Threatening eBay’s Dominance, More Online Sellers Go It Alone
In 2002, John Wieber started worrying about his business, which sold refurbished computers through Internet auctioneer eBay Inc. Although he was earning $1 million a year in revenue, profits had started to slip as competitors flocked to the site. EBay also raised its fees, further cutting margins, and fraud was becoming a problem.
So Mr. Wieber revamped his Web site and began selling through other online companies, such as Amazon.com Inc. and Yahoo Inc. Last year, his sales neared $5 million, but his eBay revenue grew at a much slower pace, making up only a quarter of the total. It will likely fall still lower. Of the auction site, where he got his start, Mr. Wieber says: “Too many sellers, not enough buyers.”
Chuck Huckaby on June 23rd, 2005 11:46 am
If you have something that fits Amazon’s profile (i.e. you’re reselling something that has an ISBN or other product number that’s in their system), I think Amazon can incredibly useful.
I think people err by underpricing themselves.
I buy many old books for $1.49.
I can’t see how they’re making money unless they got them for free!
If you’re losing money per sale, you can’t make it up on volume! Still that doesn’t invalidate Amazon as an excellent potential source of traffic.
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