Jan 05 2009
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Meg Whitman stepped down from the boards of Procter & Gamble Co., eBay Inc. and Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. effective Dec. 31″
Right now the speculation is that she is preparing a run for Governator (sorry, Governor) of California.
Here is a breakdown of the race still 2 years off.
I’ll keep my 15% to myself on this subject.
Jan 02 2009
Amazon is holding a webinar on their WebStore offering on January 14th at 10:00 AM PST it will run about 45 minutes with time for questions. Sign-up today.
Introduction to WebStore by Amazon.
WebStore by Amazon provides you with a branded e-commerce site backed by the support, selection, and expertise of Amazon. WebStore is easy to set up and comes with a number of great marketing features so you can start selling in minutes! Learn more about owning your own WebStore.
Just my 15%
Jan 01 2009
I’ve enjoyed the time to relax this past 2 weeks, I hope you haven’t missed me too much. Originally I was going to write a 2008 year in review post, but thought nobody wants to relive that, we all know how bad 2008 was. A New Year’s post is a time for optimism; even if it is only fleeting.
As I look at the rest of 2009 from the vantage point of this first day, I’m excited about what lies ahead for the online seller:
By mid 2009 eBay sellers, large and small, will finally understand what the “New” eBay is. In 2008, eBay lost its mojo and there is really no getting it back, but I am hoping it will still be a viable alternative for a great many sellers. If new management comes on board mid-year, they won’t return it to its former glory, but it should still be a […]
Dec 28 2008
But, this time I’m not going to “out them” because they are not an outside company. They began on eBay and have finally been recognized for their hard work. From what I understand they are one of 10 existing eBay sellers who have been acknowledged as Diamond sellers. Their monthly sales exceed $500k in GMV and their DSRs are 4.9 across the board.
When eBay announced the “Diamond” program, I felt it was just cover for the Buy.com deal, and I’m on record that I have no problem with deals as long as they are open to existing eBay sellers. Offering deals to outside companies without providing the same opportunity for existing sellers is wrong in my view. It took awhile, but it looks like eBay is finally acknowledging the hard work of some of their largest sellers.
It remains to be seen what benefits they will earn from this new sales […]
Dec 26 2008
Most of you know I am a huge fan of Amazon.com. I believe they had a very solid holiday season, but I have to chuckle a little about today’s press release: Amazon.com’s 14th Holiday Season Is Best Ever.
In reality, their sales could have been up 1% over last year (there previous best year ever) and that statement would still be accurate., Last year they said the same thing. Amazon.com Wraps Up Its 13th Holiday With Best Season Ever and the year before Amazon.com’s 12th Holiday Season is Best Ever and … well you get the picture.
So after we forgive the PR department for hyperbole, let’s take a look at some of the numbers in light of the current economic news.
2008 - Amazon’s Peak Order Day was Dec 15th with 6.3 million orders placed, which was up 17% over 2007’s Peak Order day of Dec. 10th and 5.4 million orders. 17% growth Y/Y on […]
Dec 22 2008
Thanks to a comment from a reader, I took a look at the current mix (auctions to FP) in the media categories on eBay and here’s what I came up with.
DVD’s - Auctions make-up 15% of total listings
CD’s - Auctions make-up 10% of total listings
Books - Auctions make-up 10% of total listings
Video Games - are more difficult to figure out because game systems get included in the games category, but auctions still make up close to 50%
So in the three major categories auctions have lost favor with media sellers and are dangerously close to no longer being worth the effort for eBay, Sellers like JayandMarie may find their business model doesn’t make any sense any longer. If eBay is going to go to FP only in the Media category and I have no knowledge that they are, then they should be reaching out to sellers like JayandMarie and giving them […]
Dec 21 2008
I’m still on vacation but since Ina Steiner has posted her predictions for 2009 and Sue from Tamebay is working on hers and soon to post them (I’ll link to her post when ready), I figured I would jump on the band-wagon.
Warning! This list is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used to make any kind of decision. I was correct on 5 out of 10 last year, so I should get lucky on at least a couple of these.
Amazon took over the “unique visitor” title in Nov and Dec of 2008 and will continue to battle with eBay through the 1st quarter of 2009, eventually taking the lead for good. In 2007 eBay took back the lead right after the holidays, this time they may lose it forever.
John Donahoe will get two more quarters to turn eBay around before drastic action is taken, which could mean selling […]
Dec 16 2008
I was checking out SellerDome the other day and noticed that GlacierBayDVD had fallen out of the top 25 in feedback all the way down to #28. I guess I couldn’t expect to stay there forever since I haven’t sold on the site in close to 3 years.
I also noticed that Buy.com had moved into the top 25 at #21 in less than a year on the site. That is an impressive feat since Buy has never used the auction format and Fixed Price items usually don’t see the same sales velocity. They are still a long way from Jack Sheng’s eForcity, but who knows where they will be a year from now.
Buy is doing exceptionally well (by eBay standards) over the last 30-days, but their sales have been aided by many (loss leader) Daily Deals, so I’m not sure how profitable they are.
Earlier in the year, I was guessing […]
Dec 15 2008
As we enter the final week before Christmas, I’m sure many of my readers are busy trying to get orders out the door. Even with all the bad economic news I’ve been hearing, it doesn’t seem to be affecting many of my seller friends. Several I’ve spoken with have been working non-stop since Thanksgiving.
This week and next are when Amazon’s FBA service earns its money:
I have one last shipment of product going out Tuesday, so that it is checked-in by Friday and available for those last minute Amazon Prime shoppers.
I haven’t had to answer one customer email — Amazon handles all customer service on my orders.
My customers can have their orders gift wrapped at no cost to me. (They do pay Amazon for that though).
If I was shipping product myself, I would have to tell customers that Friday was the shipping cutoff for items to arrive in time for Christmas; […]