talkingdigital

When Google buys a company, everyone scratches their head and asks, why?

Bloggers immediately go into overdrive as they post speculations about what Google is up to, or they rant about the stupid decision on Google’s part in buying a company that has nothing to do with their services.

Everyone eventually forgets about the whole matter until months or years go by and Google surprises the world with a new service either changes the Internet forever, or nearly ruins a service that is offered by a competitor.

And then there are the Google wannabes. eBay leads the pack. Read the rest of this entry →

Piled on some of the flat surfaces of my desk, I have a Marie Osmond fashion doll, a Ronald Reagan mask, a visible man model, a box of vintage bow ties, some Ken Struck toys from the 50s, a Canon Rebel xti, an Asus Eee PC, and a cool Homer Simpson Rubic’s cube.

At my house, this is known as my eBay fodder pile.

I save up unique items for several months and then put them up on eBay when I want to buy an item that doesn’t fit on my wife’s list of budget approved suppiles.
This pile has been gathering dust for a long time now. Not because I don’t have anything on that unapproved list, but because I don’t have any outlet to sell these items. Read the rest of this entry →

I am still all worked up about eBay raising its final value fees.

When I first began with eBay their philosophy was to stay out of the transaction as much as possible and allow the community to self regulate. No one really cared that eBay took a small percentage from every sale because it was less than five percent and the listing fees were cheaper than a classified ad.

Over time eBay has raised their fees again and again in order to increase profits. How can they be shocked to see profits and membership declining?

I mentioned in the article above that eBay began as an experiment in capitalism. It is fast becoming an example of how over taxing kills off a society. Rather it is proving that capitalism works by demonstrating what happens to a market when capitalism is removed.

In addition to higher final fees, eBay also announced more restrictive selling policies. The company has resorted to babysitting its users. A complete 180 degree turn from the original hands-off governing policy.

It is sad to see eBay die, but I really hope that someone else sees the open door and starts up an eBay killer. For over a decade, other companies have tried to compete with eBay, hopefully a few brave folks are still out there because this would be the perfect year for eBay to meet its match.