Has eBay lost is 'sparkle'?

[Frank]

And lowest price is not always the antithesis of best deal either. For service after the sale I either do it myself or use local people and everyone benefits.

[MCChris]

Got it.

Actually, you're still not getting it. You never do, really.

See if you can get this straight: you have NO idea what it takes to run a business, online, brick-and-mortar or otherwise.

[zenmindbeginner]

I don't know if it applies to the US. But in our country, Ebay is loaded with lots of small mom and pop shops that maintain an online shop within ebay.

First, it cost nothing to run a shop in ebay.

Second, you widely extend your market presence.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a WINNER!!!!!!

[jwhitcomb3]

Got it.

Actually, you're still not getting it. You never do, really.

See if you can get this straight: you have NO idea what it takes to run a business, online, brick-and-mortar or otherwise.

I understand. You don't disagree with what I have to say, it just upsets you that I'm saying it.

-Jonathan

[Brooks]

please, everyone take a deep breath. we're all on the same side.

[edgar_allan_poe]

Children.....don't make me come in there and bust open a can of whoop ass.

please, everyone take a deep breath. we're all on the same side.

Easy to say when medicated. LOL!!! How you feeling bro?

[Feynman]

please, everyone take a deep breath. we're all on the same side.

Screw you!

[jisham]

American's incomes have been falling steadily for the past 40+ years. My generation will NOT be as successful as our father's generation.

The baby boomers experienced the best that this country ever had to offer and they enjoyed it to the fullest. They had good jobs and earned the requisite money to maintain middle class lifestyles.

Now fast forward to the present day where the middle class doesn't have a pot to piss in, are losing their homes in record foreclosures while our jobs have all been sent overseas.

We can't afford to have a goddamn thing anymore and must resort to eBay and Craigslist to do most of our purchases. We can't pay the prices that contain the extra money it takes to maintain a store, inventory and employees. The middle class can't really afford to buy goods anymore. Many of us are pinching pennies on an unprecedented level.

If I want a Blackface Princeton Reverb, I can't afford to pay the $1800 price tag at the Mom and Pop store. But I can afford $1000 to an eBay seller.

I can afford a $400 Centaura but if it was in a store, it would have a $600 price tag and that extra $200 is a BIG f**kin' deal to me.

This country is toast and it has nothing to do with how middle class people don't support the mom and Pop stores anymore... that argument was valid in the 90's but it just has no bearing in the actual situation today.

We have no money and can't afford to buy anything anymore. What little discretionary income we have left over must be strategically spent with laser precision so as to not drive us deeper into debt than we really are.

If the middle class was able to stand on their two legs and earn a respectable living we would be easily able to support the Mom and Pop stores. If the banks would get their goddamn feet off of our necks we would be able to breathe, but instead, they are continuing their torture while we are simultaneously experiencing unemployment on a mass scale. The 11% figure thrown around is complete bullshit, it's more like 15-20%.

Blame the outsourcing and punitive interest rates, but don't blame us poor as middle classers who don't have a pot to piss in. The rich folks are waiting for the middle class to start starving and the lower classes to start dying in their homes before they step forward with a "New, New Deal". They are contemptuous of the working classes and will stop at nothing until we are powerless. We bailed them out, yet they can't lower interest rates or loan us any money. We got punked in the worst way. If anyone has ever met someone who works on Wall Street, they know how they look down on the working classes as being too stupid to be successful. They are rich because they are special and we are poor because we aren't. Therefore, they deserve everything and we can just suck it right?

If we had good and steady jobs, we would be in the Mom and Pop stores happily buying everything that we could, but us working class folk are all losing our asses.

Most of the better players on this board are all struggling financially.

Wow. I hate to see people CHOOSE to wallow in negativity but have at it....

You're right, it's just my opinion that the economy is in the tank. I'm just choosing to see the declining wealth of the middle class. I guess from your point of view, you are rolling in the dough and getting wealthier everyday right?

Not really. But for me, I can wake up every day and bitch/moan about my circumstances or I can face them head on with optimism, which is what I CHOOSE to do. YMMV obviously.

[Brooks]

Children.....don't make me come in there and bust open a can of whoop ass.

please, everyone take a deep breath. we're all on the same side.

Easy to say when medicated. LOL!!! How you feeling bro?

i'm ok. DavidB is on his way over w/ the bird, so thats very cool.

my meds suck (percocet), they don't give you a buzz, they just dull the pain (my pain is light this week).

been on the phone trying to get someone to deliver some smokey treats!

[Cary]

American's incomes have been falling steadily for the past 40+ years. My generation will NOT be as successful as our father's generation.

The baby boomers experienced the best that this country ever had to offer and they enjoyed it to the fullest. They had good jobs and earned the requisite money to maintain middle class lifestyles.

Now fast forward to the present day where the middle class doesn't have a pot to piss in, are losing their homes in record foreclosures while our jobs have all been sent overseas.

