[Cody Dawg]

eBay decides to increase their fees...by a whopping 50%.

Why?

Because they can. Yes, good old eBay wants to gouge Americans in order to "develop their marketplace in China and India."

They announced their price increases in a pretty rude way, also, via email. It was not a pleasant email in the least - they didn't even try to make it appear pleasant. No explanations, no pleasantries, nothing. Just what you see below.

We are writing to let you know that effective midnight PST, February 18, 2005 eBay.com and eBay Motors will be making changes to the fee structure.

The fee changes are as follows:

Gallery

Gallery fees will be raised from $0.25 to $0.35 per listing. We will also b=
e increasing the size of the Gallery image on search and listings pages by =
56%. This will make it easier for buyers to see details of the item before =
clicking into the listing.


Buy It Now
Buy It Now fees will no longer be charged at a flat rate, and will instead =
be determined based on the Buy It Now price. Fees will be charged as follow=
s:

Buy It Now Price: $0.01 - 9.99
Fee: $0.05

Buy It Now Price: $10 - 24.99
Fee: $0.10

Buy It Now Price: $25 - 49.99
Fee: $0.20

Buy It Now Price: $50+
Fee: $0.25


10-Day Duration
The fee for 10-day duration listings will be raised from $0.20 to $0.40 per=
listing.


eBay Stores
The fee for the Basic eBay Store subscription will be raised from $9.95 to =
$15.95 per month. The subscription fee for Featured and Anchor Stores will =
be unchanged.

eBay Store Inventory format listing insertion fees will remain unchanged. T=
he Final Value Fee for Store Inventory items will change as follows:

Closing Price: $0.01 - $25
Old Price: 5.25% of the closing value
New Price: 8% of the closing price

Closing Price: $25.01 - $1,000
Old Price: 5.25% of the initial $25, plus 2.75% of the remaining closing va=
lue balance.
New Price: 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the remaining closing value ba=
lance ($25.01 - $1000)

Closing Price: Over $1,000
Old Price: 5.25% of the initial $25, plus 2.75% of the next $25.01-$1000, p=
lus 1.50% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01 - closing value=
).
New Price: 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the next $25.01 - $1000, plus =
3% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01 - closing value).

A few of us down here in Florida want the government to intervene. Read here.

I'm glad eBay's shares fell today. I hope they keep on falling.

[TETENAL]

If you don't like a business making money, why don't you emigrate to communist Cuba? Shouldn't be such a far a move from Florida.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

YA SCREW EVERYONE!

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?threadid=241480

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
If you don't like a business making money, why don't you emigrate to communist Cuba? Shouldn't be such a far a move from Florida.

Why is it that whenever anybody complains about a company being unethical or otherwise behaving in a way that would lead us to call an individual who did the same things an "asshole," somebody tries to call him a communist?

eBay was already making money. Nobody is saying businesses shouldn't make money. But some people feel that businesses have the same social obligation that everybody has not to be total raging dicks, and don't take kindly to companies doing things that hurt their customers solely for the sake of greed.

But while we're on the subject, if you're going to bring freedom into this, how come companies have the right to anally violate us but we don't then have the right to complain and wish ill upon them? Personally, I much prefer communism to out-and-out fascism.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
Why is it that whenever anybody complains about a company being unethical or otherwise behaving in a way that would lead us to call an individual who did the same things an "asshole," somebody tries to call him a communist?

There is nothing unethical for a business in earning good money. And asking the government to intervene when a business is making money is communism. In a capitalistic system you let the market decide, not the government, and go to a competitor who offers a better price. But you won't get as much when selling somewhere else, you way? Well, then eBay's fees are still adequate apparently.

[Cody Dawg]

Oh, the people here who don't give a crap are the people who are unaffected.

The same people who would scream and moan if their favorite Apple "something" just went up by 50% be it Mac.com or iPods or whatever.

Yeah, I'd laugh if all of a sudden MacNN announced that to be here it was going to cost you $10 a month. THAT would be a great thread about how people are going to leave, etc., because they aren't going to pay it. Some of us/you would pay it. How would you like it if in three months they announced that it's now $20 a month?

The POINT is that eBay is doing VERY well.

Oh, I'm sure that the government doesn't give a flying rat's *ss about this issue and won't intervene.

But the point is that we've got eBay, a good old American company, SCREWING Americans...and for what? To pay for expanding into China and India.

