Reuters
eBay may cut 1,500 jobs: Barron's
Sunday September 14, 9:21 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. online auctioneer eBay Inc (NasdaqGS:eBay - News) may cut 1,500 jobs, according to an article in Barron's weekly, citing a report published last week by investment-research firm Wedge Partners.
The Wedge report, according to Barron's, said eBay's business was "deteriorating" and the company was readying layoffs that could affect 10 percent of its 15,000 employees.

Wedge Partners and eBay could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Ted Kerr)

Link.

Should we be surprised at this revelation?

Edit to add:

And from today's Forbes.com 400

"Other tycoons who have lost big bucks this year include...eBay (eBay, news, msgs) founder Pierre Omidyar, down $2.6 billion"

EBay to cut 1,000 jobs, buy Bill Me Later

Online auction site’s move intended to streamline organization

SAN JOSE, Calif. - eBay Inc. said Monday it will cut about 1,000 employees, reducing its work force by about 10 percent.

The online auction site also says it will get rid of several hundred temporary workers and reduce open positions.

eBay says the reductions are intended to streamline its organization. eBay says it expects restructuring charges of about $70 million to $80 million, mostly in the fourth quarter.

eBay also says it will buy online payments business Bill Me Later for $820 million in cash and $125 million in outstanding options. Additionally, eBay is buying Danish classifieds site dba.dk and vehicles site bilbasen.dk for $390 million in cash.

They should cut the CEO's job. Looking at the recent stock performance I'm sure they will soon

bozo007 said:They have people working for them?Must be 1,500 robots.

eBay could have 100% dominated the auction market if they weren't sooo greedy and raising their fees through the roof. This to me is the begin of the decline of eBay.

mathuntcollectibles said:I'm just curious if those 1,500 jobs are just 1,500 sellers who just shut down there stores?

...awesome...

i3ighead said:yaijic said:eBay could have 100% dominated the auction market if they weren't sooo greedy and raising their fees through the roof. This to me is the begin of the decline of eBay.

We have been saying that for years....

True, but if you ask an average consumer to name online auctions sites, they say,

yaijic said:eBay could have 100% dominated the auction market if they weren't sooo greedy and raising their fees through the roof. This to me is the begin of the decline of eBay.

I disagree completely. People are too quick to bash eBay and scream how it sucks on this forum, when all they are doing is trying to grow revenues and profits (i.e. what EVERYBODY else on this forum is doing).

The problem lies in the eBay business model, which has completely matured. They are having trouble getting it to grow any more, so the first temporary solution is to start cutting jobs and restructuring. I should point out that they STILL dominate the online auction market, although it has gotten more competitive recently.

I think eBay will be a sure-fire takeover target in a few years, provided a buyer can scrounge up enough capital in today's market. By who, is anybody's guess.

madcowdisease said:yaijic said:eBay could have 100% dominated the auction market if they weren't sooo greedy and raising their fees through the roof. This to me is the begin of the decline of eBay.

I disagree completely. People are too quick to bash eBay and scream how it sucks on this forum, when all they are doing is trying to grow revenues and profits (i.e. what EVERYBODY else on this forum is doing).

The problem lies in the eBay business model, which has completely matured. They are having trouble getting it to grow any more, so the first temporary solution is to start cutting jobs and restructuring. I should point out that they STILL dominate the online auction market, although it has gotten more competitive recently.

I think eBay will be a sure-fire takeover target in a few years, provided a buyer can scrounge up enough capital in today's market. By who, is anybody's guess.The problem is it's not worth it for a lot of seller's to sell anything anymore. The fee's are starting to get ridiculous. How much is it going to cost to sell something in 5 years? I couldn't even imagine how much it would be. I'm a powerseller and starting to think it's not worth it anymore. I mean come on they hit you with insertion fees, final value fees, picture fees, paypal fees. Now they will take the insertion fee to 35 cents, but they jack up the final value fee. They are slowly killing off all the small seller's that helped start eBay. I hope someone like Google comes up with another option where many of us can turn to. I hope eBay goes under for sure.

madcowdisease said:rmhop said:The problem is it's not worth it for a lot of seller's to sell anything anymore. The fee's are starting to get ridiculous. How much is it going to cost to sell something in 5 years? I couldn't even imagine how much it would be. I'm a powerseller and starting to think it's not worth it anymore. I mean come on they hit you with insertion fees, final value fees, picture fees, paypal fees. Now they will take the insertion fee to 35 cents, but they jack up the final value fee. They are slowly killing off all the small seller's that helped start eBay. I hope someone like Google comes up with another option where many of us can turn to. I hope eBay goes under for sure.

I still don't understand this angst with eBay fees (NO APOSTROPHE). I mean, do sellers (NO APOSTROPHE) expect eBay to somehow freeze fees indefinitely? The feeling I get is that sellers somehow feel that eBay, at its core, should be free or cost almost nothing. Utterly, utterly laughable. They have bills to pay and costs to cover, as well as earnings to grow. As I said, their business model has matured and they are under intense pressure to increase earnings by double digits, quarter over quarter.

If you can't deal with the fees, then stop selling. It's that simple. That's how a business works. You can't pay the rent? Well, that's too bad, but you probably have to close shop...or raise prices. eBay owes sellers nothing. It answers, like ANY CORPORATION, to its shareholders, not its customers. The expectation that some company will come in like a knight in white armor and 'save' small sellers is a ludicrous one, at best. This is a competitive market and with a significant portion of money to be made. No company will be able to unseat eBay with the mere promise of lower fees. They'll get a few sellers, sure, but it will take a "reinventing of the wheel" or some serious critical mass to cut down the eBay brand, much less their complete dominance of this market. With four billion in cash and no debt, they are around to stay.

eBay apologist and IRS agent wannabee. You really are the total PACKAGE aren't you. Shuffle along, because if you are trying to trump up sympathy or understanding of the eBay plight, you will find nothing but deaf ears here.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy said:

I've been chewing my own spine, can't y'all tell?

Not only are eBay's fees getting outrageous, there's been a huge spike in unpaid items since buyers started to feel like they held all the cards.

I'm doing nothing different with my listings but I've had so many returned items, partital refunds requested and unpaid items ($16,000+) the last two months.