We can't afford to have a goddamn thing anymore and must resort to eBay and Craigslist to do most of our purchases. We can't pay the prices that contain the extra money it takes to maintain a store, inventory and employees. The middle class can't really afford to buy goods anymore. Many of us are pinching pennies on an unprecedented level.

If I want a Blackface Princeton Reverb, I can't afford to pay the $1800 price tag at the Mom and Pop store. But I can afford $1000 to an eBay seller.

I can afford a $400 Centaura but if it was in a store, it would have a $600 price tag and that extra $200 is a BIG f**kin' deal to me.

This country is toast and it has nothing to do with how middle class people don't support the mom and Pop stores anymore... that argument was valid in the 90's but it just has no bearing in the actual situation today.

We have no money and can't afford to buy anything anymore. What little discretionary income we have left over must be strategically spent with laser precision so as to not drive us deeper into debt than we really are.

If the middle class was able to stand on their two legs and earn a respectable living we would be easily able to support the Mom and Pop stores. If the banks would get their goddamn feet off of our necks we would be able to breathe, but instead, they are continuing their torture while we are simultaneously experiencing unemployment on a mass scale. The 11% figure thrown around is complete bullshit, it's more like 15-20%.

Blame the outsourcing and punitive interest rates, but don't blame us poor as middle classers who don't have a pot to piss in. The rich folks are waiting for the middle class to start starving and the lower classes to start dying in their homes before they step forward with a "New, New Deal". They are contemptuous of the working classes and will stop at nothing until we are powerless. We bailed them out, yet they can't lower interest rates or loan us any money. We got punked in the worst way. If anyone has ever met someone who works on Wall Street, they know how they look down on the working classes as being too stupid to be successful. They are rich because they are special and we are poor because we aren't. Therefore, they deserve everything and we can just suck it right?

If we had good and steady jobs, we would be in the Mom and Pop stores happily buying everything that we could, but us working class folk are all losing our asses.

Most of the better players on this board are all struggling financially.

Wow. I hate to see people CHOOSE to wallow in negativity but have at it....

I know a few people who are suffering right now through no fault of their own. I also know plenty of middle class members who didn't buy more house than they could afford (and with the idea of "flipping" it for a profit in a year), don't lease cars they can't afford to buy, don't run up their credit cards to the limits, and who live well within their means who are doing fine even when faced with minor setbacks. It's all in your attitude I guess - If you think the world is out to get you, you'll make sure it does.

As for ebay, my experiences have been generally positive, but I don't buy all that much on there, and have never sold there. Anymore it seems like the same old stuff all the time.

[jisham]

Children.....don't make me come in there and bust open a can of whoop ass.

please, everyone take a deep breath. we're all on the same side.

Easy to say when medicated. LOL!!! How you feeling bro?

i'm ok. DavidB is on his way over w/ the bird, so thats very cool.

my meds suck (percocet), they don't give you a buzz, they just dull the pain (my pain is light this week).

been on the phone trying to get someone to deliver some smokey treats!

Add some tequila to the percs --

[Turdus]

I know a few people who are suffering right now through no fault of their own. I also know plenty of middle class members who didn't buy more house than they could afford (and with the idea of "flipping" it for a profit in a year), don't lease cars they can't afford to buy, don't run up their credit cards to the limits, and who live well within their means who are doing fine even when faced with minor setbacks. It's all in your attitude I guess - If you think the world is out to get you, you'll make sure it does.

As for ebay, my experiences have been generally positive, but I don't buy all that much on there, and have never sold there. Anymore it seems like the same old stuff all the time.

Well said Cary. I've not seen a dime increase in my paycheck since 2000. But what is left for me is far less than 10 years ago. Even the trash man got a raise, as evidenced in my quarterly bill, lol. I'm not complaining. I live within my means, and have been fortunate to not have my job outsourced.... yet.

[jwhitcomb3]

I also know plenty of middle class members who didn't buy more house than they could afford (and with the idea of "flipping" it for a profit in a year), don't lease cars they can't afford to buy, don't run up their credit cards to the limits, and who live well within their means who are doing fine even when faced with minor setbacks.

That is HUGE. As you noted, not everyone was in the position to build up a cushion to ride out the hard times, but those who were able to rather than max out their spending power during the good times are currently in better shape.

Now if the gov't could learn that lesson...

As for ebay, my experiences have been generally positive, but I don't buy all that much on there, and have never sold there. Anymore it seems like the same old stuff all the time.

Selling off a bunch of my junk on ebay helped me through the lean times as well. I'm currently selling off my study aids.

[MCChris]

You don't disagree with what I have to say, it just upsets you that I'm saying it.

-Jonathan

Correct.

[sw686blue]

Children.....don't make me come in there and bust open a can of whoop ass.

Isn't that what the 14 year old girl in your class did to YOU last year?

[cmatthes]

Suh - NAPPPPPP!!

[tomteriffic]

[atquinn]

...I know a few people who are suffering right now through no fault of their own. I also know plenty of middle class members who didn't buy more house than they could afford (and with the idea of "flipping" it for a profit in a year), don't lease cars they can't afford to buy, don't run up their credit cards to the limits, and who live well within their means who are doing fine even when faced with minor setbacks. It's all in your attitude I guess - If you think the world is out to get you, you'll make sure it does...

