Slammed from all sides, eBay rethinks direction

Slammed from all sides, eBay rethinks direction : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech: "You'd think a recession would be a gold mine for the world's biggest dealer of used, cheap, and semi-functional junk, but it seems that even eBay, one of the stalwarts of the Internet economy and a heralded survivor of the early-2000s dot-com bust, is mortal after all.

Facing a sobering reality that traffic and revenue is on the decline (revenue fell 16 percent in the fourth quarter for eBay's 'marketplace' business), the company is trying to figure out where it goes from here. Since taking over from Meg Whitman, CEO John Donahoe has been banging the drum, trying to convince the world that eBay is no longer the world's flea market and has toes in all manner of industries -- including Paypal and Skype -- but none of that rhetoric has stuck. Now, eBay is finally admitting that some of its more recent endeavors just haven't panned out, and the company is now planning to refocus on what it's always been known for best: The 'secondary market [that] includes the used and vintage goods that the company is already known for selling, as well as clearance and out-of-season items.'

In other words: Online flea market it is!"