eBay gets tough

from the Why-can't-we-just-all-get-along? dept

eBay has sent a formal letter to AuctionWatch.com asking them to politely stop listing their auctions via the search function on AuctionWatch.com. Why does eBay care? They are in the business of selling items. You would think they would want to have their goods out to as many people as possible. Unless I am mistaken, eBay isn't a portal, they are a service, and the more they sell, the better for them.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Mark Baker, 10 Oct 1999 @ 9:47am

    My prediction

    I hope AuctionWatch wins this. eBay doesn't own the fact that a particular item is up for auction, just the rights to a commission on the sale. If somebody comes up with a business model that aggregates this information, more power to them.

    I think eBay's just pissed that they didn't think of doing this themselves.

    My prediction; eBay will acquire AuctionWatch early next year or sooner.

    MB

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Thompson Hayner, 10 Oct 1999 @ 2:53pm

    Ebay's problem

    While I hope AuctionWatch wins this too as I don't like restrictions on user-entered data, I would be doing the same thing if I was Ebay too. If a lot of people were to start using AuctionWatch instead of Ebay, then I as a seller could go to Amazon or Yahoo or whatever auction vendor had the cheapest commissions and the best service. Ebay can't stand still and let that happen.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Traideur, 11 Oct 1999 @ 10:13am

    actionwatch does NOT help eBay

    Why would actionwatch provide a seach engine for eBay ? To earn cash. If eBay had a search engine and actionwatch had one too, would actionwatch's search engine "steal" eBay's search engine potential clients ? Yes ! And at the same time they "steal" a part of the profits.

    Don't get me wrong, I don't condone eBay's actions, but I just wanted to point this out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.