$23.60
-0.16 (-0.67%)
eBay, Inc. (EBAY)
CAPS Rating:
The Company's purpose is to pioneer new communities around the world, built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. It operates three primary business segments, Marketplaces, Payments and Communications.
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Just finished researching this stock. Needless to say EBAY's profitability and stock valuation are outstanding. PE, CASH RETURN, RETURN ON EQUITY, PE VERSUS HISTORIC PE.....By all these measures stock is undervalued. They will be able to whether a depression type era because they have no debt and are cash flow positive. Worst case is that they may have to exit small markets and cut overhead count. They employ a lot of people. Growth and Earnings stability are questionable in the short term. Long term prospects are great because the moat they have. Buyers looking for odd or hard to find items can find almost anything on EBAY. Contrary to what some may say their search is pretty good. EBAY will have to reduce commission fees and bring the balance back to the FORCE however between buyers and sellers. It strikes me as odd that sellers can no longer leave feedback on buyers.
So why should they reduce fees? I think they should reduce fees because their moat comes from being the place where you can find anything. From the seller's perspective lots of eyes make it easy to sell hard to sell products. So Volume begets Volume. With a slow economy lowering commission fees is like giving the tax payers a tax break. This should increase sale transactions. Remember their moat comes from sales transactions. I think right now it is critical for EBAY to do this even though the stock price and immediate earnings could take a hit. So here are three solid reasons they should bypass current earnings for future earnings by reducing fees:
1) Volume begets volume. Moat will increase relative to competition.
2) Will enable their sellers to cut prices making EBAY a place where shoppers can still get a good deal.
3) Profit margin relief for their sellers. You don't want EBAY to shrink 20% because 20% of their sellers are forced out of business in a slow economy. This would allow small start up competition to potentially gain a foot hold.
Personally I can't stand paypal. As a casual shopper its a hindrance. On the otherhand I buy 5-10 things a year from EBAY. Its really a great website to comparison shop and to find items that would normally (without EBAY) be impossible to find.
I read some of the complaints from other posters about EBAY. So i did a test. My 4 year old's (Easter Bunny present) from two years ago broke. I've tried but I can't fix it. So I though maybe EBAY will have it. Someone else bought this so I had no idea what to type. I started with Easter Bunny "lets go to the hop". Nothing hit. Then I tried Singing Easter Bunny. Only one came up but there was a picture of the 2006 Hallmark Easter Buddy..... You would never find that item on any other internet site
Bottom line. EBay is a really great company with a moat that no one else can reproduce. Company is finanically strong and extremely profitable. Company will make money next year too. Stock is priced for a worst case scenario which is unlikely to happen. They have made and will make more mistakes but their moat will allow them to correct things and keep the good ideas. They are profitable and will be even in the downturn. Ebay was selling for current prices back in 1998 or 1999. So I'm buying. Its my chance to finally buy a rule breaker who is also a blue chip company at a value stock price. Can't be beat.
Poor management is finally catching up with eBay. eBay is a horrible company, with horrible leadership. This is not to say eBay couldn't be a great company. Some excellent decisions were made, they weathered the dotcom failure of the late 90's and made some great acquisitions over the years. But, when a company offers little or no customer service, and little value with increasing fees, there's only one way that company can go: downhill, and fast.A Star Wars analogy, if you will. eBay is like young Anakin, a superstar who rose too fast and ego got in the way, leaving only one way to go: downhill. eBay thought they could implement many changes and that the community would accept the changes. eBay thought that they could do whatever they wanted, and there would be no consequences. Afterall, they have always done whatever they wanted, and there had never been any consequences. But, eBay miscalculated one tiny thing:ME.YOU.The entire community united and has stayed strong for nearly a year now, and has not waivered. We have moved on to other venues such as onlineauction, ioffer, etsy, and yes, many have moved over to Amazon. All these venues have shared in record profits, while eBay had their worst year ever. Ask yourself this: If this were due to the economy, why are the competitors doing so well?Answer: It has little to do with the economy, and everything to do with angering those who buy and sell on ebay. eBay is a has been, an afterthought, but, there are new and better venues out there. Ones that listen to the community.
EBAY STOCK WILL FALL.....TOO MUCH CHANGE AND SELLERS ARE LEAVING BY THE THOUSANDS...SO IF YOU BELIEVE THIS STOCK WILL HOLD UP...THINK TWICE ABOUT IT.....SELLERS ARE FED UP WITH EBAY...WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE SELLERS EBAY WILL GO DOWN...FEES ARE ALSO RAMPET OUT OF CONTROL...
