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Ebay 'Millionaire' Sellers in Germany and UK Grow 50 Percent in Four Years (reuters.com)
"Millionaire" online businesses selling on ecommerce site Ebay have jumped 50 percent in key international markets Britain and Germany in the last four years, despite currency swings that have slowed growth outside the United States. From a report: Fresh data published on Tuesday by Ebay shows the number of million euro businesses selling on Ebay grew to 1,095 from 731 in Germany last year since 2013 while million pound-plus businesses rose to 663 from 443 in Britain over the same time period. Ebay's two big European markets were collectively responsible for 30 percent of Ebay's total net revenue of nearly $9 billion last year, although reported revenue in both markets dipped amid currency declines against the U.S. dollar. Two examples in the north of England are MusicMagpie.co.uk, which buys used CDs, DVDs and electronics from consumers for resale on Ebay in more than 140 countries, and cycling accessory seller MaxGear, now a 3.5 million pound ($4.51 million) a year business. While the company founded 22 years ago started out as an online auction site for consumers to trade second-hand goods, 80 percent of merchandise now sold via Ebay is new, largely fixed-price items, the company reported in the first quarter of 2017.
Yeah, but Amazon is going down too. They've let in all these unscrupulous sellers from China, and it's going to pollute the whole brand. Amazon is going to turn into a retail Alibaba and get a reputation as a place you go to get screwed. Chinese are the world champions of cheating in business, they have ways we've never even heard of. Amazon is basically built on trust and trust is going away once people start realizing there's no vetting.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I, on the other hand, used to buy a shitton from Amazon, but have been moving to ebay whenever possible. Probably at 95% ebay 5% amazon now. Reasons:
(1) This space needs competition. If amazon corners the market that will be bad for everyone.
(2) I get much faster shipping from ebay companies. I used to get fast shipping on Amazon but I refuse to pay for their "prime" thing, and now I usually have to wait a week, even two weeks before shipping. Ebay companies ship the same day or the next day almost every time, without me paying "membership dues".
(3) Anymore, ebay has a lot of items that amazon vendors don't carry at all.
Think carefully before you make something a monopoly. You might not end up with the world you want.