 

All of these companies have tried to come up with ways in which to audit and correct these issues. But once that package gets past the first "check point", it's more expensive to try and ship it back. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to enforce, but it is. Because you have to balance customer convenience and happiness. Most places you can just drop them off in a drop box and someone will pick it up later in the day. That package then gets brought to a center, put on a trailer, and then shipped to a larger hub (generally Louisville in UPS case). It takes too much time and resources to audit every single one.

 

So the advantage eBay has is they don't care if UPS, USPS, or FedEx are getting ripped off on shipping rates. But Amazon will be shooting themselves in the foot if they ship their own boxes without a solution to this issue. This is just another reason why targeting the residential/non-bulk stops is suicide. I don't think you can scale it to profitability with a new algorithm or routing software. And if they pressure customers to be more accurate and pay more you can be damn sure those customers will take their business elsewhere. It's a loose loose in my opinion. You just can't accurately enforce this without it being a large customer (Target, Petco, etc). Not to mention Amazon has to keep that 2 day, now 1 day shipping promise.

[Gregmal]

Interesting thesis from Elliott: https://enhancingebay.com/letter-to-the-board-of-ebay/

 

Dead link, deserves a bump?

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005513/en/Elliott-Management-Sends-Letter-Board-Directors-eBay

 

75-100% upside is a rather bold claim. Are you buying it? It's not going to be a small feat to restructure management and re-adjust their algorithms to make sellers happy.

 

I remember not too long ago Elliot claimed NXP was worth $135 and then a couple months later sold out at 92.

 

[DooDiligence]

Interesting thesis from Elliott: https://enhancingebay.com/letter-to-the-board-of-ebay/

 

Dead link, deserves a bump?

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005513/en/Elliott-Management-Sends-Letter-Board-Directors-eBay

 

 

 

75-100% upside is a rather bold claim. Are you buying it? It's not going to be a small feat to restructure management and re-adjust their algorithms to make sellers happy.

 

Thanks, I get excited about things but have a mandatory 7 day cooling off period.

 

---

 

Food for downside thought from Zacks:

 

Reasons To Sell:

 

Mounting competition from Amazon and Alibaba, increasing investments and a weak global economy are major overhangs.

 

  E-commerce, with a large user base worldwide, has turned out to be a sweet spot with more and more companies jumping into the area and further intensifying the competitive scenario. eBay’s core business faces tough competition from Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy and Facebook. Recently, Facebook rolled out Facebook Marketplace that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities. Lack of appropriate counter strategies could be a matter of worry in the long run.

 

  eBay dependence on Google for driving traffic is a cause for worry in more ways than one. First, Google makes changes to its algorithms that at times affect traffic to its site (for example the Panda 4.0 update). Second, Google is becoming more of a marketplace itself through its product listing ads and Buy buttons. And while eBay can compete for those, it could have the effect of increasing its costs, since the slots are limited and competition high. Moreover, Facebook is opening store fronts within its app, making it easier for consumers to purchase rather than through a separate eBay app, thus making deeper penetration much more difficult. eBay could have its own store there too, but this could ultimately raise costs again and impact its brand value.

 

  There remains a concern about eBay’s increased investment in overall platform technology and slower growth rate compared to its peers. Furthermore, eBay’s growth continues to suffer due to a weak world economy. The company is heavily dependent on countries outside the U.S for its transaction and Internet sales. Although the U.S. is flourishing, emerging economies are slowing down. So a weak global economy remains a major headwind.

 

I don't see Amazon or Alibaba as competition. I think eBay fills a unique niche market. One thing that nobody is talking about that gives eBay and advantage is the fact that they do not ship their own items. I know this might sound crazy as Amazon is pursuing this, but as someone who has worked in the logistics industry for a decent period of time I can tell you pricing fraud is rampant and it wreaks havoc on companies bottom line.

 

Let me explain this in more detail. I sold something on eBay the other week. I went on USPS website to create a label. Didn't realize my printer was out of paper, so I ran down to the post office instead. When they weighed my package they were going to charge me $25 to ship it from coast to coast standard shipping. But that same label I created online was $6 shipping. I naturally took my box, walked out the door, went to Walmart picked up paper, printed out my label and then dropped my box off at the local post office without an issue.

