The online auction giant sees 'Amazonification' as a path to profit
BusinessWeek Aug 20, 08 9:18 AM CDT
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Looking to compete more aggressively with Amazon for users who want to sell items at a fixed cost, eBay is changing its pricing model, lowering listing fees by up to 75% and increasing its final sales commission, BusinessWeek reports. The goal is to increase inventory of items listed at a "buy-it-now" price, increasingly popular with buyers weary of waiting for auctions to play out.
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ANALYSIS
Enabling manufacturers to set minimum prices leads to collusion, some say
Wall Street Journal Aug 18, 08 10:57 AM CDT
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A Supreme Court ruling that last year allowed manufacturers to set minimum sale prices for their goods is giving retailers fits, the Wall Street Journal reports. Manufacturers, barred from the practice for nearly a century, are being allowed to punish retailers who discount their products by cutting off supplies. Some retailers are fighting back by steering customers toward other brands.
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Mom and pops are sold on niche sites
Wall Street Journal Aug 12, 08 5:24 PM CDT
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Still soured by February's jacked-up fees and changed feedback policy, some sellers have left eBay for greener—and in many cases, smaller—online pastures, reports the Wall Street Journal . Alternative e-commerce sites such as Wigix, Silkfair, Etsy, and Oodle have wooed disgruntled merchants with lower fees, free how-to's and, in some cases, a niche market.
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Maghound will give subscribers more choice, flexibility
Folio Jul 5, 08 6:50 PM CDT
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Subscribing to a magazine was once a 1-year commitment, but Time Inc.’s Maghound is changing that, reports Folio. The Netflix-like service launching this fall offers “flexibility, choice, control and personalization,” says Maghound's president. The service allows customers to swap subscriptions at any time, liberating readers from year-long relationships that aren’t working out.
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Having the right merchandise on hand can be a gamble
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 18, 08 2:39 PM CDT
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Fans aren't the only ones rooting for particular teams in the NHL and NBA playoffs: Retailers are hedging their bets as well, getting ready to print different shirts and hats depending on games' outcomes. If Pittsburgh clinches the NHL Eastern Conference today, thousands of commemorative garments will hit the stores within hours; otherwise, sellers will stay in limbo, reports the Post-Gazette.
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EARNINGS REPORT
Site raises projected revenue to $9B, exceeds estimates
Wall Street Journal Apr 16, 08 6:50 PM CDT
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EBay's revenue soared 24% in the first quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports, with profits up 22%. Fueled by continued success with its online auction business and PayPal, its online-payment component, the company also raised its projected 2008 earnings to $8.7 billion to $9 billion, well beyond Wall Street expectations.
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HarperCollins imprint won't allow returns
from retailers
Wall Street Journal Apr 4, 08 2:46 PM CDT
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HarperCollins has decided to rock the book-publishing boat, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s launching a new imprint that won’t allow retailers to return unsold books—a potentially risky departure from tradition—and will offer little or no advance payments to authors. The imprint will focus on online sales and likely refuse to pay for prime bookstore real estate.
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Print with us or sell elsewhere, company tells on-demand publishers
Wall Street Journal Mar 28, 08 12:42 PM CDT
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Publishers who print books on demand will have to use Amazon’s printing service if they want to sell their books on the leading online bookseller's site. Amazon's new policy means print-on-demand publishers will have little choice but to accept Amazon’s prices if they want to sell via the site. It also threatens to steal business from competing on-demand printers, reports the Wall Street Journal .
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Major publishers' downloads can be played on all devices
New York Times Mar 3, 08 12:02 PM CST
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Some major book publishers are planning to remove anticopying protections from digital audio books, allowing customers who download them to transfer the files between their computers and portable players. The world’s biggest publisher, Random House, will offer all its audio books as unrestricted MP3s this month, reports the New York Times , and Penguin Group seems ready to do the same.
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Many are asking people to fess up
when they fill out their IRS forms
Forbes Feb 28, 08 10:26 PM CST
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As tax time draws near, more Americans may be stumbling upon an extra line on their state returns, Forbes reports. About half of state governments—including New York, Michigan, California, North Carolina, and Ohio—are trying to collect their fare share of sales taxes from Internet sales. Chances remain slim, though, that most buyers will admit—or pay—anything.
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Friday outage leaves businesses
in the dark with customers
PC World Feb 16, 08 8:42 AM CST
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Part of Amazon.com’s 2-year-old Simple Storage Service went down for several hours Friday, leaving some customers in the dark and unable to access their own files, reports PC World . The pay-as-you-go “S3” service is used by companies to run websites and warehouse large amounts of data. The outage was resolved by 7am Pacific Time for most users.
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Procrastinators find
big sales, long lines
Wall Street Journal Dec 24, 07 9:17 AM CST
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Last-minute shoppers navigated long lines over the final pre-Christmas weekend, nudging retailers toward the modest growth in sales they’d expected. Deep discounts cut into profits, but retailers like Macy's and Kmart stayed open around the clock to accommodate shoppers, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The procrastinators finally got out there,” one consultant said.
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Net surfing window shoppers blamed for crashes, meltdowns
Wired Dec 15, 07 10:14 AM CST
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As online retailers post record sales this year, holiday e-commerce meltdowns show that stores still don't have the kinks ironed out of their sites. Despite increased capacity on retail sites, crashes such as Sears.com's eight-hour Black Friday crash and Yahoo Shopping's 10-hour Cyber Monday outage continue to plague holiday online shopping, Wired reports.
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