The Question: I'm curious about eBay's general operating costs. What are the day-to-day operating costs of this company?
The Reason: We've seen so many changes lately in the way eBay is doing business, making it much more of a buyer's market than a seller's market. This is in response to a decline in overall business (hi, US economy) and a decrease in listings. But in my mind they may actually be driving away potential new sellers to the eBay racket of collecting our money.
The Rub: How can they not be making a killing? I mean, what are their accounts payable? Isn't eBay just a "service"? Aren't they a nameless, faceless website that just racks up the money on our hard work?
Let's think about any normal web business:
(1) Employees - Management, Finance, Corporate, Site Maintenance, Customer Service, Auction Sniffers
(2) Buildings - Corporate Headquarters, Regional Offices, and the facilities within
(3) Commercial - Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising
Where eBay differs:
(4) Paypal - They also run this bangup operation - I can't even begin to understand the incompetence within.
What they lack:
(5) Warehousing - What eBay is missing is any sort of warehousing, inventory transportation, and the costs associated. This is generally where a company really falters and has tons of liability / cost tied up.
The End Result: So what the hell, eBay? Why are we getting screwed? Where's the beef? Does anyone have any ideas about their true cost of operating?
The Reason: We've seen so many changes lately in the way eBay is doing business, making it much more of a buyer's market than a seller's market. This is in response to a decline in overall business (hi, US economy) and a decrease in listings. But in my mind they may actually be driving away potential new sellers to the eBay racket of collecting our money.
The Rub: How can they not be making a killing? I mean, what are their accounts payable? Isn't eBay just a "service"? Aren't they a nameless, faceless website that just racks up the money on our hard work?
Let's think about any normal web business:
(1) Employees - Management, Finance, Corporate, Site Maintenance, Customer Service, Auction Sniffers
(2) Buildings - Corporate Headquarters, Regional Offices, and the facilities within
(3) Commercial - Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising
Where eBay differs:
(4) Paypal - They also run this bangup operation - I can't even begin to understand the incompetence within.
What they lack:
(5) Warehousing - What eBay is missing is any sort of warehousing, inventory transportation, and the costs associated. This is generally where a company really falters and has tons of liability / cost tied up.
The End Result: So what the hell, eBay? Why are we getting screwed? Where's the beef? Does anyone have any ideas about their true cost of operating?
