eBay's Latest Skype Plans No More Convincing
from the still-no-answer dept
Ever since eBay announced it was buying Skype for between $2.6 billion and $4 billion, we’ve wondered exactly how they were going to make the money back. Apart from billion-dollar winners like selling ringtones, all the eBay talk of integrating Skype into its existing businesses really isn’t that convincing from a business standpoint. Now, just nine months after announcing the deal, eBay has finally gotten around to putting a “Skype Me” button in auction listings in certain categories on its site. It says the Skype function will help facilitate transactions in certain areas it’s identified as having the potential to benefit from instant communication, but some sellers say they’ve got no interest in live communication with potential buyers. This announcement raises a lot of questions: Do people really want to talk to eBay buyers and sellers? What took so long to roll this out? And most importantly, why did eBay need to drop billions of dollars to get this functionality? The other things being mentioned, like “integrating” PayPal and Skype so people can easily send money to others on their Skype contacts list, don’t look like they’ll provide much of a boost to the bottom line, either, and at this juncture, it’s really hard to see the Skype buy paying off for eBay.
Comments on “eBay's Latest Skype Plans No More Convincing”
Considering some of the incredibly stupid questions some of my friends who sell on eBay get (from the general public and from bored internet trolls) the LAST thing they want is to have users Skype them
if ebay needs another television show idea, it could be an ebay version of crankyankers where comedians call ebay sellers on skype and act like idiot buyers asking stupid questions. hilarity and profits ensue…
No way in hell am i gonna add Skype to my listings. I get some of the stupidest questions now, I can imagine trying to actually talk to these people. I sell on Ebay so I do not have to talk to the public. Email is good for hiding that fact I think the question is stupid, live I wold not be able to keep my mouth shut, I would have to ask someone if they were a total moron or just part….
Re: Re:
stupidest is not a word,
stupid.
no one is making you put a skype-me button on your page – its a nice touch. Possibly for sellers selling real estate, cars, high value goods – things that people would like to discuss.
Re: Re: Mule
“stupidest is not a word, stupid. ”
Strange, neither is stupider, but that is what you have just proven yourelf to be by posting that.
Re: Re: Re:
From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stupidest.
stu·pid Audio pronunciation of “stupidest” ( P ) Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-)
adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake.
4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.
5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job.
And for sticklers who prefer Webster, yes, stupidest isn’t listed with stupid, stupidly, and stupidness. http://www.m-w.com/ BUT, let’s not forget a little word called suffix, as in “an affix occurring at the end of a word, base, or phrase”
Which brings us to “est: Main Entry: 1-est
Pronunciation: &st, ist
Function: adjective suffix or adverb suffix
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English -st, -est, -ost; akin to Old High German -isto (adjective superlative suffix), Greek -istos
— used to form the superlative degree of adjectives and adverbs of one syllable , of some adjectives and adverbs of two syllables , and less often of longer ones ”
I’ll allow you to confirm for yourself that “stupid” is a two syllable adjective.
I’m still waiting to see how Netscape is going to integrate with AOL’s serverce too. How about the billion dollar Snapple purchase? For that matter whts up with the whole Myspace purchase…is News corp making any money on that one? There’s lots of bad aquisitins out there….this is just another!
myspace
I happen to think myspace was a good purchase just in terms of gathering enormous nuggets of market data from millions and millions of 16-30 year olds.
PDA use...
I got Skype to work on my PDA cell phone. Since I have an unlimited data plan I have unlimited outgoing calls with my mobile service using Skype. If the call quality improves, I could swich to a data-plan with my mobile provider, pay for Skype and have unlimited minutes for about $43.23/ month before tax….but I’m sure E-Bay’s not going to advertise that funtionality.
I still can’t believe the amount of info that people post on myspace…if you read the T&C’s, anything you post there on your site gives News Corp. the right to use it for any reason they see fit.
to my view.. use of skype of ebay depends upon the kind of product on sale.. and how much it is selling for.. for low margin products on sale..a seller could not afford to sit all day to answer queries.. and this could be 24×7 job..maybe seller would have to setup a call centre to respond..thats out of sight..
skype could be used to settle dispute between buyer and seller.. again at present email is also effective.. skype is just another user interface..
Hmmm
I can see where having a Skype line on an eBay auction can be a problem. On resolving a dispute, however, I can see that it would be a good thing to send the buyer/seller a ‘Call me’ link in an e-mail that you could use to talk to the other party in order to reach a resolution. That way your Skype Me link isn’t available to every idiot online, and you can talk to the most important idiots that have problems with your auction.
ebay could have partnered with click2call and saved a couple of billion dollars…
It works for autos and real estate
What eBay is doing with Skype may not be embraced by mom-and-pop sellers or ecommerce-type sellers, but based on documented successes from other online classified and vertical search sites (e.g. cars, apartment leases, attorney services, real estate) there should be no doubt that it will deliver real benefits to certain sellers and to eBay.
ContactAtOnce! is a service that a number of eBay competitors in the online classified and vertical search spaces have utilized to similarly enable the ads and listings on their sites with presence-awareness and instant communications – with success.
Look for eBay Motors and Rent.com to be the biggest success stories.
Full disclosure – employee of ContactAtOnce!
Duh!
Is it really so hard to understand how eBay will get its money back from purchasing Skype?
This is why eBay has RESERVE AUCTIONS. When they realize they’ve screwed up, they can just sell Skype on reserve and some moe-rawn will be happy to buy it eventually. It worked for my old toaster.
skype + voicemail?