Screw eBay.



I hope the people that have had bad experiences with eBay all show up here in droves and tell us all about it.

Oh, and don't forget that eBay owns Paypal.

So, now you'll pay about 10% for eBay fees...plus another 5% for Paypal.

Yeah, this situation is more and more looking like a "pimp 'n ho" sich.

[wang_himself]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
There is nothing unethical for a business in earning good money. And asking the government to intervene when a business is making money is communism. In a capitalistic system you let the market decide, not the government, and go to a competitor who offers a better price. But you won't get as much when selling somewhere else, you way? Well, then eBay's fees are still adequate apparently.

You are an elitest dick. The capitalist model is flaed, look at how free trade screws countries who have standards and favors those who do not. eBay has a monopoly on the online auction markets. Thy are just as bad as Bezos at Amazon and good old Wal-Mart. ALL THREE DRIVE EVERYTHING OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

[Alezone]

eBay and PayPal is taking a lot of money from a lot of sellers/me everyday

it IS a monopoly

[Xeo]

eBay does have a monopoly, and IMO they are abusing it by raising prices when their profits are already high. If they were struggling, I could see it, but as it stands, they are just being jerks.

A lot of people make their livings off eBay. If there were a way to take their businesses off eBay and still survive, they would, but they can't. eBay has a hold on them and just decided they want to take more of those small business owners profits. It's too bad.

[ringo]

Sellers should do what brick and mortar retailers do when costs go up: pass the costs on to the consumer. Lots of people on ebay are already screwing buyers with "handling" fees and are overcharging for shipping anyway. Take that extra quarter and add it to your handling fee if you don't want to eat the cost yourself.

$15/month plus %fees for an online store is still a pretty good deal compared to the cost of hosting, developing, and marketing your own ecommerce site. If its a dealbreaker than adjust your pricing, find ways of making up the margin on other products, or go to a competitor like yahoo shopping. There are also other sites that host auctions, such as bidz.com or overstock.com.

Don't be such a victim. Take your business somewhere else or get out of the game if you can't find a way to stay profitable. Physical retailers have no protection from cost increases, why would the online world be any different?

[Cody Dawg]

eBay does have a monopoly, and IMO they are abusing it by raising prices when their profits are already high. If they were struggling, I could see it, but as it stands, they are just being jerks.

A lot of people make their livings off eBay. If there were a way to take their businesses off eBay and still survive, they would, but they can't. eBay has a hold on them and just decided they want to take more of those small business owners profits. It's too bad.

Xeo gets the free lunch!

That's right, exactly right.

It's a monopoly and they don't care who they hurt or the fact that a LOT of people are feeding their families and trying to get by with eBay and selling their things.

The thing is, they weren't even NICE about any of this. It's like being shot to get an email like that for some people.

Yep, don't think about the guy selling a million Palm PDA stylus packs on eBay. Think about mom and pop, retired and unable to survive on social security, selling a few things there and there.

They suck.

[Eriamjh]

eBay is the Microsoft of online auctions.

Buy some stock because it is going to go up.

[zerostar]

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
eBay is the Microsoft of online auctions.
Buy some stock because it is going to go up.

Exactly. lol

eBay Fees Increase: Screw Everyone. How does this screw the buyer?

Anyway, yesterday I sold my 1,400th item on eBay, so yeah I will be affected by this, but I also do Yahoo and Amazon Auctions, etc. so I am pretty deversified and not exactly a "power seller"

The most I am effected seems to be 2 to 3% or so... and a few cents on buy it now, what was raised by 50%?

[Cody Dawg]

Google is supposedly putting together a selling and buying service that is somehow connected to Froogle.

I hope it's a good one and I'll use it. Knowing Google and their team, it will be great.

[effgee]

Originally posted by Cody Dawg:
It's a monopoly ...

I fail to see how this comes as a surprise to anyone. Most of us deal with (quasi-)monopolies that are far worse every day - if it's your local cable-, telephone-, electricity-, etc.-company (depending on your geography, of course). With those guys you often don't even have any other choice but to purchase their "services".

Online monopolies, be it Amazon or eBay, did the "slick" (which does not necessarily equal "consumer-friendly") thing - offer decent features, gather a large clientele, market the crap out of their services, buy out their competition or drive them out of business and then milk the consumer for all it's worth.

