eBay - The Beginning of the END
A 73-year-old man may mark the beginning of the end for eBay and the choke-hold grip they own in online auctioneering.
We have watched the unfolding of former greats like Sony to Apple, Inc., AOL to high-speed (insert any company), and recently Yahoo to Google. We are watching the unfolding of current greats like Microsoft to Apple, Inc. & Google, Comcast to Verizon, and Wal-Mart to Target.
Just when these conglomerates seem almost untouchable, the unthinkable sometimes happens: someone or something removes a brick from the wall, or a company comes along and blows holes in the wall, and so begins the collapse.
I have been saying for the past two years that eBay needs to wake-up, refresh, and reinvent their model. I do not preach from a pulpit. I do not just call these shots like an ambiguous investment company and mutual fund that has nothing else to offer than the obvious opinion. I just will not give away the farm by writing an entire dissertation on how to make it happen, you can pay me for that.
The simplistic “original” idea that I have been saying all along: Do what eBay couldn’t do in the beginning because high-speed internet wasn’t yet plentiful, REAL LIVE TRADITIONAL AUCTIONS. Give the people the real thing.
Amazingly, this doesn’t take the stumbling luck of a 20-something-year-old in pajama pants with messy hair in front of his computer in a college dorm to begin. Rather, try a 73-year-old man on for size - who probably said to himself that this auction substitute called eBay, much like terrible sugar substitutes, is not as good as the real thing.
Kudos to you, Mr. Karr, for pulling a loose thread from the tight-knit eBay corporate sweater and so partaking in the unraveling. Karr recently launched BlackwellsLiveAuction - a good old fashioned auctioneering business, except it is a 24-hour-a-day online auction - complete with paddles and the ability watch or participate as the auction is live.
Sure, the site needs some work, but a smart venture capitalist will either see the diamond in the rough and sprinkle a little pixie dust to give the website a boost, or clone it through a company already in their portfolio that is willing and capable.
Formerly an eBay enthusiast, I just have not bothered anymore in the last couple years. The interface became outdated and clunky, certain rules were very big brother, fee and cost structure was never simplified, how fraud was handled, and I will leave the seemingly endless commas of examples for you to continue.
I can think of a few companies that would fair well with this genuine online auction model. I will hopefully give Mr. Karr's auction site a try very soon, but I have a feeling that once this is polished, I may start bidding online again.
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