I’ve never had a serious grudge against eBay or complaint about its site. Nonetheless, it’s been months since I’ve visited an online auction for personal reasons, and eBay is trying hard to reverse this sort of behavior.
It’s not that eBay is dying – far, far from it. eBay’s just not the wunderkind that it once was, and in an interview with Julie Sloane, the company’s spokesman acknowledged, “About a year ago, the leadership of the marketplace business got together and took a hard look at what had been a successful business for 11 years. The (buying) experience hadn’t kept up with what people expect when they go online.”
So eBay introduced a host of upgrades that were intended to enhance users’ experiences and keep them interested. The company’s also planning long-term – in the past three months, we’ve seen it acquire a German auction management software company and talk about moving into Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia.
These efforts may not have paid off yet – Compete statistics show an up-and-down rollercoaster that doesn’t follow any clear pattern. Still, eBay’s currently up 2.2 percent for the month, and 2.5 percent for the year, so it would appear that the company’s doing something right.
A glance at eBay’s stock is less encouraging, but still lands us in a “wait and see” mode.