Whether you like it or not - in essence, Tetenal's statement above was spot on (he could've phrased it with a bit more sensitivity, though). As long as a lot of people value their own convenience over diversity, WalMart, eBay as well as a number of other "monstrosities" (exaggerated, I know) will be the "shit" and act as they see fit. Until a sufficiently large number of their customers are fed up with their way of doing business and begin to change their behavior, that is.

Another aspect to consider - since eBay is looking to expand overseas the cynic/realist/whatever in some folks might be inclined to put part of the blame where it belongs - AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong) eBay's main market/source of income always was and still is the US. Unfortunately (against most other currencies), the US Dollar isn't worth much these days. So in order for eBay to put up a full-fledged operation overseas, they might have had to invest 100,000,000 USD two years ago - these days, it's more likely to require an investment of 150,000,000 USD (those figures as well as their relation are an example, of course.)

And those extra funds have to come from somewhere - in this particular case out of your pocket.

[Cody Dawg]

Good points, effgee.

All I know is that I hope eBay's stock drops even lower.

Don't get me wrong - I love eBay - but this is ridiculous.

[mikellanes]

Originally posted by effgee:
And those extra funds have to come from somewhere - in this particular case out of your pocket.

Look at us in FL, we got electric rate increases, you say yes but all the extra cost to rebuild.. etc.

If you knew what the Gov. granted to FPL plus thier personal insurances, and what kind of pay the workers were getting for the overtime you would think that was good enough. Now a rate increase? They hit the Hurricane lottery and don't have to look bad for grubbing more money from us.

not directly related to eBay but... heh

I hope google does have an Auction service, it would be GREAT and hopefully smack eBay back to reality! hahaha

[Cody Dawg]

mikellanes:

Yeah, the FPL thing TOTALLY blows.

First they said they were going to charge us $2 extra per month for two years to rebuild their $750 million dollar hurricane fund -- which is supposedly completely gone.

Now they are tacking on rate increases ALSO via rate hikes. "Let's get on the gouge gravy train and stick it to them!"

I'm sick of monopolistic companies (companies were there is no competition such as FPL - we have no choice who our power company is - or cable companies) just dictating rate increases.

It's very frustrating.

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
And asking the government to intervene when a business is making money is communism. In a capitalistic system you let the market decide, not the government, and go to a competitor who offers a better price.

So you think all those Enron folks who were really just being clever in their persuit of money should have gotten off scot-free rather than have the government intervene?

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by Cody Dawg:


Oh, I'm sure that the government doesn't give a flying rat's *ss about this issue and won't intervene.

But the point is that we've got eBay, a good old American company, SCREWING Americans...and for what? To pay for expanding into China and India.

Well it is not a monopoly, anyone who says so is wrong, so saying that there should be federal regulation is stupid. There are alternatives to eBay and if they increase fees it will provide incentive for another company to undercut them and build up their user base so they can compete with eBay.

If they are using the money to expand to other countries I applaud their business strategy. If they were just doing it for the sake of increasing profits when they are already doing well that would be one thing but to use it open up their market to other countries is smart. It will make it a larger stronger company. It shows foresight.

It sucks for you but if you don�t like it sell somewhere else and stop whining. EBay isn�t forcing you to use their service. Crying about corporate greed because it taxes your own greed is not the federal government�s problem.

[strictlyplaid]

Cody, I share your frustration with eBay. I about crapped my pants when I saw that e-mail the other day.

I'm not a "power seller" by any means (I think I have... 60 feedback maybe?) But I sold some laptop parts and assorted stuff recently on eBay, and of my $250 or so of proceeds eBay (and PayPal, its subsidiary) helped themselves to about $25 of that. Now, they'd have helped themselves to $50? That's a huge cut into the margin of any business, especially ones not doing huge volume.

To the free-marketeers on the board: any economist knows that markets are inefficient in the presence of goods with "network externalities," which is a technical way of saying that the value of a service is contingent upon the number of people who use that service. eBay is a natural monopoly because everyone goes there, and it's extremely hard to leave (and still make a profit) unless a huge group agrees to all leave at once. You can't make nearly as good a profit at Yahoo! Auctions or even Amazon Marketplace, simply because every buyer and seller knows that eBay gives them access to the largest market.

The logic is exactly the same as why Microsoft has a natural monopoly: no one can switch from Windows without being screwed -- even though alternatives (Mac, Linux) exist.

In these situations, even economists -- who are by and large NOT commie pinkos -- think government needs to get involved.