 

Now where does this discrepancy come from. Well I looked up the item weight and used that. The post office weighs the entire box etc. Point being, most eBay sellers simply put 1 lb for most packages and call it a day. USPS (and everyone else) is loosing a ton of money because of this. At UPS I remember they were always restructuring the contract with Amazon because they kept shipping boxes with inaccurate weights and unnecessary box sizes for the product they contained.

 

All of these companies have tried to come up with ways in which to audit and correct these issues. But once that package gets past the first "check point", it's more expensive to try and ship it back. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to enforce, but it is. Because you have to balance customer convenience and happiness. Most places you can just drop them off in a drop box and someone will pick it up later in the day. That package then gets brought to a center, put on a trailer, and then shipped to a larger hub (generally Louisville in UPS case). It takes too much time and resources to audit every single one.

 

So the advantage eBay has is they don't care if UPS, USPS, or FedEx are getting ripped off on shipping rates. But Amazon will be shooting themselves in the foot if they ship their own boxes without a solution to this issue. This is just another reason why targeting the residential/non-bulk stops is suicide. I don't think you can scale it to profitability with a new algorithm or routing software. And if they pressure customers to be more accurate and pay more you can be damn sure those customers will take their business elsewhere. It's a loose loose in my opinion. You just can't accurately enforce this without it being a large customer (Target, Petco, etc). Not to mention Amazon has to keep that 2 day, now 1 day shipping promise.

 

I weigh & measure each item (in the packaging) & put the data into each listing.

 

Saves a bunch on shipping & makes printing & fulfillment very easy.

 

I also like the fact that eBay doesn't compete with their sellers like Amazon.

 

I'm ignoring the Elliott price targets & simply focusing on a durable business with potential catalysts.

[Castanza]

Interesting thesis from Elliott: https://enhancingebay.com/letter-to-the-board-of-ebay/

 

Dead link, deserves a bump?

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005513/en/Elliott-Management-Sends-Letter-Board-Directors-eBay

 

 

 

75-100% upside is a rather bold claim. Are you buying it? It's not going to be a small feat to restructure management and re-adjust their algorithms to make sellers happy.

 

Thanks, I get excited about things but have a mandatory 7 day cooling off period.

 

---

 

Food for downside thought from Zacks:

 

Reasons To Sell:

 

Mounting competition from Amazon and Alibaba, increasing investments and a weak global economy are major overhangs.

 

  E-commerce, with a large user base worldwide, has turned out to be a sweet spot with more and more companies jumping into the area and further intensifying the competitive scenario. eBay’s core business faces tough competition from Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy and Facebook. Recently, Facebook rolled out Facebook Marketplace that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities. Lack of appropriate counter strategies could be a matter of worry in the long run.

 

  eBay dependence on Google for driving traffic is a cause for worry in more ways than one. First, Google makes changes to its algorithms that at times affect traffic to its site (for example the Panda 4.0 update). Second, Google is becoming more of a marketplace itself through its product listing ads and Buy buttons. And while eBay can compete for those, it could have the effect of increasing its costs, since the slots are limited and competition high. Moreover, Facebook is opening store fronts within its app, making it easier for consumers to purchase rather than through a separate eBay app, thus making deeper penetration much more difficult. eBay could have its own store there too, but this could ultimately raise costs again and impact its brand value.

 

  There remains a concern about eBay’s increased investment in overall platform technology and slower growth rate compared to its peers. Furthermore, eBay’s growth continues to suffer due to a weak world economy. The company is heavily dependent on countries outside the U.S for its transaction and Internet sales. Although the U.S. is flourishing, emerging economies are slowing down. So a weak global economy remains a major headwind.

 

I don't see Amazon or Alibaba as competition. I think eBay fills a unique niche market. One thing that nobody is talking about that gives eBay and advantage is the fact that they do not ship their own items. I know this might sound crazy as Amazon is pursuing this, but as someone who has worked in the logistics industry for a decent period of time I can tell you pricing fraud is rampant and it wreaks havoc on companies bottom line.

