Frank:
Thanks for the link. Very enlightening article. I found it interesting that in the Alternate Hypothesis section, this sentence stood out to me: The first is
changes in the eBay platform that might have favored posted price listings. After reading the paper, it seemed to me (from the mathematical analysis of the writers) that even though fixed (or posted) prices were introduced in 2002 in eBay, the straight auction format was still going strong in 2003. I think a major factor in the change from 100% auction environment to now a less-than-50% auction environment was eBay's decision (over a period of time) to change its business model for better financial gain on their part, thus producing the current environment that favors large volume sellers (through perks and discounts in listing fees, number of listings, etc.).
Gone, I believe, are the days in which infrequent sellers (I would be part of that equation) used eBay as an "electronic garage sale" to sell items to a much larger demographic than a local backyard weekend sale. If I had extra stuff (baseball cards, vintage toys, comics, video games, books, etc.), I could post on ebay and realize some money, even after shipping costs, eBay seller fees, etc. Now, with very few exceptions, anything I've tried to sell on eBay (cards, game-used jerseys, etc.) have been at a loss when factoring in seller fees (item cost + shipping cost percentages), shipping costs (gone up quite a bit since when I first joined eBay in 1998), etc.
This is one reason I hardly ever sell on eBay anymore. I still buy on eBay from time to time, and still mostly favor the auction formats, but I guess that's because I'm old school. Of course, bargains can be had on many BIN items, especially when one price compares with other online "fixed price" venues such as amazon.com, sports collectible dealers, etc....
Thanks, Frank!
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