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The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Not sure if this is the right place for this topic but anyways...

Recently ive been thinking, Many people on here use Paypal, eBay and Paypal as

a way of making a living and providing for their families. Ive just been wondering

how much long is this going to last? I cant see us being able to sell and make a

living for the next 6+ years of eBay and Amazon. I understand that people have

been trading on eBay since before 2000 but i just dont see this going for another

6+ years.

Id like to get your guys' opinions on this.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

There will always be used items to be sold on a Marketplace like eBay.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

ecommerce will last a very long time. They might be different platforms in the future but as a online seller you will just have to adapt and figure out how to be successful.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Out of curiosity - what makes you think that ebay wont last for more than 6 years? fr the record I disagree with that statement allheartedly.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

i just honestly dont see how the likes eBay will last that long, it has to end somewhere no?

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

What makes you think that?

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Used items belong in eBay, the traffic attracts a lot of sellers and buyers.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Amazon and eBay are both constantly evolving and i just believe that in years to come eBay

will try and move to the Amazon kind of business model and then Amazon will begin to get

rid of the smaller sellers and only have the huge sellers.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

There is a bill that's called the marketplace fairness act. Where it would require everyone in the USA that Buys AND Sells on Ebay and Amazon to be forced to provide your SSN.

If that bill ever passed and you really had to provide your SSN there's no way that would ever work for stealth just imagine having to put a SSN on every account you owned no way of doing it unless you wanted break laws and do things illegal that I'm sure would get you caught.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

How on earth would something like that even exist.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Since this forum is coming to its 10th year of existance, any changes in the market places will be worked out.

That said, ebay/amazon are going to be around because of consumers wanting products.

Nothing stays static or else it becomes stagnant. Change is to be dealt with and not feared.

:peace:

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

I think that eBay and Amazon are only going to get stronger.

I was talking with my family and friends over the holidays and most of them shop exclusively online now compared to the past when all of them would only shop in brick and mortar shops.

Online shopping is the present and it will only be stronger in the future as well.

Online shopping provides better prices, and a ton of convenience for people that may have a tough time getting out to the stores to shop.

I disagree with you that it can't last for the next 6 years. If anything I think it will only get better as time passes.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Like anything else in this world, you must evolve with the times. We will still be here down the line.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

In a way I agree with the OP, I often think how long is this going to last...will the little guy be squeezed out!

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

OP - This is actually a really good question, because your thinking things through, rathing than blindly following everyone else like a herd of sheep.

The way I see it is, if you work for youself, doing ebay/amazon etc., then your earning a living - and of course there is a small probability things can go wrong and your left without an income (note, now that you've found this forum, that probability is significantly reduced).

Alternatively you can work for someone else, and there is a probability that eventually things will go wrong for the company your working for, and they will lay you off.

Either way there is a possibility your income will be hit. BUT with business if your smart, you can spread your eggs out and reduce the risk of becoming redundant.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Because of the excess of used items, and people wanting to save a few bucks, Eb.y and others like it will be around for a LONG time... but it's sure not going to stay the same. Just in the last few years I've noticed the increase of fees, the ads on pages and mixed in with search results and sponsored posts (you'd think this would make the fees go DOWN, if not at least stay the same) and the delay in having funds released... they keep evolving to stay profitable and so on, so they're definitely going to keep changing, but as long as there are used items and people who want to buy them, they're going to be around.

I can easily see that making a profit using Eb.y becoming harder and harder with time, for sure.... but I don't personally see them going away.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

I really like your heads up approach to trying to develop a future game plan, OP. I have thought on the same lines as you. But what I realized, eBay has far too much of a footprint in the psychology of buyers and sellers. It IS the used and "cheap" marketplace for buyers. While others like Amazon will continue to destroy land based retailers, I do not believe it will kill off eBay.

Let's look at this from a different angle--- have you noticed the success rate of other "auction based" sites? They get absolutely killed. Ebay has far too much a loyal following, much like automakers or other major brands. While eBay is moving to more retail buy based pricing much like Amazon, there are 0 major contenders for auction based e-commerce. It would take an Elon Musk or Zuckerburg type figure to dethrone eBay. Not even Bezos can touch the power of eBay. They may can dent them, but it will take major innovation and CODING to beat eBay. Just my 2 cents.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

I've asked myself that question too. I sometimes feel like it's all too good to be true and nothing good last forever.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Like one poster said there will always be something out there to sell your products. The internet is not going anywhere.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

eBay for used Items I agree will last for some time. With regards to Amazon and newer items the brand and category restrictions are getting quite crazy. Who knows what happens.