 

Let me explain this in more detail. I sold something on eBay the other week. I went on USPS website to create a label. Didn't realize my printer was out of paper, so I ran down to the post office instead. When they weighed my package they were going to charge me $25 to ship it from coast to coast standard shipping. But that same label I created online was $6 shipping. I naturally took my box, walked out the door, went to Walmart picked up paper, printed out my label and then dropped my box off at the local post office without an issue.

 

Now where does this discrepancy come from. Well I looked up the item weight and used that. The post office weighs the entire box etc. Point being, most eBay sellers simply put 1 lb for most packages and call it a day. USPS (and everyone else) is loosing a ton of money because of this. At UPS I remember they were always restructuring the contract with Amazon because they kept shipping boxes with inaccurate weights and unnecessary box sizes for the product they contained.

 

All of these companies have tried to come up with ways in which to audit and correct these issues. But once that package gets past the first "check point", it's more expensive to try and ship it back. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to enforce, but it is. Because you have to balance customer convenience and happiness. Most places you can just drop them off in a drop box and someone will pick it up later in the day. That package then gets brought to a center, put on a trailer, and then shipped to a larger hub (generally Louisville in UPS case). It takes too much time and resources to audit every single one.

 

So the advantage eBay has is they don't care if UPS, USPS, or FedEx are getting ripped off on shipping rates. But Amazon will be shooting themselves in the foot if they ship their own boxes without a solution to this issue. This is just another reason why targeting the residential/non-bulk stops is suicide. I don't think you can scale it to profitability with a new algorithm or routing software. And if they pressure customers to be more accurate and pay more you can be damn sure those customers will take their business elsewhere. It's a loose loose in my opinion. You just can't accurately enforce this without it being a large customer (Target, Petco, etc). Not to mention Amazon has to keep that 2 day, now 1 day shipping promise.

 

I weigh & measure each item (in the packaging) & put the data into each listing.

 

Saves a bunch on shipping & makes printing & fulfillment very easy.

 

I also like the fact that eBay doesn't compete with their sellers like Amazon.

 

I'm ignoring the Elliott price targets & simply focusing on a durable business with potential catalysts.

 

You may do that, but many don't. I'm just saying it's an issue that eBay doesn't have to worry about. Logistics is all about weight, size, and bulk. Amazon will struggle with this down the road.

[DooDiligence]

Interesting thesis from Elliott: https://enhancingebay.com/letter-to-the-board-of-ebay/

 

Dead link, deserves a bump?

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005513/en/Elliott-Management-Sends-Letter-Board-Directors-eBay

 

 

 

75-100% upside is a rather bold claim. Are you buying it? It's not going to be a small feat to restructure management and re-adjust their algorithms to make sellers happy.

 

Thanks, I get excited about things but have a mandatory 7 day cooling off period.

 

---

 

Food for downside thought from Zacks:

 

Reasons To Sell:

 

Mounting competition from Amazon and Alibaba, increasing investments and a weak global economy are major overhangs.

 

  E-commerce, with a large user base worldwide, has turned out to be a sweet spot with more and more companies jumping into the area and further intensifying the competitive scenario. eBay’s core business faces tough competition from Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy and Facebook. Recently, Facebook rolled out Facebook Marketplace that allows users to buy and sell items within their local communities. Lack of appropriate counter strategies could be a matter of worry in the long run.

 

  eBay dependence on Google for driving traffic is a cause for worry in more ways than one. First, Google makes changes to its algorithms that at times affect traffic to its site (for example the Panda 4.0 update). Second, Google is becoming more of a marketplace itself through its product listing ads and Buy buttons. And while eBay can compete for those, it could have the effect of increasing its costs, since the slots are limited and competition high. Moreover, Facebook is opening store fronts within its app, making it easier for consumers to purchase rather than through a separate eBay app, thus making deeper penetration much more difficult. eBay could have its own store there too, but this could ultimately raise costs again and impact its brand value.

 

  There remains a concern about eBay’s increased investment in overall platform technology and slower growth rate compared to its peers. Furthermore, eBay’s growth continues to suffer due to a weak world economy. The company is heavily dependent on countries outside the U.S for its transaction and Internet sales. Although the U.S. is flourishing, emerging economies are slowing down. So a weak global economy remains a major headwind.

