Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 2004542, member: 27832&quot;]No offense, but if an auction site is something that a better-than-average coder can work up over a few months, why do you suppose there aren&#039;t a thousand such sites nibbling away at eBay&#039;s market share? Come to think of it, how do you know that there <i>aren&#039;t</i> a thousand such sites, every one limping along in obscurity?</p><p><br /></p><p>Mostly, I think, it&#039;s a variant of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law" rel="nofollow">Metcalfe&#039;s Law</a> -- as the number of participants in a venue increases, the desirability of the venue increases even more sharply. When there&#039;s a venue like eBay available, there&#039;s a strong disincentive to list on a venue with fewer buyers, or to shop on a venue with fewer sellers. That&#039;s how eBay killed its large competitors; small competitors would be at even more of a disadvantage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, if everyone thought this way, no progress would ever happen. There are certainly niches where it&#039;s possible to compete with eBay; just ask HA. But they don&#039;t compete by underselling.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in