[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Will Online Auctions Die Out? here

[smax013]

That is an interesting question.



On the one hand, I can see the power of auctions diminishing. The reality is that the fixed-price/"Buy it Now" options have appeal. You don't have to spend time watching the auction and entering new bids as the auctioning taking the price higher if it is a popular item. Basically, if you are the buyer, there is less hassle. Such a system works very well for something with a relatively known value or a unknown value but that is preceived to be offered at a fixed price that is below what its perceived value range is.



But, there will always be a set of objects that an auction will likely proven to be more suitable. Items with unknown or questionable value should generally be served better by an auction. For a buyer, it might mean that you get such an item as some more realistic price rather than having to potentially pay more than it might be worth...or on the bad side, maybe you would pay more for it than if it was at a fixed-price. For a seller, it might mean the difference between a sale or not...things will more "fuzzy" value can be started out low and just let the demand/bidding raise the price to what the "community" sees as the percieved value.



So, I would say that there will also be things to be sold that are served well by an auction. The question is while there be enough of such things to be sold by auction that some online entity (such a eBay) sees value in continuing to offer such auction services. If there is no such online entity that sees such value, then it will be hard to find a place to auction off stuff.

[JimH443]

There's one reason, and one reason only, that I never did business with anyone on eBay: No one I wanted to do business with took MC/Visa. I don't like and won't deal with PayPal.

[smax013]

JimH443 said:

There's one reason, and one reason only, that I never did business with anyone on eBay: No one I wanted to do business with took MC/Visa. I don't like and won't deal with PayPal.

I would say that is was not a matter of them not wanting to taking MC/Visa...anyone who uses PayPal "takes" MC/Visa. You just did not like HOW they took MC/Visa (i.e. did not like PayPal). To my knowledge, that is HOW eBay is generally setup to take credit cards. I don't believe that an eBay seller can put a MC/Visa processing function on an eBay page OTHER than having PayPal process it. MC/Visa require some sort of online purchaing functionality...and I believe that eBay only offered PayPal as that way.

[JimH443]

I won't argue the technicalities (because I believe that you're right. :) ). All I know is, for whatever reason, I could not place an order with the vendor and pay with my CC. To me, that's the same as not taking MC/Visa. If eBay wants to shoot themself in the foot, I'm not going to stop them. There are plenty of other places online where I CAN pay with MC/Visa - and frequently at competitive prices.

[coastie65]

From my past and admittedly limited experience with ebay, they are already dead in my opinion. If there is something I want bad enough, I can usually find it somewhere on the internet. coastie65

[smax013]

JimH443 said:

I won't argue the technicalities (because I believe that you're right. :) ). All I know is, for whatever reason, I could not place an order with the vendor and pay with my CC. To me, that's the same as not taking MC/Visa. If eBay wants to shoot themself in the foot, I'm not going to stop them. There are plenty of other places online where I CAN pay with MC/Visa - and frequently at competitive prices.

The point is that if someone wanted to do MC/Visa and NOT use PayPal, then I believe they would have to do completely off the eBay system. I know of no way to accept MC/Visa through the eBay system other than PayPal. And even if a seller WANTED to use MC/Visa outside of eBay, it requires an online purchase system and setting up a way to process MC/Visa (i.e. what they do with your credit card number once you give it to them)...those things cost money. The whole idea of using eBay is that THEY handle all that for the seller...the seller does not need to setup a special account for handling MC/Visa...eBay (through PayPal) does that and then just transfers the purchase amount into a seller's regular type account.



That is NOT to say that there are some who don't access PayPal (and thus MC/Visa)...nor is it to say that a seller could not have their own MC/Visa system. But, if a seller has their own payment system, then it kind of defeats a major reason to be using eBay to begin with.



Personally, when I bought some stuff on eBay in the past, I used PayPal to pay with a credit card. Worked just fine for me.

[RNR19952]

That's all I use on eBay is Visa
PayPal will let you get screwed by anyone.
I just got ripped off by someone, who said in the email these drives were tested
Bullocks. PayPal sided with the seller ( big shock they got paid to)
Anyway I called my Visa people and they took good care of it for me.
Took a few months but I got ALL MY MONEY BACK. And it saved me a trip to collect personally. I do not get these jokers that commit a fraud on you and then mail something from their house? it's really not the money. it's more of a principle......

[JimH443]

There are many reasons why I don't like PayPal (read the service agreement closely sometime), but those are immaterial. To me, the sign of a reputable dealer is that they take MC/Visa. There are probably hundreds of thousands of reputable dealers on eBay. They may even comprise 99% of those there. The fact is, though, that they'll never get the opportunity to prove this to me.



BTW... I seem to recall hearing that eBay has forbidden the use of anything BUT PayPal.

[smax013]

JimH443 said:

There are many reasons why I don't like PayPal (read the service agreement closely sometime), but those are immaterial. To me, the sign of a reputable dealer is that they take MC/Visa. There are probably hundreds of thousands of reputable dealers on eBay. They may even comprise 99% of those there. The fact is, though, that they'll never get the opportunity to prove this to me.

That is certainly your choice. I can respect that...but you might be cutting off your opportunity to get good stuff at good prices. But, I do respect taking a stand on principle...if no one does it, nothing

JimH443 said:

BTW... I seem to recall hearing that eBay has forbidden the use of anything BUT PayPal.

Nope. Here is the policy on accepted payment methods: pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html. Credit cards is an option. But, the reality is that only some sort of seller that does uses eBay as serious selling forum would consider that path. If someone is going to sell a few odds and ends from their closet, why on earth would they want to pay to go establish the accounts and processes needed to accept a credit card when PayPal will do it for them, most likely for less. Even a "power" seller will likely go down that path. If a seller has gone through the effort to get a system that can process credit cards, then they are more likely to have their own site and NOT want to go through eBay at all.

[TheBigOldDog]

Will they die out? No. They will be killed off by the arrogant, abusive, monopolistic practices of eBay under the misdirection of John Donahoe. There are no auctions because he has driven off all of the smaller sellers.

[JimH443]

What you tell me about eBay's policy only serves to make me even more suspicious of those who haven't included other payment options.

If eBay were populated only by people occasionally selling odds and ends, I could see the validity of the prevalence of PayPal. The fact is, though, that a large percentage of them (if not the majority) on eBay are continuously doing business. I can see how someone might find it advantageous to start off with PayPal. But there comes a time when the "weekend virtual flea market business" becomes a business like any other. Businesses that want to STAY in business accept MC/Visa - directly.

Another point you make further fires suspicions. It makes me wonder, "Why would someone choose to remain on eBay once business picks up?" I used the flea market analogy earlier because this is exactly how I perceive eBay. All businesses have to start somewhere, but the good ones leave the hayseed behind them as they grow.

[TheBigOldDog]

He's wrong - there is no policy forcing sellers to use Payapal. They can accept any payment method they choose including taking CCs through their own Merchant accounts. Sellers use ipaypal becuase it is convenient and can be less costly than having your own merchant account. Fact is, most buyers (millions and millions) on eBay have paypal accounts and use them without a problem. Not accepting paypal actually hurts sales becuase buyers prefer the ease and protection they get through paypal. The fact you'd rather giver your CC number to a somehwat anonymous seller puts you in the vast minority.

Why do sellers stick with eBay even after they become esatablished? Easy, eBay draws millions of buyers every day. They have scale. Trying to drive business to your own independent website can be a difficult and expensive proposition. That's why eBay is a multi-billion dollar business.

[Finigan]

I have used ebay auctions hundreds of times with very few problems. If you check the feedback of the sellers you will save yourself alot of headaches.
I dont see the auction part going away anytime soon.