 

I don't see Amazon or Alibaba as competition. I think eBay fills a unique niche market. One thing that nobody is talking about that gives eBay and advantage is the fact that they do not ship their own items. I know this might sound crazy as Amazon is pursuing this, but as someone who has worked in the logistics industry for a decent period of time I can tell you pricing fraud is rampant and it wreaks havoc on companies bottom line.

 

Let me explain this in more detail. I sold something on eBay the other week. I went on USPS website to create a label. Didn't realize my printer was out of paper, so I ran down to the post office instead. When they weighed my package they were going to charge me $25 to ship it from coast to coast standard shipping. But that same label I created online was $6 shipping. I naturally took my box, walked out the door, went to Walmart picked up paper, printed out my label and then dropped my box off at the local post office without an issue.

 

Now where does this discrepancy come from. Well I looked up the item weight and used that. The post office weighs the entire box etc. Point being, most eBay sellers simply put 1 lb for most packages and call it a day. USPS (and everyone else) is loosing a ton of money because of this. At UPS I remember they were always restructuring the contract with Amazon because they kept shipping boxes with inaccurate weights and unnecessary box sizes for the product they contained.

 

All of these companies have tried to come up with ways in which to audit and correct these issues. But once that package gets past the first "check point", it's more expensive to try and ship it back. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to enforce, but it is. Because you have to balance customer convenience and happiness. Most places you can just drop them off in a drop box and someone will pick it up later in the day. That package then gets brought to a center, put on a trailer, and then shipped to a larger hub (generally Louisville in UPS case). It takes too much time and resources to audit every single one.

 

So the advantage eBay has is they don't care if UPS, USPS, or FedEx are getting ripped off on shipping rates. But Amazon will be shooting themselves in the foot if they ship their own boxes without a solution to this issue. This is just another reason why targeting the residential/non-bulk stops is suicide. I don't think you can scale it to profitability with a new algorithm or routing software. And if they pressure customers to be more accurate and pay more you can be damn sure those customers will take their business elsewhere. It's a loose loose in my opinion. You just can't accurately enforce this without it being a large customer (Target, Petco, etc). Not to mention Amazon has to keep that 2 day, now 1 day shipping promise.

 

I weigh & measure each item (in the packaging) & put the data into each listing.

 

Saves a bunch on shipping & makes printing & fulfillment very easy.

 

I also like the fact that eBay doesn't compete with their sellers like Amazon.

 

I'm ignoring the Elliott price targets & simply focusing on a durable business with potential catalysts.

 

You may do that, but many don't. I'm just saying it's an issue that eBay doesn't have to worry about. Logistics is all about weight, size, and bulk. Amazon will struggle with this down the road.

 

I agree.

 

eBay is a more flexible platform than Amazon.

 

Can't speak about ETSY or any others.

[CorpRaider]

Facebook market...seems to be pretty formidable and free.  I guess it is more likely to impact craigslist, but seems like it could be relevant to Ebay.

[Castanza]

Facebook market...seems to be pretty formidable and free.  I guess it is more likely to impact craigslist, but seems like it could be relevant to Ebay.

 

Yeah, that is a good point. I guess Facebook could implement a pay and ship feature. But the scale definitely isn't there. And the item listings seem to gravitate towards large items in local markets which wouldn't be shipped anyways. All I see on there is used couches, old canoes, and stuff like that. I have to say it is useful. When I moved this past November I unloaded about a dozen items in a day or two.

[Pelagic]

Facebook market...seems to be pretty formidable and free.  I guess it is more likely to impact craigslist, but seems like it could be relevant to Ebay.

 

Yeah, that is a good point. I guess Facebook could implement a pay and ship feature. But the scale definitely isn't there. And the item listings seem to gravitate towards large items in local markets which wouldn't be shipped anyways. All I see on there is used couches, old canoes, and stuff like that. I have to say it is useful. When I moved this past November I unloaded about a dozen items in a day or two.

 

Part of what makes Facebook marketplace great is that it builds on the existing social infrastructure so that you can click on a person's profile and see that they're a real person and that you might even have mutual friends with them. Unfortunately this also makes disintermediation trivial should they go to a pay online/ship model that takes a % fee like eBay. Buyers could pretty easily message each other and arrange to pay/ship via PayPal.