I will say this having been in eBay since 2005 and Amazon 2011. Things will be very different in 2023 then they are in 2017. That is guaranteed. We all must learn how to adapt to the changes to survive.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Amazon is getting stronger. Ebay is dying. Ebay won't ever die completely, it'll still exist.

Both it's harder to sell on than years ago. Amazon is making it harder for 3rd party sellers to sell. If you're a big enough company, they want you to sell your items through prime. 3rd party and non-prime sellers are dying (aside from textbooks).

Ebay use to be a big unique/used items, but they are moving towards new items and reseller of new items.

I think what OP means is, it's just a matter of time before they shut down your business, not that ebay/amazon is going to be dead in 6 years.

I think most people here have real jobs, just do this for hobby/money on side. Most people in the states are in school and just do this for side/money. They eventually go to real jobs.

It's just a matter of time before they shut you down, then the person says, it's not worth it to rebuild and that's that.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

Alot of items can not be bought new on Amazon. So if go bargain hunting in real world list stuff can no longer buy brand new always be market. I love old books and old movies. Thankfully most now on kindle but some got to buy used but its very cheap unless rare.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

I have been on ebay since 1999. It serves a purpose that I don't see any other website replacing. There is just too much money to be made, why would it go away? You can say the same thing about auction houses, garage sales, estate sales. They are all the same thing basically except they are held in person and ebay is on line. If the need is there it will stay around. Things have to evolve and I see ebay trying to evolve with the market. I love selling on ebay. It's been the reason I am able to work from home as an artist and supplement my art income when it's slow. I don't worry about it going away. I just worry about too many seller requirements making things more difficult but I don't see it going away. I think they are driving towards having everyone be a power seller, or at least have those seller qualifications met. jmo

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

My opinion,

Ebay isn't going anywhere.
But with every business, rich get richer and poor get poorer, it is an inevitable problem our economy is facing.

One important thing is niche. There will always be new niches, our job is to be innovative and find them or create them.

I do think it will get harder as more and more people compete.

But honestly, if you think about it, all these limits and suspensions are actually helping us.
Aside from deterring the scammers, it also helps the individuals. People can't just take over the market with one single account and no effort, so I believe it honestly gives everyone a competing chance.

We just have to work harder and be innovative to find and keep up with new trends and niches as society continues to progress and change every day. Be it eBay or anything in life, really.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

The fact that eBay net revenue was 2.08 Billion dollars. I believe eBay will be in business for awhile. Think about what eBay does. They are middleman collecting fees. On average eBay closes 3 million auctions a day with final value fee around 10%. I don't think they will be broke anytime soon. Its going to be likes everything else in America. There will be handful just owning specific industry. For example Shipping USPS Fedex UPS. Telecommunication Verizon and AT&T. Computers Apple and Microsoft. E-Commerce Amazon and Ebay. Big Box retailers Target Walmart. It sad trend going on but that the New America now.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

[QUOTE=littleredengine07;824774]The fact that eBay net revenue was 2.08 Billion dollars. I believe eBay will be in business for awhile. Think about what eBay does. They are middleman collecting fees. On average eBay closes 3 million auctions a day with final value fee around 10%. I don't think they will be broke anytime soon. Its going to be likes everything else in America. There will be handful just owning specific industry. For example Shipping USPS Fedex UPS. Telecommunication Verizon and AT&T. Computers Apple and Microsoft. E-Commerce Amazon and Ebay. Big Box retailers Target Walmart. It sad trend going on but that the New America now

You sound like me when I'm talking to my family. This is not what's coming to America, it's what America already is. The United States is no longer a country it's a global corporation.
eBay isn't going anywhere in the near future and if it did go away it would be in name only. The equivalent to it would go live immediately if not sooner.

Re: The Future of eBay and Amazon Sellers
 

eCommerce will always be around, but I see 3 major changes coming in 5-10 years

1. Paypal will want to be treated like a bank by the US government and will apply to change their status from a money transmitter to a bank. That means that you will have to provide a SSN to open a US paypal account. In exchange you will have much easier option of not using paypal on your eBay account and use your own merchance processing services. This will pretty much be the end of stealth paypal accounts.

2. At some point there will be an eCommerce sales tax. There is way too much money in it for government to not to collect ecommerce tax to replace the lost revenue from people not paying local sales tax from buying in a B&M stores.

3. When Amazon/eBay feels like its seller numbers are maxxed out and they want to increase profits from existing sellers, they'll move to shut down arbitrage selling like the Amazon/eBay dropshipping, unless you're a big time reseller. They'll do this because they want to be the sole middleman between the producer and the end consumer.