Comments on: eBay may be becoming less relevant, just like AOL did http://blog.payne.org/2007/12/19/ebay-may-be-becoming-less-relevant-just-like-aol-did/ Working hard to improve the signal-to-noise ratio Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:31:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: payne http://blog.payne.org/2007/12/19/ebay-may-be-becoming-less-relevant-just-like-aol-did/#comment-192 payne Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:39:12 +0000 http://blog.payne.org/2007/12/19/ebay-may-be-becoming-less-relevant-just-like-aol-did/#comment-192 Thanks for the comment. Your point about CPC/CPA advertising suggests another dimension to the AOL/eBay analogy. AOL *could* have been the Yahoo or Google of the Internet, morphing from being a content provider to a directory/search service to locate non-AOL content. Similarly, eBay could become the master index or directory of goods for sale, landing traffic on merchant sites to complete the transaction. They would shift from a transaction-based model to a CPA/CPC model. Given eBay's brand, they probably have the best chance of pulling this off than anyone. Thanks for the comment.

Your point about CPC/CPA advertising suggests another dimension to the AOL/eBay analogy.

AOL *could* have been the Yahoo or Google of the Internet, morphing from being a content provider to a directory/search service to locate non-AOL content.

Similarly, eBay could become the master index or directory of goods for sale, landing traffic on merchant sites to complete the transaction. They would shift from a transaction-based model to a CPA/CPC model. Given eBay’s brand, they probably have the best chance of pulling this off than anyone.

]]> By: dave mcclure http://blog.payne.org/2007/12/19/ebay-may-be-becoming-less-relevant-just-like-aol-did/#comment-190 dave mcclure Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:47:45 +0000 http://blog.payne.org/2007/12/19/ebay-may-be-becoming-less-relevant-just-like-aol-did/#comment-190 in addition to the tools & state of the small seller market advancing (and ebay not), the other point is that CPC & CPA advertising are enabling sellers to bring the market to them, instead of having to pay monopolist tolls & fees to be "on" the ebay marketplace. however, it didn't really need to be this way... in many areas that include PayPal & Skype & others, eBay has purchased innovation that could be applied to more of its business. unfortunately (for them) the internal innovation hasn't developed as quickly as offerings from the rest of the market. [disclaimer: i used to work at PayPal from 2001 to 2004.] in addition to the tools & state of the small seller market advancing (and ebay not), the other point is that CPC & CPA advertising are enabling sellers to bring the market to them, instead of having to pay monopolist tolls & fees to be “on” the ebay marketplace.

however, it didn’t really need to be this way… in many areas that include PayPal & Skype & others, eBay has purchased innovation that could be applied to more of its business. unfortunately (for them) the internal innovation hasn’t developed as quickly as offerings from the rest of the market.

[disclaimer: i used to work at PayPal from 2001 to 2004.]

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