I used to love browsing on eBay for unusual or hard to find items. It was akin to rooting through garage sale items, trying to find a great bargain or something really unique. But, over time, the site morphed from an individual selling their personal stuff into consolidators and small companies peddling their wares. It just didn’t have the same vibe anymore, so I quit frequenting eBay.
A few months ago, I decided to hop on CraigsList to try and find a decent quality but used queen headboard and bed frame for my lake house. Well, once again, it seems that the consolidators are starting to take over that site as well. Do I want to buy a cheapo frame from some low end retailer? No. I want to buy someone’s grandma’s used but real wood headframe at a garage sale price. (Yes, I know I can select the filter to remove all the consolidators, but my point is that it’s no longer a P2P site.)
And finally, I’ve rented private homes and condos from VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) a dozen or so times in the past. Loved that site because you could rent an entire house or condo for less than you could book a hotel room. Well, I just went to search for a vacation rental in Aruba, and dammit to all hell, it looks like management firms and consolidators are ruining that site as well! “Contact us for the best prices and weeks!”
No, I don’t think that I will. Because I know that your company is pocketing 20-40% of the rental price, and now the rental price is jacked up. Argh!
I don’t know about you, but I hate that it’s becoming more difficult to find P2P e-commerce sites. My only consolation is that AirBnB seems to be immune…for now.
I agree. But it mirrors the Web decline from many small personal websites — many frankly nuts — to bland dull corporate control.
It’s like small towns: the only things that distinguished them from each other, and created personality, were idiosyncratic architecture and shops selling second-hand goods. Once the Span Buildings and concrete blocks erase the charm, and all the goods for sale are exactly as anywhere, there’s no point in visiting, let alone lingering.
I felt the same way about actual flea markets about 20 years ago: they used to be largely individuals either doing a one-weekend-only “garage sale”, or they were somewhat-eccentric “junk dealers” that would have a really odd assortment of bargains, with a few more selling homemade crafts.
Then it became 90% people selling new items from China. Then most of the flea markets (at least around here) went out of business.
I think eBay originally grew due to using a finite resource: the stuff that some people owned and didn’t really want which other people wanted and we’re willing to pay for. EBay was essentially the entire country holding a yard sale to get rid of their unwanted junk.
But it couldn’t endure. Eventually that accumulated backlog of unwanted junk was used up. The people who didn’t want the stuff have sold it and the people who own it now want it. There are still some new unwanted items entering the sales arena but the backlog is gone. So what’s left on eBay is mostly ordinary sales.
I used to sell on eBay from time to time, but frankly, the need to photograph stuff, write up a compelling description, upload it, then baby sit the auctions followed by running to the post office or other shipper was chewing into time I needed for other stuff. Also, eventually I had less stuff left I wanted to sell.
Now when I want to sell something on eBay I go to the little eBay store down the street. Sure, they take something like 30% of the sale price (after eBay gets their slice) but since they do all the promoting and shipping I’m happy to pay them. All I have to do is drop off the item then come back and collect my share. And since they do this for a living they’re likely to sell my stuff quicker and for a higher price than I would get.
Which explains why you see more companies like that and fewer individuals on the sites.
I loved eBay in the beginning. I recall Rosie O’Donnell promoting it on her daytime show as the world’s biggest garage sale.
But I noticed as it grew, I as a buyer got scammed more and more. I only bought little things and back then it was cash or check, and eventually I quit. When paypal started I went back but it changed and nothing was a bargain.
Between eBay and PBS’s Road Show everyone now thinks their junk is priceless. “Oh my kitty slept on this blanket” Maybe if the kitty was Socks but even then.
I miss the small, horrible designed sights. I miss even well designed sites of HTML instead of the mass content management systems, that all look alike, and when one changes the others do too.
I miss the wild west atmosphere of Usenet groups that were truly unmoderated.
Ultimately, it’s not worth the collective time and effort for individuals to engage heavily in P2P transactions. Aggregators are taking their place for the same reasons that merchant retail is successful in the first place.