 

I don't really see Facebook marketplace being as much of a threat to eBay. Craigslist, LetGo, OfferUp etc. though are definitely being impacted by it. Personally I think the bigger threat to eBay is the rise of niche marketplaces that focus on a certain product and build a community around it. A lot are still in their infancy but I could see a number of product focused marketplaces cutting into eBay's moat. But eBay probably realizes this too and they'll do what they can to prevent it.

[Gregmal]

I like this, but think with the recent fireworks that the likelihood of one of the big tech companies taking this out are basically nil now. Whereas prior I thought the odds were quite high.

[Castanza]

Facebook market...seems to be pretty formidable and free.  I guess it is more likely to impact craigslist, but seems like it could be relevant to Ebay.

 

Yeah, that is a good point. I guess Facebook could implement a pay and ship feature. But the scale definitely isn't there. And the item listings seem to gravitate towards large items in local markets which wouldn't be shipped anyways. All I see on there is used couches, old canoes, and stuff like that. I have to say it is useful. When I moved this past November I unloaded about a dozen items in a day or two.

 

Part of what makes Facebook marketplace great is that it builds on the existing social infrastructure so that you can click on a person's profile and see that they're a real person and that you might even have mutual friends with them. Unfortunately this also makes disintermediation trivial should they go to a pay online/ship model that takes a % fee like eBay. Buyers could pretty easily message each other and arrange to pay/ship via PayPal.

 

I don't really see Facebook marketplace being as much of a threat to eBay. Craigslist, LetGo, OfferUp etc. though are definitely being impacted by it. Personally I think the bigger threat to eBay is the rise of niche marketplaces that focus on a certain product and build a community around it. A lot are still in their infancy but I could see a number of product focused marketplaces cutting into eBay's moat. But eBay probably realizes this too and they'll do what they can to prevent it.

 

The big difference is FB marketplace is focused on local markets. This severely restricts the breadth of products that are available to the consumers. Like you said, eBay is the king of carving our niche markets. FB marketplace is like an online yard sale where eBay is a true global marketplace with an unbelievable amount of unique products.

[coc]

Isn’t one of the main risks to eBay that specialized markets keep arising and taking out specific verticals?

 

For example, I am a guitar player, and I buy all of my gear (the part I buy online, anyways) on Reverb.com — not on eBay. Reverb owns that market, and took it from eBay (and made it better, by the way).

 

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I missed it.

[Jurgis]

Isn’t one of the main risks to eBay that specialized markets keep arising and taking out specific verticals?

 

For example, I am a guitar player, and I buy all of my gear (the part I buy online, anyways) on Reverb.com — not on eBay. Reverb owns that market, and took it from eBay (and made it better, by the way).

 

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I missed it.

 

I don't follow EBAY in depth, but you might be right. I believe cars were big on EBAY some time ago. Not sure if they still own that vertical or it has declined as other online car purchasing sites appeared.

[DooDiligence]

Isn’t one of the main risks to eBay that specialized markets keep arising and taking out specific verticals?

 

For example, I am a guitar player, and I buy all of my gear (the part I buy online, anyways) on Reverb.com — not on eBay. Reverb owns that market, and took it from eBay (and made it better, by the way).

 

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I missed it.

 

I look on Reverb for reviews but have never bought anything there.

 

I get better deals on eBay.

 

I recently got an RC300 looper in like new condition for $290 with a best offer.

I'd been trying to get one for months & watched for new listings every day.

This one popped up & I made an offer which was accepted by a seller who was

motivated & obviously unaware that these had been selling for $400+.

 

Also picked up a Pedaltrain Novo 32" with a wheeled tour case in like new condition for $150 ($135 after 10% eBay bucks).

 

The RC300 fits perfectly on this board along with an HOF reverb, Donner delay, power supply & Stomp iPad page turner.

 

---

 

The trick is being patient & watching for items you want CONSTANTLY.

 

Find listings with "best offer" & jump in as soon as they get listed.

Check the sellers history to see if they've been accepting best offers.

 

Also, inexperienced sellers will list items so that they end at unpopular times/days.

An auction that ends on a Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon is ripe to be sniped.

Nobody shows up for the end of these auctions.

 

Get a minimum bid in early & hope that someone bids on top of you.

Decide the max you want to pay & be ready with a "1 click bid" 3 seconds before the auction ends.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you get sniped yourself.

