Time To Break Ebay's Monopoly

Submitted 9 years ago

Ebay has become greedy. They don't shout about it, but if you look closely, you'll find that 10% of the value of an item you sell on ebay is creamed off as a 'final value fee' - and a further 3.4% on PayPal fees. Then there are small listing fees on top of that.

So, I'm selling a bike I have painstakingly restored. It has cost me £750. In order to break even on the sale, I need to sell it for around £850. If I sell it for £1000, I make only around £115. They take around £135.

Ebay's platform has become too expensive: I believe Virgin could do better. There's a huge margin of profit to be made here. Monopolies deserve to be challenged - they are nearly always overpriced and resting on their laurels. Ebay has no serious competitors - I believe Virgin has the customer base, the brand, and the expertise to be able to create a rival.

Consumers want a realistic alternative to ebay - one that exposes their products to a wide audience (that's where ebay have you locked in), and gives them a money-back guarantee if things go wrong, but one that doesn't cost the earth.

Mr Branson, you have reinvented just about everything - it's time to take on the auction world.

Duncan
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