Why is there not an Ebay competitor?

Elaborate. Do you mean why aren't there sponsors that sell parts on ebay. Or are you saying why isn't there a competitor to ebay? Alot of auction sites have tried to compete with ebay, none can get the volume of business ebay does. I'm not really sure what you're asking but almost positive it is in the wrong section.

 

Moved to O/T.

 

Theres tons and tons of them, eBay is just the biggest by far.

 

Here are just a few in the Directory
http://www.google.com/Top/Shopping/Auctions/

Different layout - more results
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&cat=gwd%2FTop&q=online+auctions&btnG=Search

 

I am hoping that there is no one that would start another internet based auction company where so many people would be ripped off, and so few would care.

 

There's one in the works... with the surname "Google".

 

I'm working on one, it's called Echobay.com

 

I'm sorry, but no matter who you are or what you do, due to the nature of the auction business and the sheer size of it, you will never even put a dent into reducing the fraud that goes on. You cannot (reasonably) insure cheap items, and it's not cost-effective to have delivery signature on EVERYTHING, therefore you have a problem.

 

That comes back to Echo Bay Mines.

 

It's called branding. Nowadays, you don't sell stuff at auction, you ebay it. To compete, you'd have to start by finding a very specific niche, reach a critical mass (that's where it gets unlikely) ... and then open up to various stuff. Oh wait, that's exactly what ebay did. As for security, either you're a small site and can deal with scumbags, either you get big and don't have the time to deal with them...

 

Probably because nobody feels they can SUCK at it as much as ebay does.

 

With the volume of traffic/sales they have, there is NO WAY they can police much of anything, from the seller who doesn't ship, or what they ship is not as described, to the buyer who says they never go it, or they got it and switched it, or broke it, or they say it didn't come as described, or whatever.

There is NO WAY to feasibly protect both parties.

 

"Google base" is having some problems isn't it?

Yahoo Auctions Japan == eBay in the USA.

Yahoo did a good job in Japan, Alibaba in China is doing decently againt eBay I think? Every other country I think eBay bought out the competiton and setup shop there.

 

auctions are a tough business to get moving. you've got a dual-participant close problem wherein you have to close both the buyer and the seller. for comparison, imagine enterprise financial software - there's only one customer - the enterprise to whom you sell it. as a result, businesses like ebay are very tough to grow (they're easy to create, fwiw). just as importantly, once you've been able to build a user base you get increasing returns behavior: "if all the buyers are on ebay, why would i list elsewhere as a seller?". the fraud stuff is horrid, for sure, but there's not a lot of other places to go where you can get any critical masses of buyers and sellers.

doody.

 

If you think about it logically its not really ebays fault, its more the fault of societies who not only allow fraudulent scum to prosper but in some cases encourage it.

 

Tru Dat. Given the head start that Ebay has, it will be very tough for someone else to compete. Mannheim might be able to give it a go in the car world. That is, instead of a "Big Box" approach to online selling, someone takes a 300 magnum rifle shot at a specialty application.

It is kinda like F-Chat. Several people have tried to compete, but they haven't been able to build up the critical mass. Plus, the F-Chat wannabes don't have the love that Rob has for all of us.

Dale

 

You have to understand the Ebay's customers are sellers, not buyers. This is why they take such a hands off approach. Their bidness plan calls for recruiting more SELLERS, not deadbeats like you who don't pay them anything.

Seriously, if buyers paid the listing fee, Ebay would have a very different attitude.

Dale

 

One of the biggest faults I see, is that ebay security is there to see that ebay doesnt get cheated. They could give a S... about you or me.
Got a compliant ? Go to their "convienient" web site automated response system.

 

How many companies out there do you know of that actually give a shyt about the customer?? They all boast it, but no one cares. All companies security are set up to protect the customer.

Why should Ebay be different?