 

I've built a nice inventory of great gear by being diligent & patient.

 

---

 

The upshot is, I believe eBay has a durable business & the fact that they can piss off both sellers & buyers & still not lose them is further evidence.

 

---

 

edit: What kind of music do you play?

[coc]

 

I look on Reverb for reviews but have never bought anything there.

 

I get better deals on eBay.

 

I recently got an RC300 looper in like new condition for $290 with a best offer.

I'd been trying to get one for months & watched for new listings every day.

This one popped up & I made an offer which was accepted by a seller who was

motivated & obviously unaware that these had been selling for $400+.

 

Also picked up a Pedaltrain Novo 32" with a wheeled tour case in like new condition for $150 ($135 after 10% eBay bucks).

 

The RC300 fits perfectly on this board along with an HOF reverb, Donner delay, power supply & Stomp iPad page turner.

 

---

 

The trick is being patient & watching for items you want CONSTANTLY.

 

Find listings with "best offer" & jump in as soon as they get listed.

Check the sellers history to see if they've been accepting best offers.

 

Also, inexperienced sellers will list items so that they end at unpopular times/days.

An auction that ends on a Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon is ripe to be sniped.

Nobody shows up for the end of these auctions.

 

Get a minimum bid in early & hope that someone bids on top of you.

Decide the max you want to pay & be ready with a "1 click bid" 3 seconds before the auction ends.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you get sniped yourself.

 

I've built a nice inventory of great gear by being diligent & patient.

 

---

 

The upshot is, I believe eBay has a durable business & the fact that they can piss off both sellers & buyers & still not lose them is further evidence.

 

---

 

edit: What kind of music do you play?

 

It sounds like you do a great job being patient etc. however, don’t confuse your personal experience with the basic truth - Reverb now OWNS the used gear market in tandem with Guitar Center, and not just for guitar players - they’re doing more and more all the time - drums, synths, band instruments. It was founded by the guy who ran  the Chicago Music Exchange. They were on track to do a half a billion in sales I believe last year, growing fast. The gear market is just not that big - those are big numbers.

 

I’ve personally sold at least 25 pieces of gear on there, bought a similar amount. No issues. And I didn’t even think about putting it on eBay. I’ve also seen pro players like Billy Corgan, J Mascis, and others list dozens of items on there to raise money, etc.

 

So it’s quite clear to me that a specialized marketplace can dent ebay. The point about cars above is another good one. I believe this will happen any time a vertical gets large enough. Ebay will have plenty of listings for a long time because there will probably never be a specialized marketplace for wall clocks. In that sense I agree with you.

 

I’m a hack as a player, for the record. Started too late!  I play alternative rock, I guess you’d call it. 8)

[DooDiligence]

 

I look on Reverb for reviews but have never bought anything there.

 

I get better deals on eBay.

 

I recently got an RC300 looper in like new condition for $290 with a best offer.

I'd been trying to get one for months & watched for new listings every day.

This one popped up & I made an offer which was accepted by a seller who was

motivated & obviously unaware that these had been selling for $400+.

 

Also picked up a Pedaltrain Novo 32" with a wheeled tour case in like new condition for $150 ($135 after 10% eBay bucks).

 

The RC300 fits perfectly on this board along with an HOF reverb, Donner delay, power supply & Stomp iPad page turner.

 

---

 

The trick is being patient & watching for items you want CONSTANTLY.

 

Find listings with "best offer" & jump in as soon as they get listed.

Check the sellers history to see if they've been accepting best offers.

 

Also, inexperienced sellers will list items so that they end at unpopular times/days.

An auction that ends on a Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon is ripe to be sniped.

Nobody shows up for the end of these auctions.

 

Get a minimum bid in early & hope that someone bids on top of you.

Decide the max you want to pay & be ready with a "1 click bid" 3 seconds before the auction ends.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you get sniped yourself.

 

I've built a nice inventory of great gear by being diligent & patient.

 

---

 

The upshot is, I believe eBay has a durable business & the fact that they can piss off both sellers & buyers & still not lose them is further evidence.

 

---

 

edit: What kind of music do you play?

