$23.34
0.10 (+0.43%)
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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OK, here's the deal: All you business majors sit around crunching numbers, looking at PE, Cash Return, Return ON Equity, etc., and say Ebay is a steal, and everyone should buy it. As anyone can see on this site, you all have been saying that for over a year, and the stock has continued to plunge. If you Google "Ebay sucks" or "PayPal sucks", or "immediate termination of Ebay CEO John Donahoe petition", you'll see what's REALLY going on at Ebay. The CEO is a business school idiot, making absolutely asinine changes that are taking Ebay down the tubes! He is totally out of touch with his customer base. I have been a seller on Ebay for 10 years, and am being squeezed out by ridiculous fees and being forced to use their own on line payment system, PayPal. Do all you business school majors realize Donahoe went to business school, too? FACT: PayPal is holding up payments to sellers for up to 30 days, and makes it a pain in the ass to collect YOUR money from them. RESULT: PayPal shows TONS of cash on the books. Problem is, it's not their cash they're showing you! FACT: When Donahoe changed the feedback system on Ebay, making it impossible for sellers to leave negative feedback, and nearly doubled Ebay's Final Value Fees, sellers organized a strike last Feb., which was only loosely organized in less than a month. Ebay said "We're not worried! Ebayers support our changes to "protect the community" of Ebay!" To attempt to offset the effectiveness of the boycott of sellers, they generated 100,000 FALSE DESCRIPTIONS on Ebay, and were caught at it by the press. When called on it, they claimed to be "testing the system". These are only 2 examples of the many stupid, out of touch changes made by Donahoe. Before you buy stock, or recommend buying it to someone else, do your homework! Check out those pages I quoted above to hear about ALL the changes and problems at Ebay. Don't just look at the numbers THEY'RE giving you. In a time when people should be flocking to Ebay to sell their excess belongings, they're instead going to Craigslist (which Ebay is attempting to BUY, to eliminate competition.) EBAY IS GOING DOWN THE TUBES! SELL THE CRAPPY STOCK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
Very accurate post. Here's a link for people to get a real feel of what is happening on the inside of ebay. This is a thread, which has had many of the worst/most damning posts removed. But, it still indicates the anger towards ebay. Remember, this is only a small sampling (ebay censors out many of the best questions) of the turmoil which is reaching new levels every day. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520075124&start=80
The pink is the ebay representative attempting to control collateral damage.http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520075124&start=0As I said earlier, their were many, many more posts that were deleted....just stay tuned and watch for yourself. This should keep your money in safer investments.
Completely agree with this analysis, though if management sharply backtracks or changes course (or is changed), there may be significant residual brand value here if it isn't choked out completely first.I doubt this is going to zero, ever -- more likely an acquisition target when things get dire, and I wouldn't expect to see it hit below $4-5 / share.It's certainly not "undervalued" at the moment, though.
I dont undestand how eforcity is thriving on ebay if ebay is so bad. eforcity is also a powerseller.Did they remediate the issues?
How clever of you, eforcity, to plug your own Ebay page! That wasn't obvious at all! If you're thriving on Ebay, it's because you're selling things like shipping containers of cheap Chinese crap or remanufactured electronics as new. And because you sell SO much crap, Ebay rewards you by charging you little or no listing fees, as opposed to the Mom and Pop sellers who made Ebay the multi-billion giant it is years ago, while you were still going to school and managing the local McDonald's. Ebay also rewards you "power sellers" by listing your items before Mom and Pop's on the selling pages, even though Mom has exactly the item you're looking for. For example, if someone is searching for a "Mickey Mouse Phone", and enters that on Ebay's "Search" (contradiction of terms) and M&P has one for auction ending in 1 hour, because you sell more "Mickey Mouse Videos" or "Mickey Mouse Underwear" YOUR descriptions for crap the customer is NOT looking for to come up before theirs, along with having to wait for all the extra advertising to load on the slow-as-sh** pages. This advertising includes ANYTHING that might contain the words "mickey" "mouse" or "telephone". Certainly the small up-turn in profit Ebay is showing is from selling advertising space on it's pages, not from people buying anything. Just go onto Ebay and try "searching" for something. If you CAN find what you're looking for, you'll get tired of waiting for pages to load, and give up. I was hoping that the CEO would be removed at the most recent stockholders meeting, but like the "discussion boards" on Ebay, what was said and asked was carefully choreographed and censored, and the CEO was ready with plenty of gobbledygook "business-speak" to counter any hint of dissention. Basically translated, he said "Sure, we got our ass kicked in the past year, but we're sure these changes will work-eventually. Keep me on until 2011, and you'll see!" And they did! Ebay is DEAD! It was fun, Ebay! I'm going to miss you!
overeducatedfool, has it right! If the shareholders don't stop Donahoe, they will get exactly what they deserve, NOTHING! Donahoe is deliberately orchestrating ebay's demise with his destructive policies and the shareholders are losing money on his scheme by not educating themselves about the real ebay issues. Where are the ebay dividends? Check Donahoe's pockets, his salary, his perks, his retention package and his golden parachute! You may just find those dividends, along with ebay sellers' funds sifted out through Paypal's deceitful practices.
Over Educated Fool is correct! ebay is driven by its sellers and we are disgusted with the auction GIANT! Ha Ha... I have a feedback of 16,900 100% positive if you ignore the moron that just gave me 6 negatives! The back stabbing has started as sellers are buying from each other and discounting their inventories. Its a sinking ship, with rats still trying to flee! I buy as much as I sell now, buying cheap to restock 3 retail outlets. Once dead inventories are sold cheap, I will retreat to walk-in retail and kiss off, the prior only game in town mentality.
The fees going up and down, the revolt of August 2006 and removing negatives to buyers, continues to strangle sellers who once like me did this full time. Small items that still sell for 4. to 5. are over loaded with fees, including that of Pay Pal, ebay owned. By the time you factor inventory cost in, ebay is a good place for dumping inventory cheap, not a good place to expect a profit margin. I am selling coins and they sell for their metal value. I am buying DVD's for .15 cents each, plus shipping in lots and VHS cheaper! This means while product is moving, its temporary. Real valueables like coinage will sell out as will cheap inventory that is getting dumped.
Disgusted with the lack of equitable policing, I will close my store soon and retain my username for stalking sellers dumping inventories cheap. If there is little profit for sellers who generate ebays value, how valueable REALLY is ebay stock? Investors study charts, ebay sellers watch their profit margins completely disappear. When we throw in the towel, we are an early prediction for what is to follow!
Given the dictator tactics of August 2006 many sellers worked to create alternatives. In my case a indoor mall, where 3 of 14 units I occupy with my own businesses. Since ebay threatens sellers on a regular basis, sellers need options in case speaking out gets them banned.
Investing in ebay in the long term is insane!
Right on! Anyone would be a fool to by eBay stock. I too have seen eBay go down as a place to sell anything. They may fool people for a short time, but it want last. They are idiots, trying to fool the market.