Starting to like Etsy.

I completely agree. Also, Detecto you need to understand that their increased costs also coincide with their increase in popularity. As their traffic increased (which it has since 2001) they became a better company to advertise with. More people see an item listed on eBay today than they did in 2001. Due to that increased exposure...you pay more for them to advertise your item. That's not greed...it's an increase in the value of their service which they charge for.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Ebay is way cheaper than the smaller online auction houses. Stacks Bowers charges buyers 17.5%. And if you buy a $50 coin there, you will be charged 30% due to the $15 minimum fee.

If you think about it in advertising terms, ebay's fees should go up with more users because your listing gets exposed to more eyeballs.

You also have to consider the amount of fraud ebay probably gets exposed to because of its buyer and seller protections.

 

So if I started a muffin company and was doing so-so in sales, and then found a recipe that made the muffins taste like angel farted in your mouth, I can raise the price because they taste better?

No wonder why America is going down the crapper if this is what they teach people about business.

Or what if I started a coin photography business and found a way to take better photos, I should charge people more for it, because it looks better?

Nyet! The only time you raise prices is when your expenses rise and you have to increase prices to cover them.

I highly doubt eBay's expenses warranted doubling the fee in the past 13 years do to the sheer fact the volume of sales they have has probably doubled as well

If they had 15 million sales a year (making it up) at 10 dollars a sale on average at 5% in 2001 , that's 7.5 million in profit.

If expenses were 5 million, that's 2.5 million cleared.

If they had 30 million sales last year, 10 dollars on average at 10 percent, that's 15 million, and if expenses were 12 million, they cleared 3 million.

If the value of your service goes up, you do NOT charge more for it.

Look at Facebook, it's grown and has been growing ever since it started.

Guess what? It still costs $0 to use!

 

Yes!

Yes!

Interesting use of Russian there. How did that Communism thing work out?

Why not? It's called Capitalism.

You are not the customer of Facebook, so of course they don't charge you anything. You are the product. Facebook sells your information to advertisers.

 

Actually...your analogy (as colorful as it is) doesn't really apply. Let me ask you this. Let's say you started your sales website of some kind. During the first year...you get 10,000 hits per month. People post their items for sale on your site and you change them a fee since they are advertising with you. That's what it is...it's an advertising fee.

Now, fast forward several years. Your site has taken off. Now, instead of 10K hits...you are getting 10 million each month. Your advertising power is much better now. When someone lists an item on your site...instead of 10K people seeing, 10 million can.

This advertising is a product that you are selling. That product is worth a lot more when it reaches 10 million people than when it reaches 10 thousand. You would raise your fees too. That is what eBay has done. The product they offer today is more valuable than it was in 2001. Therefore, they charge more for it.

 

Guess what, you know nothing about business.

 

So if you start a business, what's the incentive to improve your product? Just out of pure niceness? It seems that you only want to cut costs.

You would go out of business because the competition will take your idea and improve on it while you try to keep costs down. Some people will choose you because you're cheap. But a lot of others will recognize the value in the other guys better product or service.

Oh and here's another question for you. Say you're renting an apartment. Should the landlord still be charging the same rent as he/she did in 1985?

 

Yes, in the socialist utopia he aspires for that would be the law. Inflation doesn't exist - in theory.

I am just waiting for some transaction on Etsy to go south on him so he can start a voluminously useless thread on how bad Etsy is because he couldn't sell his angel fart muffins on it.

Now back to serious - anyone want to take bets on how long it is before he has a life changing issue with Etsy?

 

Only in NYC does that happen. Read this:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/03...artment-after-being-adopted-by-former-tenant/

 

Rent control was targeted at certain sectors, for people on the lower end of the pay scale that were in service positions or on pensions and could otherwise be priced out of the market. Believe me, there is no rent control on high end or even mid range apartments.

 

Price of rent has gone up due to inflation and cost of utilities increasing.

 

How would you know? Do you rent? Hmm.






little birdy says he has no idea what he is talking about, having never rented before.

 

I'm communist. Capitalism leaves all the money at the top and puts a blatant disregard for the poor. "Winner takes all".

Communism treats everyone equally and doesn't allow for elite classes.

A lot of people hate communism, but in reality, TRUE communism has never existed or been tried.

Capitalism is a broken system because before too long someone figures out how to work the system and climb to top, in a rather unfair way.

Our economy would be much better today if we live in a [true] communist country.

Before you go off on me, I'm talking about TRUE communism, not the Faux communism under Stalin, or Mao.

 

If you value your privacy at $0, then you are correct. The members are the products being sold, and they are or else the company would make $0. Then again you don't seem to value privacy.

Sigh, if there weren't language rules, I would be tempted to lapse. America is not going down the crapper! Personal fortitude, integrity, and desire to make one's own way over obstacles, including physical and mental, without blogging, complaining , or piously justifying the injustices one perceives about every step of the way is going down the crapper. . Probably everyone over the age of 40 has a story of making their own way or not, but few very young feel it would happen that way to them. They look for ways to become instant billionaires or rock stars. America has by far the longest wait for world legal immigration than any other country. Large numbers die every year trying to get across the border to live in the US, even if undercover and always at risk . It use to be only about 7% non-Mexicans , but now it is 17%, so other nations are trying more also.

Each of those entering illegally would be extremely happy and feel very lucky to get any job at Walmart or Kmart, or even the local donut store. Only by the luck of place of birth do you have the ability to live American , and the opposite for them.

 

That explains a lot.

Just for grins, listen to the lyrics to the Rush song "Trees" sometime. See if you still support that concept. Here they are:

 

Perhaps it would be better...but it's not possible. For a true socialist society to work...everyone has to buy and in do their part. There are too many people in our society who don't want to work. They want to be carried through life. Likewise, there are too many people who are highly motivated and want to make something of their lives. This society doesn't fit either.

The society you dream about is a "perfect idea" which will never fit an imperfect world.

 

Tim is a dreamer, I'll give him credit for that. Fortunately for the rest of us he can seem to get any of his dreams to take wing or we would be doomed.

 

Rush had some pretty interesting songs if you really listened to them and grasp the meaning of them. "Subdivisions" was one of my faves when it came out.

On that note, we have our very own mystic and dreamer right here on our little forum. Tim.

 

Communism is all fine and dandy until you introduce humans into the equation.

 

He missed the whole "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Atlas Shrugged and anything else by Ayn Rand would have been completely off the radar.