Ebay looking to take the fight to Amazon

Ebay is looking to challenge big names in the retail game, with plans to expand its business to double the current user base – which would bring the total to over 200 million – within the next three years. If successful, this would see the total money changing hand on the site rise to over £70 billion.

Ebay has lost market share in recent years after a host of unpopular changes that made it difficult for sellers to criticise buyers that don't follow through with their commitments. Amazon and other promoters of third party sellers have made Ebay less relevant than it was a half decade ago. Apparently though, that's all set to change.

Ebay's chief executive, John Donahoe, said to The Guardian: “The turnaround is behind us and we are now playing offense. Ebay is no longer just an e-commerce company. We're a global commerce platform.”

Some of the planned improvements include a Russian language version of the site (I'm surprised that hasn't been created already) and more of a focus on retailers and companies selling new products, as opposed to individuals clearing out things they don't need any more.

KitGuru Says: The move away from individual sellers to businesses makes sense, as with the growth of free marketplaces for selling old things – Gumtree etc. – Ebay is far less useful for that sort of thing. Especially with its 10 per cent sales fee, on top of whatever you pay for Paypal usage.

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