Yahoo! has a very interesting article about the changing status of eBay. We still remember when eBay was first becoming recognized as a great place to buy and sell random things, slowly growing into a household name. It has really proved that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and now anyone relatively tech-savvy knows that to sell basically anything with value they can just “eBay it”. But eBay has changed significantly from its humble beginnings as a site for finding rare Pez dispensers, now dominated by large “Super Sellers” selling many wares and competing with other internet shopping sites. Part of this change is a growing emphasis on “fixed price” auctions at eBay, which are quickly replacing auctions as eBay’s most popular feature.
Many people (us included) lament the rise of fixed-price auctions that make the site resemble a flea market (thus the nickname “fleabay”), and we think auctions are just more fun. But eBay sellers dependent on the auction format are feeling the sting, as evidenced by one of the sellers mentioned in the article:
Bruce Hershenson, who auctions vintage posters online, is hanging up his eBay gavel. For almost a decade, Hershenson’s business epitomized the e-commerce that made eBay famous. He sold rare, collectible, sometimes kitschy memorabilia in online auctions that had a starting bid of 99%. But as the business of buying and selling over the Internet has matured, the thrill and novelty of auctions have given way to the convenience of one-click purchases. Hershenson will hold his last eBay auction June 3. “The auctions are nothing like what they once were,” he says. “They won’t ever come back.”
eBay itself favors fixed prices, and is working to move further away from the online auction business. They have raised fees for traditional auction formats while giving breaks to vendors who sell with fixed pricing. These fee increases have scared off sellers who prefer auctions. In spite of these increases, eBay executives maintain that auctions will always have a place, and that they will alter the fees later. We doubt that.
If auctions on eBay become a thing of the past, will people move elsewhere? There is really no competition to eBay that can match their number of users and items, so this may be an opportunity for upstart online auction sites to make some ground. However, maybe people in a busy world just don’t have time for auctions anymore? Sweating out bids, sniping, and other online auction phenomena are avoided when you can just click and buy. Will future grandchildren hear about the “old days” when people actually bid on things online? What do you think?
[Yahoo!]
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