 

It sounds like you do a great job being patient etc. however, don’t confuse your personal experience with the basic truth - Reverb now OWNS the used gear market in tandem with Guitar Center, and not just for guitar players - they’re doing more and more all the time - drums, synths, band instruments. It was founded by the guy who ran  the Chicago Music Exchange. They were on track to do a half a billion in sales I believe last year, growing fast. The gear market is just not that big - those are big numbers.

 

I’ve personally sold at least 25 pieces of gear on there, bought a similar amount. No issues. And I didn’t even think about putting it on eBay. I’ve also seen pro players like Billy Corgan, J Mascis, and others list dozens of items on there to raise money, etc.

 

So it’s quite clear to me that a specialized marketplace can dent ebay. The point about cars above is another good one. I believe this will happen any time a vertical gets large enough. Ebay will have plenty of listings for a long time because there will probably never be a specialized marketplace for wall clocks. In that sense I agree with you.

 

I’m a hack as a player, for the record. Started too late!  I play alternative rock, I guess you’d call it. 8)

 

I had no idea Reverb was doing that kind of volume.

 

TBH I haven't spent a ton of time comparing between the 2 platforms as eBay has most of my mindshare.

 

I will start looking more.

 

---

 

I was a hack 2 years ago & decided to get serious about music when I got laid off from the offshore industry.

 

Started doing open mics this Spring & have been trying to find some people to play with.

 

Finding people who are talented, compatible, diligent & reliable is difficult, but even playing with people who you'll likely never do much with is valuable experience & can be fun as hell.

 

The looper pedal has become my most reliable band mate.

 

---

 

DM me if you're ever in the Pensacola area & we can hack around.

[coc]

I was a hack 2 years ago & decided to get serious about music when I got laid off from the offshore industry.

 

Started doing open mics this Spring & have been trying to find some people to play with.

 

Finding people who are talented, compatible, diligent & reliable is difficult, but even playing with people who you'll likely never do much with is valuable experience & can be fun as hell.

 

The looper pedal has become my most reliable band mate.

 

---

 

DM me if you're ever in the Pensacola area & we can hack around.

 

I hear you - hard to find the right people to play with. I'd do the open mic thing too if I could sing and had time. Alas, if if's and buts were candies and nuts...

 

Looper pedal always a great go to!

[Castanza]

Isn’t one of the main risks to eBay that specialized markets keep arising and taking out specific verticals?

 

For example, I am a guitar player, and I buy all of my gear (the part I buy online, anyways) on Reverb.com — not on eBay. Reverb owns that market, and took it from eBay (and made it better, by the way).

 

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I missed it.

 

Music is a very broad category though. i don't know if I would classify that as niche. Although it certainly will have an impact on eBay's bottom line. Regardless, I think this threat will be limited and unable to penetrate to other markets. I mean some products on eBay are so niche and specific it would be impossible to create a reliable market place for each one. Not to mention probably not worth the marketing costs to make users aware of such platforms. But I would agree that there are some other platforms popping up. My brother in-law makes a small fortune buying and selling Legos on eBay (Did like 80k rev on the side last year). Bricklink (a Lego trading platform) has existed for a while and has a good crowd of like 50 million visits. Anyways, he has recently started selling on both and has increased his profits like 5%. Point being, even if niche platforms pop up, I think sellers and buyers will use both platforms. I mean, its basically free marketing for sellers to list on more than one site. I highly doubt that one market place will own or take over the entire niche.

[DooDiligence]

Isn’t one of the main risks to eBay that specialized markets keep arising and taking out specific verticals?

 

For example, I am a guitar player, and I buy all of my gear (the part I buy online, anyways) on Reverb.com — not on eBay. Reverb owns that market, and took it from eBay (and made it better, by the way).

 

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I missed it.

 

Music is a very broad category though. i don't know if I would classify that as niche. Although it certainly will have an impact on eBay's bottom line. Regardless, I think this threat will be limited and unable to penetrate to other markets. I mean some products on eBay are so niche and specific it would be impossible to create a reliable market place for each one. Not to mention probably not worth the marketing costs to make users aware of such platforms. But I would agree that there are some other platforms popping up. My brother in-law makes a small fortune buying and selling Legos on eBay (Did like 80k rev on the side last year). Bricklink (a Lego trading platform) has existed for a while and has a good crowd of like 50 million visits. Anyways, he has recently started selling on both and has increased his profits like 5%. Point being, even if niche platforms pop up, I think sellers and buyers will use both platforms. I mean, its basically free marketing for sellers to list on more than one site. I highly doubt that one market place will own or take over the entire niche.

