Power Sellers Unite

lammergeiernet · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 1007 Location: Canada

sources
http://webtown.typepad.com/webtown/2007/03/is_your_skype_s.html

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=119933

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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Spring VON 2007 -- Skype Ltd. founder Niklas Zennstrom announced a soon-to-be-added Skype service called "Send Money" during his keynote speech here Tuesday.

The new service is a mash-up of Skype VOIP and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY - message board) ecommerce application PayPal. Together the two make something like Western Union for the VOIP Age. "This is brewing in the Skype oven and will come out very shortly," Zennstrom said.
Zennstrom brought along a few screenshots of the new app. When Skypers open up their soft client, one of the front page menu choices will soon say "send money." Once clicked, the user signs in, identifies the Skype user to which money will be sent, enters an amount and sends. The money is then transferred from one user's PayPal account to the other's. (See Skype Keeps Growing.)

The service seems targeted at the quickly growing population of VOIP-using immigrants who regularly send money earned in the U.S. back to family abroad. "A lot of people who are using Skype have friends and family on the other side of the planet; this will allow them to send money home," Zennstrom said.

Skype's parent, eBay, has been looking for ways to make Skype a bigger money maker during 2007. Send Money will be Skype's third major move toward that end in the last month. (See Skype Feels Pressure to Pay Its Way and EBay Reports Q4.)

Skype recently announced a Google-like "SkypeFind" service that spits out local business listings and adds click-to-call functionality. (See Skype Intros SkypeFind.)

The new "Skype Prime" service allows users to charge for inbound calls. Zennstrom cited one Japanese Skyper who charges his clients to call in and practice speaking English. Another user operates a support like for people upgrading from Windows XP to Vista.

Zennstrom says Skype had 171 million users at the end of 2006. He says more than half a million have now downloaded the Skype client.

Zennstrom threw this zinger Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG - message board)'s way concerning the price of Skype. "It's about a tenth of other players," Zennstrom said. "We don’t spend millions of dollars a year acquiring new customers; our own user base has enabled it to grow so we can offer cheap prices."

— Mark Sullivan, Reporter,

LurkeyLou · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:00 am Post subject:

Skype may have felt pressure in Q4 '06, but the announcment to intergrate payment through Skype was made in May 2006. eBay is cross branding eBay, PayPal and Skype. The Pay Now is automatic for "qualifying" accounts.

BTW, PowerSellers are all supposed to be receiving free headsets, though no delivery date was announced.

The purchase of Skype wasn't just to own VOiP, it was a customer acquisition, too.

I recommend all sellers to keep up w/ eBay's investor events, etc. Not as they relate to eBay, but to take advantage of the forward trends in a way that relates to your business.

For instance, w/ eBay making telephoney connections between buyers/sellers, it will become standard practice within 18 mos. Customers will expect to be able to speak w/ a seller.

Are you preparing your business to deal w/ this change? I won't be using Skype, but I am starting to deal w/ the inevitable. Currently, I'm offering a "Call Request" service for buyers. I will call them to chat at their convenience. In short order, I'll have a dedicated line for customers to call me.

Oh! If anyone wants to read the May 2006 eBay, PayPal, Skype trilogy, you can find it here (17MB PDF) eBay Investor Relations: Analyst Day May 2006

Using eBay to propel your business forward is the best way to recover the $$ you've spent w/ them over the years! Knowledge is power!

lammergeiernet · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 1007 Location: Canada

The best way to earn back your money and recover from all the years on eBay by eBaying is a "Vietnam fallacy"

Whats needed for most sellers his to change the landscape and take the high ground to limit or cease operations on eBay and increase the focus on own site ,local and free online classifieds and social networking.

At best use eBay as marketing tool

Skype the future of Auctions and the new paradigm ?
Auctions are becoming dinosaurs , as is a site like eBay

For general merchandise I get more hits per item and higher prices and no fee's via online classifieds in a provincal Canadian city of only 350k.

LurkeyLou · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:32 am Post subject:

I didn't mean to say that listing in eBay is the way to recover your investment...it absolutely is not! However, using their information and keeping an eye on their trends is a way to use their analysts and strategies and ride the crest of change, as opposed to running to catch up as sellers often do.

Auctions, traditionally, have not been a way to purchase mass manufactured goods. This is one of the reasons the STR at auctions is generally abysmal. Unless an item truly is rare/unique, there's nothing to prompt an immediate buying decision.

Customers know if they don't get that DVD, electric tooth brush or new set of tires now, that there will be another listed in a few minutes...they simply don't bid. Logic dictates that there's no reason to pay more when another will be along shortly.

I agree, times are changing and these days, eBay is a marketing tool for many. For a time last year, I thought eBay was seperating mass manufactured goods from more unique items. They had a "Want It New" banner that took people to Express. I thought it a very good idea, but they don't seem to be pursuing a seperation.

Oh, well. I still find their data very useful and will continue to take advantage of it ;-)

hotandvintage · Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1705

lammergeiernet wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
sources
http://webtown.typepad.com/webtown/2007/03/is_your_skype_s.html

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=119933

========
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Spring VON 2007 -- Skype Ltd. founder Niklas Zennstrom announced a soon-to-be-added Skype service called "Send Money" during his keynote speech here Tuesday.

The new service is a mash-up of Skype VOIP and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY - message board) ecommerce application PayPal. Together the two make something like Western Union for the VOIP Age. "This is brewing in the Skype oven and will come out very shortly," Zennstrom said.
Zennstrom brought along a few screenshots of the new app. When Skypers open up their soft client, one of the front page menu choices will soon say "send money." Once clicked, the user signs in, identifies the Skype user to which money will be sent, enters an amount and sends. The money is then transferred from one user's PayPal account to the other's. (See Skype Keeps Growing.)

The service seems targeted at the quickly growing population of VOIP-using immigrants who regularly send money earned in the U.S. back to family abroad. "A lot of people who are using Skype have friends and family on the other side of the planet; this will allow them to send money home," Zennstrom said.

Skype's parent, eBay, has been looking for ways to make Skype a bigger money maker during 2007. Send Money will be Skype's third major move toward that end in the last month. (See Skype Feels Pressure to Pay Its Way and EBay Reports Q4.)

Skype recently announced a Google-like "SkypeFind" service that spits out local business listings and adds click-to-call functionality. (See Skype Intros SkypeFind.)

The new "Skype Prime" service allows users to charge for inbound calls. Zennstrom cited one Japanese Skyper who charges his clients to call in and practice speaking English. Another user operates a support like for people upgrading from Windows XP to Vista.

Zennstrom says Skype had 171 million users at the end of 2006. He says more than half a million have now downloaded the Skype client.

Zennstrom threw this zinger Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG - message board)'s way concerning the price of Skype. "It's about a tenth of other players," Zennstrom said. "We don’t spend millions of dollars a year acquiring new customers; our own user base has enabled it to grow so we can offer cheap prices."

— Mark Sullivan, Reporter,

I don't see how that can work, as I spent some time on other boards while building the site and a lot of those people they are talking about can't get paypal accounts, as paypal tend to shy away from those sort of places, so not sure what their game plan is with that.