[Cody Dawg]

You're exactly right about that, strictlyplaid.

I think this group needs to get involved.

Seriously.

I just got the paperwork filled out and sent in for suing Paypal when they were suspending accounts left and right. They suspended OUR account -- when we were the ones who filed a complaint! It was straightened out, but we had about $2000 in that account. They suspended the account with $2000 in the account (which WAS ours) and then sent a nifty notice to tell us not to expect the "investigation" to be completed for 30 days. So, in other words, they were keeping and using our money for 30 days.

I had my bank attorney call them and threaten a lawsuit. Got a call back from California telling me/us that the account was "unfrozen."

Who here had a billing fiasco with eBay about 3 months ago when they got the billing fees wrong -- by HUNDREDS of dollars?

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
So you think all those Enron folks who were really just being clever in their persuit of money should have gotten off scot-free rather than have the government intervene?

The people at the heart of Enron were doing illegal things, eBay is not. If you've chosen to run your life selling things on eBay, well, tough. You're free to choose another arena for selling. If you want the advantages that eBay provides, you're going to ante up; I do agree that the increase is outrageous, 25% now and 25% more in a year or so would have been better for sellers.

[strictlyplaid]

Originally posted by GoGoReggieXPowars:
The people at the heart of Enron were doing illegal things, eBay is not. If you've chosen to run your life selling things on eBay, well, tough. You're free to choose another arena for selling. If you want the advantages that eBay provides, you're going to ante up; I do agree that the increase is outrageous, 25% now and 25% more in a year or so would have been better for sellers.

Reggie, if the court finds that eBay is a natural monopoly -- and if case law is a guide, they should -- extracting monopoly rents IS against the law.

"Capitalism" and "completely unregulated business" don't mean the same thing. This isn't nationalization, for God's sake.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

Originally posted by strictlyplaid:
Reggie, if the court finds that eBay is a natural monopoly -- and if case law is a guide, they should -- extracting monopoly rents IS against the law.

"Capitalism" and "completely unregulated business" don't mean the same thing. This isn't nationalization, for God's sake.

I agree with you on both points, esp. #2. Anyone who thinks that a business is free to do ANYTHING it wants is a ****ing idiot.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by strictlyplaid:


To the free-marketeers on the board: any economist knows that markets are inefficient in the presence of goods with "network externalities," which is a technical way of saying that the value of a service is contingent upon the number of people who use that service. eBay is a natural monopoly because everyone goes there, and it's extremely hard to leave (and still make a profit) unless a huge group agrees to all leave at once. You can't make nearly as good a profit at Yahoo! Auctions or even Amazon Marketplace, simply because every buyer and seller knows that eBay gives them access to the largest market.

The logic is exactly the same as why Microsoft has a natural monopoly: no one can switch from Windows without being screwed -- even though alternatives (Mac, Linux) exist.

In these situations, even economists -- who are by and large NOT commie pinkos -- think government needs to get involved.

A natural monopoly is based on the difficulty for other parties to enter the market because of the high and impossible cost to compete with the overwhelming player in said market. If eBay was cutting fees so low that it would be impossible for anyone else to do business with those kinds of margins then that would be an example of a natural monopoly. In actuality eBay is making it easier for the existing online auction sites to compete with them.

By raising fees they cause the sellers to raise their minimums. That drives up prices and buyers look to alternatives to find the best price elsewhere. Since sellers and buyers are not confined to using eBay they can go to alternative sites to do business. While final sale prices may not be as high at this time at say, Yahoo Auctions, if the profile and use of the site increases consumers will choose the alternative to do what is economically best for them. Perceived smaller numbers of bidders draws in purchasers looking to get the best prices and lower selling fees draw in merchants.

No one is locked to using eBay. If they were to use Paypal as leverage to exclude transactions outside of eBay they would be guilty of monopolistic practices but they do not do that. People use eBay because of the exposure and low cost of doing business there now. There only has to be a gradual exodus to other auction sites and with that an increasing popularity to using those sites for the market to balance out. EBAy is not immune to competition especially since larger companies like Amazon and Yahoo have the capital and infrastructure to stay in the game.

[strictlyplaid]

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
A natural monopoly is based on the difficulty for other parties to enter the market because of the high and impossible cost to compete with the overwhelming player in said market. If eBay was cutting fees so low that it would be impossible for anyone else to do business with those kinds of margins then that would be an example of a natural monopoly. In actuality eBay is making it easier for the existing online auction sites to compete with them.

