If you currently do business on eBay you might have noticed their newest acquistion, Skype and their partnership with Yahoo. There are exciting times ahead for the company although they have seen a bit of a slump of late.
How does this help you? Any time new innovations are added you have to see how it will benefit you and your at-home business. With Skype you will eventually be able to ad a Skype Me button to your auctions that will allow buyers to reach you with questions. This could be good and bad. Good because they can get a hold of you with questions anytime and bad because they can get a hold of you with questions anytime!
Read this comment from a WashingtonPost.com article.
"Right now, there aren't enough people using it for me to adopt Skype," said Edwin Dodson, a Claysburg, Pa., resident who sells shoes on eBay. "But about a third of my business is international, and if my customers over there adopt it, I might use it." Skip McGrath, who lives near Seattle and has written two books on eBay, said he has no intention of using Skype for his auctions. "Do I really want bidders instant-messaging me all day long? Who's got time for that?"
Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in an interview that eBay has no plans to force sellers to use Skype and will go slowly in figuring out how to integrate Internet calling into eBay listing pages.
eBay is trying to keep pace with the changing face of ecommerce and has been increasing it's customer base although many sellers have complained at increases in seller's fees. The article has this to say about their convention where they rolled out new concepts and features.
What struck me most about eBay's convention this year is how smartly and intensely the company is trying to improve online shopping by integrating new forms of advertising, payments and communication. EBay may not be growing as fast as it was, but it is growing shrewdly -- and in ways that are likely to have a major impact on the future of e-commerce.
Let's keep watching shall we?
No doubt this is a great time to get on line with Ebay. The opportunities have really oppened up and with their acquisitions and partners will be an even bigger more powerful market base.
It is also smart to find people that can help make sense of all this and provide good sound footing that will ensure ones success.
http://www.smallbusinessinternetmarketingcenter.com/Product%20Review%20Center/reviews/e_bay.htm
Posted by: Tim Whelan | June 26, 2006 9:49 PM | Permalink to Comment