It's obvious some people are buying the e-bay spin. Wait and see as the truth becomes harder to hide. Ebay is in real trouble and isn't likely to come out of it until they change their leadership and direction. That, my friend, is fact. Their stock will flounder around 14.00 and could even hit single digits when the 4th quarter results are announced.I don't buy e-bay's propaganda machine and I wouldn't buy anything else there either.I told people to take their money out at 30.00...check for yourself. Now, if you don't think I have good information, then believe these people who are on the misinformation highway.Ebay has cut it's own throat and created their own competition in the process...and they are not experienced when it comes to competition. Things will continue to slide for ebay, for 2009 and beyond. You don't have to believe me...put your money down on ebay stock and don't be surprised when you're in a Nortel/Enron situation. There is much deceipt and number manipulation going on and it's going to be exposed very soon.
What have you been smoking??? Can't you see the graph, in comparison to everything else, when a garage sale company can't make it now, then its a sign of super bad management. I sold all ebay at $26 and never regretted it. I won't buy back in, unless they get all new management, new CEO, and new common sense. Oh well, I got out at the right time, and became a millionaire because fools like you had optimism, over reasoning.
Oh dear. I just started my comment with 'What have people been smoking'. Didn't realise someone started their comment 4 places back in exactly the same way.
Let's see, you state that eBay's growth and earnings stability are questionable. Their search is "pretty good". You want them to reduce fees, hence you know their fees are too high. And you "can't stand Paypal", yet you are recommending eBay. The olny thing you seem to think they have is a "moat" of some sort. If you think their allowing sellers to list millions of the same counterfeit five buck DVD's, then I guess you are right. That is quite a "moat" they have. Amazon can never compete with that "moat". LOL! If this is the best recommendation anyone can give for eBay, then only a FOOL would buy their stock right now.
EBAY has a "moat" alright, and it's almost impossible to get across it if you're an average seller. This isn't spin, or a disgruntled seller's comments - it's just the fact of it - it's hard to start selling on EBAY. It's complicated and surrounded with rules, regulations, special deals, nearly unpredictable fees, etc. etc. And if you do get on, you'll find a tilted playing field, your listing might be hidden if you haven't met one of EBAY's multitudinous (great word!) rules that gets your item visible. Yup, it's a place where largely junk is listed and the cool and interesting stuff is disappearing - and of course the "eyeballs" (and the advertising revenue) is going too. The momentum is down for sure and word of mouth, which built EBAY, is now overwhelmingly negative. Too bad really.
I have been selling on eBay for eleven years. As a Platinum Powerseller (africadrect, $25,000 plus monthly sales on eBay) I know eBay inside out. It is a great company, and is making changes to adjust to the new realities of the market. It is also a perfect fit for this economy: it makes "instant entrepreneurship" possible for people who have lost hobs, and it offers great value for buyers. This is a company whose time has come...again. And yes, I'm a stockholder.
Maybe eBay can get a bailout from the Federal government because that's the only way their stock will rise.Problem with eBay is a disconnect with its sellers. Both eBay and Paypal (another eBay owned company) is that they hurt each other. Its like this...eBay lets you open an account and then they direct you to open a Paypal account and all is well right? WRONG!! You start selling and all of a sudden your Paypal account is limited and you cannot draw your funds out or do anything with it until you clear the hurdles that Paypal has placed in front of you. So now you provide the information needed and they lift your limited status and eBay starts calling your house to upgrade this and to do this and you'll be on your way. Now after they have made more money off of you all of a sudden because of your quick growth it raises a red flag with Paypal and all of a sudden your account is limited again. So know according to Paypal it was a random credit check (RANDOM? after just 3 weeks of lifting the limitation) and they place even more hurdles in front of you and now its Equifax a credit reporting company. Now I can speak this because I went thru this. FACT: while this whole process is going on your account is limited and your money frozen for 6 months and they claim that its in a money market account and you're making 1 1/2% on your money till they release it in 6 months or until you remove the limitations that are placed in front of you. Well, I don't have time to play games with people so I just said forget it. Lets face it, they can do what they want and the only money being made here is the interest of the money being held by Paypal. One power seller on here stating she does well may be the case, and I can say she is probably 1 out of 125. She also stated that she makes $25,000 (Gross) a month in sales and that's a good gig, but I started out at and made Silver power seller in 3 months and climbed to your level (Platinum) in 6 months and had all projections been able to be followed thru I would have been a Titanium power seller ($150,000.00 (Gross) a month. I have since walked away from it and am making my money on other sites without any hassles. Believe it or not other sites call you to get information and not just to sell like eBay does. You see another one of eBay's problems is they will sell you the world if you want to buy it but try and get a hold of customer support and it takes a couple days. Am I disgruntled with eBay? Not really, because I was the customer and they lost my business.Like what was stated here in an earlier post, eBay's ego is too big for even itself and it shows. Why do you think Meg stepped down? Because she knew what was coming as do many CEO's of large companies when they run out of money making ideas.............Here's an idea that my Grandfather always told me as my business lesson..."Customer service wins all of the time, they may not be totally happy but they will come back because of an effort that you apply"...and this is something eBay doesn't have anymore.eBay's largest problem besides customer service is it has too many mouths (Divisions) to feed. Paypal, Prostores, Propay, as well as many other subdivisions and affiliations. eBay has run its course as far as I am concerned. If you stay then do this, get some Monopoly money since that's what eBay's stock is worth, and every time you lose burn it and see what you're left with. I can say this, you'll save some money on your heating bill.GOOD LUCK!! and run while you can because sitting and waiting is foolish. Look in your mirro and sell yourself on it and see if it sticks.