By raising fees they cause the sellers to raise their minimums. That drives up prices and buyers look to alternatives to find the best price elsewhere. Since sellers and buyers are not confined to using eBay they can go to alternative sites to do business. While final sale prices may not be as high at this time at say, Yahoo Auctions, if the profile and use of the site increases consumers will choose the alternative to do what is economically best for them. Perceived smaller numbers of bidders draws in purchasers looking to get the best prices and lower selling fees draw in merchants.

No one is locked to using eBay. If they were to use Paypal as leverage to exclude transactions outside of eBay they would be guilty of monopolistic practices but they do not do that. People use eBay because of the exposure and low cost of doing business there now. There only has to be a gradual exodus to other auction sites and with that an increasing popularity to using those sites for the market to balance out. EBAy is not immune to competition especially since larger companies like Amazon and Yahoo have the capital and infrastructure to stay in the game.

Well, we're getting into a somewhat technical issue here. Whether eBay is a monopoly is not deterimined by setting extremely low prices to freeze out competitiors -- that's a practice that a corporation uses to solidify or create a monopoly. Think of it this way -- if all monopolies did was set prices extremely low to keep out competition, wouldn't we love them to death (and not make them illegal?)

The primary reason monopolies are bad is precisely because they're able to set higher prices in their market, as a result of barriers to entry. You've correctly identified "barriers to entry" as one main reason why a company can become a monopoly in a given situation. But that barrier is not always unfair price competition. In this case, the barrier is the "network externality" -- no one can compete with eBay because no seller in their right mind is going to sell things on an auction board with few customers, and no buyer in their right mind is going to frequent an auction board where no one posts things.

Think of the Microsoft example: Microsoft can charge more than they should for Windows precisely because no one can get out of buying it without taking a hit. I for one could not do my job if I had to use Mac OS X, because the programs I use don't exist in a Mac format. Only if I could convince all my colleagues throughout the discipline to switch with me would it work (and what are the chances of that happening?)

Network externalities on eBay are even worse because sellers and buyers have built up reputations for fair dealing that they'd lose if they had to switch to a new auction. That reputational asset is not of trivial value -- a recent Econometrica (I think?) paper showed a substantial price premium went to sellers with good reputations when compared with relative newcomers.

[Cody Dawg]

Maybe ePier will have a chance now.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Alezone:
eBay and PayPal is taking a lot of money from a lot of sellers/me everyday

it IS a monopoly

That's not true. At least not for items sold for a fixed price.

I find and buy a lot of stuff from the Amazon Marketplace.
It's often cheaper and has less hidden costs like overpriced shipping.

I predict that Amazon will make its marketplace even more attractive.

-t

[DeathMan]

The government should take eBay over, and start running it to make sure its fair to everyone, and keep the prices nice and low.

Doesn't that sound ridiculous?

The monopoly known as Standard Oil did the very thing discussed in this thread. Assuming my economics book was correct, Standard's price for oil went down every year it was in business. They were a monopoly, and yet oil was cheaper every year. This is what CO is talking about. Standard put others out of business because they were too good at producing oil.

Is eBay the only place to shop? Even shop online? Even online auctions? No. Its just the biggest.

Monopolies aren't always bad, but they have huge potential to get bad. Ebay doesn't have one, either way, and I think they should be allowed to change their prices whenever they want.

[strictlyplaid]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
The government should take eBay over, and start running it to make sure its fair to everyone, and keep the prices nice and low.

When has anyone in this thread said that? In fact, I specifically mentioned that no one here was arguing for nationalization.

On top of that, eBay's prices are going up, not down -- and up by a lot. So even if your Standard Oil example was historically correct, it wouldn't be applicable here.

Originally posted by DeathMan:
Monopolies aren't always bad, but they have huge potential to get bad. Ebay doesn't have one, either way, and I think they should be allowed to change their prices whenever they want.

EBay doesn't have one, because Yahoo! Auctions exists? The mere existence of insignificant competitors doesn't rule out monopoly. Usually the Herfindahl index (a measure of how much of the market a given company has captured) is used for this purpose. I imagine that eBay's index would be enormous, given that they've captured well over 90% of the on-line auction market.

[Cody Dawg]

Once again strictlyplaid (do you wear Burberry by any chance?) is showing his or her knowledge on the subject.

