Well, that's sort of a rhetorical flourish, but I expect this to result in a fair degree of backlash. I trade synthesizers and high-ticket audio gear fairly regularly, and I feel comfortable calling myself an expert on that market. It's not a business for me, but I make my living working with pro audio so it does have a professional dimension. I think a lot about pricing strategies, and incline towards building listing and shipping fees into my price - I make a bit less, but my trades move quickly and a single all-inclusive price creates goodwill with buyers.
But there is no way that I'm going to just silently eat fees of 12-13% (including Paypal transaction charges), when I also pay shipping, insurance, and signature confirmation fees to minimize the risks of chargebacks on items costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. I have other markets I can sell in, of people who I've known for years on pro audio forums and a moderately active electronic music scene where I live. I liked selling on eBay because I could usually get a 10% premium or so over a local sale, but now that margin has disappeared. bulk dealers will just treat it as a cost of doing business, but traders in specialty markets like myself will just raise their prices or sell in informal markets. As a buyer I'm also much less inclined to subsidize ebay.
User acquisition of auction customers is indeed expensive, but I bet there are opportunities in peer to peer trust arrangements similar to escrow transactions.
"User acquisition of auction customers is indeed expensive, but I bet there are opportunities in peer to peer trust arrangements similar to escrow transactions."
I like where you are going with that. I can envision a marketplace that is built around consumer trust and seller expertise, I just don't think that eBay is that marketplace.
But there is no way that I'm going to just silently eat fees of 12-13% (including Paypal transaction charges), when I also pay shipping, insurance, and signature confirmation fees to minimize the risks of chargebacks on items costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. I have other markets I can sell in, of people who I've known for years on pro audio forums and a moderately active electronic music scene where I live. I liked selling on eBay because I could usually get a 10% premium or so over a local sale, but now that margin has disappeared. bulk dealers will just treat it as a cost of doing business, but traders in specialty markets like myself will just raise their prices or sell in informal markets. As a buyer I'm also much less inclined to subsidize ebay.
User acquisition of auction customers is indeed expensive, but I bet there are opportunities in peer to peer trust arrangements similar to escrow transactions.