 

I'm kind of surprised that eBay hasn't been more acquisitive here.

 

It seems like every time you turn around Amazon is buying a niche marketer but eBay not so much.

 

OTOH they've bought back nearly 1/3 of their shares over the past decade for somewhere around $19B (napkin math).

 

Do you think spinning out PayPal was a good idea?

 

One positive seems to be a reduction in credit risk.

 

I don't do terribly sophisticated analysis.

[SHDL]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ebay-harassment-campaign-pig-cockroach-blog-11593009038?mod=hp_lead_pos10

 

Crazy stuff.

[Luma21]

What do you think about the recent deal regarding Adevinta ( $2.5B + 554Mm Adevinta shares ) ?

[CorpRaider]

I liked it when it was announced last year.  That business (like craigslist) is the most threatened by Facebook marketplace from what I can tell.  Got agreement to receive lot of cash right as we were going into covid and retained some upside equity.  Not as good as the Adyen deal, of course.

[DooDiligence]

On another note, eBay has halted the 1% automatic eBay Bucks buyer credit for purchases. I searched through their reports and couldn't find the total value of Bucks payments they've been making so don't know how this will affect earnings going forward. They announced that they'll still do the periodic Bucks offerings (5%, 8% and 10%), but I doubt they'll be as frequent as before.

This program has got to cost them a ton of money.

Edited April 21, 2021 by DooDiligence

[Luma21]

13 hours ago, DooDiligence said:

On another note, eBay has halted the 1% automatic eBay Bucks buyer credit for purchases. I searched through their reports and couldn't find the total value of Bucks payments they've been making so don't know how this will affect earnings going forward. They announced that they'll still do the periodic Bucks offerings (5%, 8% and 10%), but I doubt they'll be as frequent as before.

This program has got to cost them a ton of money.

What this is about? Can you elaborate more on this?

[DooDiligence]

4 hours ago, Luma21 said:

What this is about? Can you elaborate more on this?

For many years now, eBay has given buyers a 1% rebate on all purchases. They've been doing this since way before the pandemic. In addition, they will periodically send out limited time offers of 5%, 8% or 10% rebates. They call this eBay Bucks.

A buyer would accumulate eBay Bucks in their account and on a predetermined date they would be issued a certificate to be used for purchases. If you had $110.58 in eBay Bucks, you would be able to use it as a direct $110.58 credit on new purchases.

I have saved a ton of money by waiting for the special offers to make larger purchases.

As I said before, they have officially done away with automatic 1% eBay Bucks on all purchases, as of 1 April. They ususally send out a special offer every month or so & I haven't seen one yet.

You could infer that sales are strong now and the program is no longer needed, or that they simply wanted to cut the expense.

I've searched through their financial reports and found no mention at all of "eBay Bucks" so I don't know how they expense this item. eBay Bucks certificates must be used for purchases by a certain date and many buyers probably let their eBay Bucks expire unused, so eBay may include a liability to account for payouts & then subsequently release the unused portion back into earning at a later date. Again, I was unable to find anything, and have no idea how much this will affect earnings & cash flow in the short term.

They've also recently forced sellers to use "managed payments", which effectively cuts PayPal out of the loop. They still allow buyers to use PayPal, but eBay now takes the lions share of payment processing, which will be an additional 5% +/- of purchases.

This is one of those businesses that I've avoided investing in for years, largely because I hate dealing with them, but where the alternatives are few & far between. Kind of like a cable provider that you hate because their customer service sucks, but you keep using them anyway. Equating hate for using the business doesn't necessarily make for a bad investment.

I do believe they have a sustainable business, but intense competition, flat to declining revenues, a highly leveraged balance sheet & a management team that I think are a bunch of douches, make this a no go for me still. I will continue selling on their platform, and the next few quarters may look a lot better due to the aforementioned initiatives.

My due diligence is crap & you shouldn't rely on anything I say.

Edited April 22, 2021 by DooDiligence