Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on How Amazon Surpassed eBay

by: 1st Armored Division 1971-1973

He did not mention the Great Rebalance where Meg hiked fees to get rid of the crap, in her eyes. In my opinion it helped build Amazon.

by: toolguy

I refuse to buy on Amazon, Bezos is a ONE WORLDER and if he continues down the path he is on, he and the other 1% will own a majority of the Earth.

I will NOT contribute to his endeavour. . . .

by: Life During Wartime

When there were long term product shortages in local stores, there was nothing I needed available on Amazon.  Or the price was so high that I said ''pass''.  Then I checked eBay, and I could find what I needed for a reasonable price + reasonable shipping.  There was no fulfillment center involved.  Just small sellers providing an essential (for me) product.  Even the books I want are more likely to be found on eBay for less (just a few dollars less), and arrive faster.  It is still possible to buy from a person on eBay, or a very small business.  I feel that a purchase on Amazon is more like dealing with Amazon.  

by: Geetar

100% correct. He saw ebay lagging, making mistakes, and become non seller friendly. And then they tried to tell the buyers what they wanted to buy. He saw this, as did a lot of sellers and took full advantage.

However, ebay is still more small business friendly than Amazon. Despite what many of you will say on here. Yes ebay wants you to do this, and ebay wants you to do that, but Amazon basically says if you dont do FBA your not getting any biz. Maybe you'll get a few sales, only if you are the lowest price.

Ebay tried to tell buyers wht they wanted to buy, instead of giving them what they were looking for. Amazon did the opposite, they saw what was selling and made their own and sold it (Amazon Brand).Amazon is definitely a lot more buyer centric. Unfortunately ebay thought they didnt have to be this way, and could do only what ebay wants and needs. Thats how Amazon blew them away. Your customers (both buyers and sellers) dictate the market, and when you deviate from what the market wants you loose. It doesnt get any simpler than that.

I sell on both, but sell a lot more on ebay. I bought a set of lights on ebay, then said wait, why am I doing that, went to amazon and got it the next day on Sun morning. If ebay doesnt do something to differentiate themselves from Amazon soon, they're toast.

by: Geetar

And Ebay still keeps sales tax collected in the sales total. IT IS NOT A SALE!

by: FeelingFroggy

Our family of 11 including 2 with disabilities love Amazon. We would never again buy anything from Ebay. You get beat up once you don't go back for seconds. In the five years we have been prime members we might have had one problem which was resolved in hours. No so with Ebay its days and sometimes not even then. Our money will be spent on the one with the best customer service and right now ebay lacks even the basics in customer service.

by: RL15

Amazon is great for buyers. Never been scammed.

For some sellers Amazon is great. Never had any issues.

For some sellers, from what I read on this site, not so good.

I pulled my last listing off fleecebay December 2017. Great choice I made.

by: COVID-19

What Jeffy said is just not true.  Amazon was able to surpass eBay because Amazon sells products itself at cheaper prices against brick-and-mortar and also because Amazon offers the convenience of home delivery.  It's got nothing to do with being a host / warehouse platform for its third-party sellers.  

by: Snapped

Amazon didn’t ‘beat’ eBay.

eBay self immolated by trashing their niche that Amazon couldn’t match in favor of trying to BE Amazon, and by not investing in themselves, beyond the boardroom in the process.

by: Chicago48

If anyone saw parts of Bezos hearing.....the guy didn't know what was going on in his company.  The senators would ask him a question about competition and give him examples and he was clueless.  He doesn't "run" his company hands-on and maybe he should.

by: Chicago48

@Covid-19, right!  What jump started AMZ was books, and the book sellers sold books as low as 1c.  It's strange that today you can't find books selling for 1c.  Maybe because of the cost of selling penny books?  Maybe because of AMZ's "price alert" bots?
And that statement Jeff told the Senate, again, shows he's clueless about what's going on in his company.  He's too busy building rockets and buying NYC $$Million penthouses.
@RL - I think you try selling your items on Ebay again, but using auctions only.  Since I left the store level at Ebay and doing only auctions, I get enough sales without the high penalty fees.  But I'm a "little" little guy.  My inventory is about 200 and I don't list more than that.

by: Geetar

Yes Amazon beat ebay. But they follow the china model. Instead of "yea sure we'll make your items for you, but you have to give us ALL info on it", Amazon is "Yea sure you can sell your stuff on here, but you have to tell us where you get it from and send us your invoices."

by: Bparty

Snapped - I agree, ebay did it to themselves!
Bezos needs to go on a perp walk.

