This is just going too far:
So-called power sellers, those who average above a certain amount in monthly sales, are the backbone of eBay's auction business, CEO Meg Whitman said this weekend at the eBay Live conference, the company's first-ever user conference."Many power sellers are self-employed eBay merchants. Sometimes it's both husband and wife," she said. "That leaves our family entrepreneurs at a serious disadvantage when it comes to acquiring health care coverage for their families."
Starting this fall, the San Jose, Calif.-based company will allow power sellers to acquire health care coverage, including dental, vision and pharmacy, through a deal eBay has struck with Physician's Mutual.
Re:huh?
ziggy on 2002-06-24T14:26:16
It just seems odd to me that (1) selling stuff on eBay has become a full-time job (2) to a significant number of people (3) that eBay wants to actively encourage. Health insurance is just the latest link (and most interesting wrinkle) in that chain.I remember the good ol' eBay, the site where everyone could make money by snail-mailing kidneys and other accumulated cruft from the garage, attic and closet to the four corners of the earth.
:-) Re:huh?
jordan on 2002-06-24T14:47:07
- I remember the good ol' eBay, the site where everyone could make money by snail-mailing kidneys and other accumulated cruft from the garage, attic and closet to the four corners of the earth.
:-)
And you still can. What's stopping you? In fact, you have an advantage over these power sellers in that you already have Health Insurance, I would guess, so you don't have that additional overhead to pay for when you go to sell on eBay.
I think professional sellers on eBay is a really good thing. I usually find that I get better service from professionals, when they are available. OTOH, the small, unprofessional, seller has small overheads and you can often get good deals there, too.
Re:huh?
lachoy on 2002-06-24T15:13:07
I guess I have a different perspective on it, since my wife's aunt and uncle do most of their business on ebay. They're antique (and etc.) dealers, and ebay has been a huge boon to them. Having just looked them up, they seem to qualify as "power sellers", and being able to get cheaper insurance would be helpful. (Assuming that this insurance would be cheaper, that is.)Re:huh?
ziggy on 2002-06-24T15:25:29
Hrm. Guess I'm just feeling a little more hypocritical than usual today.I've never had a problem with brick-and-mortar stores turning to the web as a way to increase sales and turnover. There was a used bookstore I used to frequent, and they would have been out of business had it not been for Amazon.com (and ABEBooks, and eBay, and
...) making more used book sales than would have been possible for a little shop. That's what the web is *supposed* to be about. OTOH, that's not the typical image I have in mind when someone says "eBay Power Seller". That term conjures up the image of a raw arbitrageur: someone who buys any kind of random cheap stuff in bulk only to turn it around for a profit on eBay. Booksellers and antique dealers don't fall into that stereotype (they buy books and antiques, respectively).
Maybe it's time for me to pull out the great Randall vs. Dante debate: Does title dictate behavior?
