how would you improve ebay?

[w.kevin]

Originally Posted by cimabue

If the rising earnings of a monopolistic arrangement (trust) reflect profitability, if you want to ignore “cooked” numbers, and if skepticism bothers you, then you’re right and I’m wrong. And bankers are our friends. And Bernie Maddoff was a good guy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law
Thanks for enlightening me. Why don't you stop before you lose any ounce of credibility you have left?

 

[cimabue]

Originally Posted by zbromer

First, you argued, without a scintilla of evidence, that ebay needed to "scrape [PayPal] off their shoes," because "PAYPAL IS NOT PROFITABLE" and "PAYPAL IS A PAIN **********, TO EBAY." (Emphasis and random comma are not mine.) Now, you are admitting that PayPal actually is "turning a buck for Ebay." Moreover, you are also now claiming that the only reason ebay is not "sliding" is because of PayPal. I don't get it. You've now managed to backtrack on your two big claims that PayPal doesn't make money and hurts ebay.

Instead of admitting you were dead wrong when presented with actual evidence, you manage to dig yourself into an even deeper hole of misinformation, trying to save face. First, you declare PayPal to be a Ponzi scheme, which is a concept you clearly don't understand. Even if you think the partnership between PayPal and ebay is illegitimate, it's certainly not a Ponzi scheme. Second, you declare that there is "dissatisfaction inside with PayPal." What are you talking about? PayPal has been ebay's star performer. Ebay CEO John Donahoe has been talking recently about how great PayPal is and how he expects PayPal to produce more revenue than ebay in the near future. Don't believe me? You can hear him tell you himself (after the 6 minute mark). It's literally the exact opposite of dissatisfaction inside ebay with PayPal. Read a business article or two.

Finally, after admitting that PayPal actually is profitable, you declared that it only is because of ebay's policy requiring buyers to use PayPal. Again, simply not true. The percent of transactions on ebay that used PayPal was extraordinarily high prior to any policy shift. Any change in policy did not have a dramatic effect on PayPal's revenue. If you did a little research, you would see that PayPal has actually greatly increased its presence outside of ebay. In fact, PayPal transactions outside of ebay have steadily increased. Three years ago, 70% of PayPal transactions were through ebay purchases. Now, it's dropped to 50%. So, PayPal's revenue has increased tremendously in the past three years, while it's percentage of transactions that take place on ebay have steadily declined. What does that tell you? It says that PayPal's growth has been fueled by non-ebay transactions, unlike your uninformed assertion.

We get it. You don't like PayPal. You think there's some antitrust thing going on. That's fine. Just get your facts straight and don't call people "thick" when you are the one who's been entirely wrong.

I'm saying revenue gains are being suspiciously advertised vis a vis the Ebay/PayPal arrangement. You keep trumpeting the company line and dragging in numbers from outside the parameter of the argument, ie, PayPal's other revenue sources:

"If you did a little research, you would see that PayPal has actually greatly increased its presence outside of ebay. In fact, PayPal transactions outside of ebay have steadily increased. Three years ago, 70% of PayPal transactions were through ebay purchases. Now, it's dropped to 50%."

In my opinion, PayPal is a float operation dependent on handling other people's money over time. The whole thing depends on confidence and cash flow.

I will credit you though for being good at false argument and pulling things out of context, including picking on my poor comma, which is fine where it stands.

 

[cimabue]

Originally Posted by apropos

Looks like someone got...

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/fo...ned-funny2.jpg

http://cdn0.knowyourmeme.com/i/7346/...jpg?1249244553

(I don't view it that way.)