[tsuki]

I don't think ebay needs to raise more revenue to expand into other countries I think they need it to make up for all the sellers that have all ready closed their stores/stopped listing auctions because it was all ready going down.I used to have fees of $100.00 or so per month but the last 6 months or so sales have been down and my fees have only been $15.00 per month..I think this is true for alot of sellers & I think ebay has to make up for all the fees lost from sellers that have thrown in the towel.The best alternative for me has been working my own websites & mailing lists.If Google actually does something to compete with ebay that seems like it would have the best chance of success.I hope ebay has provided the final nail of greed in it's own coffin.

[RAILhead]

It's been said already, but pass the increase onto the buyer. The total listing fee changes aren't really going to add up to more than a buck or two, then the percent take-out will vary -- but if you just figure it out and add the extra $3 to $10 to your price, you'll be okay.

Maury

[Skip Breakfast]

What's this about FPL? And are we talking about pay for lineworkers?

[Mediaman_12]

Odd, eBay UK has just announced that it's REDUCING most of it's fees

***eBay.co.uk Fee Changes ***

Date: 12/01/05 __ Time: 04:01:25 PM GMT

Today, we are announcing that eBay.co.uk will be making changes to the fee structure effective February 18, 2005. Items that are scheduled to begin on eBay.co.uk after midnight (Greenwich Mean Time) on February 18, 2005 will be charged based on the new fees.


Scheduling Fees
The fee for scheduling a listing using the Sell Your Item Form or Turbo Lister will be reduced from �0.12 to �0.06 per listing.

Subtitle
The fee for using a Subtitle for your Item Title will be reduced from �0.50 to �0.35.


There will be no changes to Basic Insertion Fees or Final Value Fees.


Regards,
eBay International AG

(edited)

[Cody Dawg]

That must be a joke?

They raise the prices here...so that the rest of the world can pay less?

I've never said this before, but it's fitting: "WTF?"

[DeathMan]

Originally posted by strictlyplaid:
EBay doesn't have one, because Yahoo! Auctions exists? The mere existence of insignificant competitors doesn't rule out monopoly. Usually the Herfindahl index (a measure of how much of the market a given company has captured) is used for this purpose. I imagine that eBay's index would be enormous, given that they've captured well over 90% of the on-line auction market.

So are you really arguing that eBay is the only viable place out there for buying used or selling your stuff? You have got to be kidding me. Ever heard of garage sales? Someone makes a nice niche for themselves, try to make a profit, and everyone gets uppity . This isn't something as broad as Oil production, or even desktop PCs.

I have a monopoly on selling crap off my driveway. Get a class action going.

People want to point and shout "Monopoly" wherever they can. Apple has a monopoly on the "Macintosh Platform" as well as "iPod compatible copy protected music."

Better get the Feds in there and do something about it.

The nationalization comment, I guess I misinterpreted this:

In these situations, even economists -- who are by and large NOT commie pinkos -- think government needs to get involved.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
I have a monopoly on selling crap off my driveway. Get a class action going.

I demand squatter's rights to sell crap on your driveway.

[strictlyplaid]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
So are you really arguing that eBay is the only viable place out there for buying used or selling your stuff? You have got to be kidding me. Ever heard of garage sales?

I'm not sure what to say to someone who thinks that garage sales are viable competitors with eBay.

It is a common tactic for monopolists to try and define their market to their legal advantage. Reynolds (the aluminum company) famously tried to do this: they had a monopoly on aluminum foil, but they argued that they were in the "disposable wrappings" market or somesuch. There are objective ways to assess whether that makes sense, like looking at cross-price elasticities for goods. (Cross-price elasticity means: when good 1's price goes up, by how much does good 2's demand go up? Basically, how much would eBay being more expensive convince people to switch to garage sales?)

Does anyone think that eBay's price increase is going to drive people to switch to garage sales?

Originally posted by DeathMan:
The nationalization comment, I guess I misinterpreted this:

quote:
In these situations, even economists -- who are by and large NOT commie pinkos -- think government needs to get involved.

It's not my fault if you think that the only way that government can get involved is by nationalization. (Zimphire, now I see where you get that "knee-jerking" stuff.) There are many intermediate solutions, including fines, court orders to revoke the price increases, breaking the company into competitors... and so on.

(EDITED: to add explanation of what "cross-price elasticity" meant.)