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eBay Is Conducting a 'Mass Layoff' In the Bay Area (mercurynews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the slice-and-dice dept.

eBay is planning to slash nearly 300 jobs from Bay Area locations by July 20, calling the cuts a "mass layoff." Those being laid off were informed at the end of June, reports The Mercury News. The San Jose-based company estimated that it would eliminate 224 jobs in San Jose, 41 in San Francisco, and five in Brisbane. From the report: "This action is expected to be permanent," eBay stated in the Employment Development Department filing. "No affected employee has any bumping rights." Over the one-year period that ended in March, eBay lost $1.64 billion on revenues of $9.84 billion, according to information posted on the Yahoo Finance site. During the first quarter that ended March 31, eBay earned $407 million on revenues of $2.58 billion. Compared to the year-ago first quarter, profits were down 60.7 percent and revenue rose 12 percent.

7 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. How do you lose money if you're eBay? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's a scaled up beanie baby store - how do you actually lose money with that market share? If I was CEO I think I would just find 100 of the best and brightest to run it, fire all the deadwood and make bank - hope more layoffs are coming!

    1. Re:How do you lose money if you're eBay? by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They are losing revenue to Amazon and craigslist. Amazon from "professional" sellers moving where the sales are, and craigslist for the guy wanting to sell his one or two whatevers and not deal with ebay, their fees, shipping, and the increasing possibility of getting ripped off by unscrupulous buyers and ebay's overly customer friendly dispute policies.

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    2. Re:How do you lose money if you're eBay? by gravewax · · Score: 5, Insightful

      probably from all their desperate sales to bring shoppers back. There doesn't seem to be a week that goes buy without ebay subsidising a sale for one large vendor or another with 20% discounts. I am guessing a lot of people are sick of the scammers, the overpriced items and are simply more aware of the alternatives out their. hell 90% of the shit on ebay (and amazon for that matter) is just Aliexpress stuff with 500% markup in price.

    3. Re:How do you lose money if you're eBay? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 4, Insightful

      eBay spends too much time trying to be Amazon. It's the place I go for obscure electronic parts* and old test equipment. But every time I go there the browser has to load a bunch of sleek counterfeit merchandise and bullshit for consumers. eBay has gone way too vanilla in the last decade.

  2. Forget market share by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    they're practically a bookie. They don't operate much of anything, they're a middle man. And they take 8-15% of gross. Are they losing that much to fraud? They don't have any crazy tech initiatives, and they sold off Paypal. They had almost $10 billion in revenue and spent $11 billion. What the devil did they do with all that money?

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  3. How can they possibly not be making bank? by AbRASiON · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Have you all seen the goddamn fees to use ebay? It's a disgrace.

    Maybe people are using it less? I try to avoid selling on there absolutely as much as possible.
    (Note: Australian here, being scammed on ebay seems far less likely than in the US)

  4. Re:What is the new terminology? by gordguide · · Score: 4, Informative

    And what the fuck is a Bumping Right?

    It's when an employee has some kind of tenure with the company, so that they can take another's job, and that other person gets laid off.