December 05, 2005

Nope to Skype?

Russell Shaw points to a story in TheStreet.com that claims that “Big eBay users shun Skype”. As usual, if we dig just a bit deeper, we realize that the truth is a bit less categorical than that.

The original article quotes the executive director of a group of high-volume eBay sellers as saying that "Skype doesn't give me a capability that I already don't have." Apparently this based on informal conversation with members. Of course it is not clear why they should feel this way. Is it because they feel that Skype calls will cost them more in commission? Is it because they sell the garden variety of items and such calls are not needed? If I am occasional seller and have not earned enough trust, probably that is when I will benefit from Skype, because the potential buyer will overcome the initial hesitation after talking to me.

In other words, this story doesn’t give enough supporting evidence for their claim. Nonetheless, I feel that eBay sellers can use third party VoIP tools as well instead of Skype. So I still feel Skype is not going to change much the landscape for eBay.

Posted by aswath at December 5, 2005 06:09 PM
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Comments

"Nonetheless, I feel that eBay sellers can use third party VoIP tools as well instead of Skype" : shouldn't they have been doing that in the first place ? And I cannot imagine how they will insist on Skype being the only one to be used.

Posted by: Venkatesh Rangarajan at December 5, 2005 09:38 PM

Skype isn't about giving sellers another tool. It's about keeping Ebay in the internet game. Bold moves like the Skype deal are usually passed on by management teams because they're more worried about what that street will say than where their company will end up 10 years later. Google has a war room and no doubt Ebay is on the hit list. I commend managemnt for making the right decision to buy Skype.$4b is a small risk to take to help save and protect your business !

Posted by: Tim Johnson at December 5, 2005 09:57 PM

Wow, I actually was going to criticize E-bay for the deal, but Tim may have a good point.

Great post Aswath!

Posted by: Jonathan at December 6, 2005 01:09 AM



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