I've been right about what would happen to this company since last years letter went out to the sellers, and many of us stopped selling there. Now the CEO's are trying all kinds of verbiage to get stockholders and possible investors interested in the company again. All ratings have been poor for this company, and it's stable ONLY because at the moment, Skype and Paypal have kept it afloat! If it wasn't for them, ebay would have to close down their core marketplace. They lie about the listings. There are very few "completed sales" in fixed priced listings if you log in (as a member)and check on the side panel where it says "completed sales" you can see what the REAL story is for any given category. Have the sort option as "highest priced first" so you can see the millions of prices in red where the listing was NOT bought. The green priced listings are the ones that WERE purchased. Most of those are auctions!LOL!! The reason why less people purchase auction formats (to sell with) on ebay, is because ebay has financially discouraged it by pricing them higher to the seller!hahah!That's also why the cheap arsed companies with Chinese imported knockoffs are are listed in millions of listings as "fixed price listings". THAT is ebay's truth to the public about fixed price listings doing better than auctions. The real truth is, the CEO's have no idea what real auctions are, or do they understand the antiques and collectibles market, which really IS ebay's CORE.Do your own investigation of this company, do not go by what some of the clueless analysts say or definitely NOT what the CEO's say. They are covering up what is REALLY happening on the site. Read Auctionbytes then you will see what is going on from a professional who understands this industry.Now, I'm going to tell you all what is going on in the collectibles and antiques market that will blow your socks off. Watch what is happening to the company called "Worthpoint". Slowly but surely, they will take every single seller that was once on ebay, and ebay will be begging the sellers to come back. The guy who runs this company bought GoAntiques, and is now combining the two, in addition, is working on an encyclopedia of completed auctions sales throughout history, which will help in the valuation of all goods for sellers everywhere. Ebay SHOULD have done this, but they didn't and now it's too late! If they get rid of their CEO gang, they MIGHT be able to revive, so if you buy this stock, wait till it hits $5 a share, because it WILL! (I said $10 a share last year when it was $25~LOL!)
ebay will go the way of the dinosaur soon! I too have been on ebay for 11 years! January 1998 to be precise. My feedback 16,900 100% not counting the 6 negatives I just got in my back by a rival seller. ebay doesn't offer equity or fair play, so this comes as no surprise. No defense since we as sellers can not offer feedback that is negative.
It was the revolt of August of 2006 that got me preparing to downsize. I bought a 14 unit mall and now occupy 3 of the units for walk-in trade. What is happening right now is sellers are dumping inventories, I am! I am also buying walk in retail merchandise for cheap to place in my real store. Sales are up in this transitionary cycle, but this is short term changing of one type of product out, with a new one replacing it.
I am dumping what I once sold for higher profits and buying items that will be sold else where, not on ebay.
Increased fees, changes in how searches find product, unfair competition, limiting what shipping charges can be added, threats, banning sellers, removing negative feedback options for sellers and a decreased disposable income market, is taking its toll. While I was active for the past month along with other sellers, its simply repositioning, not a reason for investors to risk a future profit or loss.
Like other bread and butter sellers that built the auction GIANT, I loath ebay and stay only as it serves my advantage. That advantage now is to liquidate silver and gold coinage, which does sell, to then use those funds to buy inventory 15 cents on the dollar. Neither function is offering profit margins, but merely exchanging one inventory for another. Without profit margins, such selling is temporary, regardless of those silly charts investors follow.
The money I once put in ebay, now go into a 8300 square foot building. Its nice that I can buy other sellers inventory CHEAP, but that should tell investors, whats really happening! Sells are up, but it will be temporary!
Its been interesting as a buyer! I closed my ebay store, sold out most of my coin collection for below value. As I stated above sellers are dumping inventory. I spent about $1,000. as a buyer picking up inventories cheap, which is why I stated so above.
When I buy camera's or anything serious where its a higher dollar, my experience on ebay tells me to rely on Amazon.com as its safer with sellers that are overall more accountable.
Tonight I read the list of endless NEW RULES ebay has put out for October 1st and while some are an improvement my seller confidence is long gone. I have a 8,000 sq foot plus building with 14 units inside, 3 that I occupy and frankly returning to walk in retail was a good feeling. The items that were in my ebay store are now on OnLineAuction out of Grants Pass OR. where they allowed a WWW link to my walkin store. The HONEYMOON is over after selling over 40,000 smaller items. Every one I know from within my 11 years on ebay is tired of the site and with sells low, unless you are dumping, few have any long range plans to stay beyond short term sales.