eBay eventually integrates with Skype for good
So there we are. eBay eventually issued a press release stating clearly how it was intending to make Skype fit in its universe (eBay + Paypal, and soon Fon?): buyers will be able to contact sellers through Skype when considering buying an expensive item (like jewels, a piece of Art, a car, a sockets company, etc.). This, according to eBay, should help close deals faster, enhancing trust and confidence in both parties´ abilities to pursue the transaction.
Though I cannot come up right now with a smarter idea to integrate eBay & Skype, I believe the move (to be probably extended to all items soon) is too easy to be value creative – especially for sellers. The whole point of eBay relies on its asynchronous properties: I can sell my books while sleeping! And I definitely don´t want to waste my time chatting with every single eBay user, or I´d rather go to the flea market and liquidate everything.
I´m all the more convinced that eBay purchased Skype – for a mere $bn 2.6, just to prevent someone else (Google? Yahoo? Microsoft?) from buying the Skype technology and voIP market share out. And such a way of playing with one´s shareholders money, to my mind, jeopardizes the executive team´s credibility.
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The fact is that Ebay paid $bn 2.6 for a firm that merely has $M60 in yearly revenues. So either they see in it a fantastic tool that can boost sales and generate millions in revenues…or, as you said Jerem, they didn’t want someone else to buy it.
With the first hypotesis, comes the question: how?
With the second hypotesis comes the question: why?
Anyway. Too many questions for this morning.
Dear Jedi,
Your raise two extremely interesting questions I´ll make sure I think about in the coming days. Many thanks.
And “May the force be with you”!
Even before the merge of skype and ebay, I have been using skype to close my transactions. So, eBay’s decision is a smart move. I will help many sellers and buyers communicate faster and smoother.
Adeel, what sort of products did you sell on eBay? I guess these were ‘committing’ goods like works of Art, jewels, etc. Not books or CDs.