Cary and I are in complete agreement. *faint*

-Austin

[cmatthes]

Hard to argue with the truth though.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

That's right. I didn't just adapt my career in the face of changing business conditions!

A career working for someone else isn't the same thing as owning and running your own business. Yes, you've reinvented yourself, but it's still someone else's dime that's fortifying your paychecks.

...and as a potential future entrepeneur who is developing one business model to open a successful music store by targeting a lucrative market, and still considering other business models to try to target the Rock Band/Guitar Hero markets. The latter needs more thought. The former is looking really good based on some recent real-life local evidence, but I just don't have the freedom to pursue that market niche yet.

Get back to us when you've become a current entrepreneur, or better yet, an entrepreneur five years into it. You may or may not have changed your tune by then.

Here's a few ideas (aside from an eBay presence):

- Move the business as close as possible to the nearest college. Market to college students. Push the idea of getting a brand new guitar for yourself for graduation.

- Sell "Rock Band/Guitar Hero" gear. Push and strengthen the idea that buying a real guitar is the logical next step. (I can teach someone to play "Horse with no name" in less than 60 seconds. Give them a free 30-minute less THE DAY THEY BUY THE GUITAR to ensure they have an immediate, positive experience with the guitar by teaching them 3-4 popular Rock Band/Guitar Hero licks)

- Buy a mess of those "build your own guitar" kits, develop your own distinctive headstock, encourage/push pickup/string/electronics upgrades, and learn how to finish guitars so that ANY customer can have a custom guitar for less than, say, $300 (depending on options). The kits have some problems, but after you do 4-5 of them, you get where you can assemble them and overcome the problems easily.

- Talk to a few hotels in your area...see if you can set up a deal where you rent guitars to traveling businessmen. There have been any number of times I would have been willing to rent a guitar for somewhere between $10 and $25/day. You can get a decent Rock Tools guitar (or First Act, or Viper, maybe...haven't played those) for about $50-80 shipped from eBay, and rent one for $10/day. Even after giving the hotel a cut, you get your money back within 8 rentals, so almost certainly within a calendar month, and its pure profit after that. In addition to the $10/day, you have them leave an $80 deposit if they walk off with the guitar or damage it, so you are risk free. You can also do this with a kit guitar you build yourself. Oh, and $5/day for a headphone amp to go with it (retail: $30...again, paid off within 8 actual rental days, so almost certainly within a calendar month). Once that is humming along, introduce upgraded guitars for upgraded rents/deposits. Think what you could do for the Hamer market just by having a few Hamer beaters to rent out at a decently low price!

- If you have a military base nearby, be sure to have a military welcome special to all the new military just assigned to the base. A good percentage of them will be single with all life expenses taken care of, so will have money to spend.

Are you doing any of these?

Tell me why these none of these could improve your bottom line/cash flow. If they are completely off-base, I'll be happy to learn something from you.

At worst, though, these are clearly better business ideas than trying to guilt trip an semi-anonymous message board.

The reason I can't implement any of these myself is that I'm still in the military and move around every few years. I don't have the time to sit in a brick-and-mortar store, and "a few years" isn't enough time to build up any kind of clientele. But I'll look at the business environment after I retire and find some market niches I can occupy, I think. Maybe in something besides guitars, dunno.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

As for the original question about whether or not eBay has lost its sparkle, it certainly has this year. My auctions used to always start at a penny, but this year they have been getting reserve prices. There have been too many "good deals" for buyers this year.

This is my experience, too.

My track record of "earning $30/guitar, on average" is gone. I've made some money off of a few, but mostly have lost about $30/guitar this year.

But I had to accept the losses in order to pay for some better guitars, so it was worth it.

[edgar_allan_poe]

Isn't that what the 14 year old girl in your class did to YOU last year? laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif

Get it straight...that was 3 years ago, and trust me when I say that she would have kicked %99 of this boards ass. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[cynic]

- If you have a military base nearby, be sure to have a military welcome special to all the new military just assigned to the base. A good percentage of them will be single with all life expenses taken care of, so will have money to spend.

But don't be like most that charge ridiculous interest rates because Joe Bootcamp doesn't know what it means. The "businesses" near military bases generally cause more financial hardship than need be. Predatory lending didn't start with the housing market.

I refuse to support any business that advertises or has signage with words to the effect of "we finance military regardless of rank," or even "military welcome" for that matter.

[Brooks]

Add some tequila to the percs --

yeah, they do work better w/ a few beers!

[zenmindbeginner]

Not really. But for me, I can wake up every day and bitch/moan about my circumstances or I can face them head on with optimism, which is what I CHOOSE to do. YMMV obviously.

That's obviously great advice.

I was just explaining about the economy and wasn't really trying to bitch and moan about anything. I was trying to be illustrative and poignant and I succeeded in doing so. The fact that you saw my treatise as some sort of negativity says more about your politics and particular point of view.

I told the truth, sorry if y'all don't like it.