But with the Sears model Amazon is currently adopting, ebay has a shot.
It has gotten so much worse there lately.

by: LasVagueness

Amazon may have a wider variety of inventory (too much Chinese dreck in my opinion), but eBay is easier to shop! eBay will always be my first stop in online shopping.  

by: ebayout

View from the cheap seats...the one advantage eBay offers sellers is the wide variety of USED, one off items.
These typically have low cost acquisitions and high margins.

by: lalaland

When will ebay understand that buyers cannot buy what they cannot see.  ebay has me almost completely blocked.  Why?  Because cookies are shared from Facebook.  I am a conservative and I follow conservative posts.  For the last 3 years, I have been restricted.  From shipping  approx. 40 packages on Monday  and 4 or 5 a day the rest of the week.  I am down to being allowed 4 on Monday and 1 a day the rest of the week.  Just like clockwork.
  When they starting restricting me,  my Monday shipping went down to 19, then a couple months later to 14,  then 9, then 6 and now to 4.  The daily sale (of 1) will come in late in the afternoon.  Again, just like clockwork.
 When I call them, the rep, of course, denies everything.  I must be selling the wrong thing, maybe I should refresh my listings.and other such nonsense.  I have several friends who sell and they sales are excellent.  We all sell mostly vintage and one of a kind type items.
   The first 2 years i started selling,  I sold $102,000.00 & $104,000.00.  Now, I am around $30,000.00.  Why should this be happening?  They are cutting off their hand to spite their wrist.  And it is killing me.
 

by: The End

@lalaland :
Money = power.
They determined you had too much.
Etsy had to invent the 12% "Success Penalty Fee" to erase my business.
They are only going to make life worse for us.

by: Geetar

@lalaland

Devil said we dont want to sell used, vintage or one offs. We want to be amazon.
So he got rid of auctions, free delivery everything, guaranteed delivery and threw you guys to the curb. That is what happened.

Who in their right mind says no to business. That idiot, thats who. Thank God he's gone.

by: postbuster

By Snapped:

''Amazon didn’t ‘beat’ eBay.

eBay self immolated by trashing their niche that Amazon couldn’t match in favor of trying to BE Amazon, and by not investing in themselves, beyond the boardroom in the process.''

Precisely,
ebay destroyed it's own business by wanting to push sellers into the dirt.
Amazon has infrastructure.  It has warehouses, and shipping agreements and a means to supply buyers with whatever junk they want.  Yes, their fees are a little higher, but they have a lot more 'service' to pay for.

D-bay wants the same money and credibility for nothing.  Why do they feel that they deserve more of OUR money?  They don't pay for warehouse employees (with an hourly increase due to COVID).  They don't provide a fraction of the business tools that Amazon does.  They want to copy Amazon, and do it far more half-A$$ed than the original idea.
At this point, there is a Long list of what D-bay DOESN'T do in comparison to what Amazon Does do.
Cheatnam is the same as Weiner.  The same as Josh Slimeyman.

The 'executives' at ebay are more like Kim Jong Un, Bashar ASSad, Putin, or any of the crooked leaders in African countries, who take all of the aid from other countries for themselves.  They assume a false entitlement of value for themselves at the expense of the people who support them. Like a spoiled teenager with wealthy parents.  They all are POISON to society.

These are not people!
They are monsters, they are tyrants, and they are thieves.

Shareholders are also worthless, their greed bleeds out the affordability of the American economy. Sapping money from those who need it more.
Their love of money starves those who KNOW BETTER how to use it.
Shareholder:
''I really want that super expensive, handcrafted, gold foil, imported Douche Bag that really matches my car and expresses my personality.''

How about just a mirror?
----------------------------------

A friend of mine shared these bits of thought:

Up until present day, if you were to get paid $11,000 A DAY since the signing of the constitution,
you still would not be a Billionaire.

And the old adage:
It is not worth Bill Gates' time to stop and pick up $100 bill.  

by: RL15

@Chicago48 - when fleecebay becomes a viable site again, I would try listing a few auction items and see how it go's. but as long as they keep treating sellers like scum, no thanks.