[Gary]

This notice has appeared on the Hornby Model-Auctions website:-

QUOTE Public Notice:
Please note that the Model-auctions website will close on the 1st August 2006.

This site will be re-developed with the new Hornby and Scalextric sites that will be re-launched at a later date.

If you have any queries or concerns please contact us at [email protected]

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[neil_s_wood]

It's hardly a surprise really. They were never going to compete with EBay.

 

[Gary]

They did not compete with Ebay.

Their fee structure was virtually the same making the site uncompetitive relative to the limited services and protection offered when compared to Ebay. The only way it will take off in the future is if all listing fees are free for the first 12 months. This would enourage sellers to list and experimemt and buyers to visit thus building up a membership base. Fees (they would have to be significantly lower than Ebay) could then gradually be phased in once sellers see that it is working.

Google are going to launch Gbay very shortly.

I wonder if we will see litigation between the two giants over the use of "Gbay".

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Google are going to launch Gbay very shortly.

I wonder if we will see litigation between the two giants over the use of "Gbay".

Are they really going to call it that?

That is asking for litigation.

 

[Gary]

That is definitely the google plan.

They are also launching a "Gpal" payment service.

Do a google search (appropriate) and see what comes up.

Bearing in mind that model railways are one of the top 10 collectable sales areas on Ebay then it would seem unlikely that Gbay would ignore railway modellers.

Happy modelling
Gary

PS It appears that google have registered that a word with a "G" in front of it is a google trademark. Now should I begin litigation proceedings?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE That is definitely the google plan.

They are also launching a "Gpal" payment service

I suppose the Dan Brown case established a precedent in that now it's ok to plagiarise other peoples ideas.

 

[Dennis David]

QUOTE I begin litigation proceedings?
Only if you have kids named Gboy or Ggirl ...

 

[dwb]

How are all our friends in Oz going to greet each other if Google have got G'Day trademarked too?

David

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (dwb @ 14 Jul 2006, 03:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>How are all our friends in Oz going to greet each other if Google have got G'Day trademarked too?

David
It's already trademarked by Australia, Google would get sued and they would lose. B)

Australia has evidence of copyright and ownership going back decades. Watch any Crocodile Dundee film for evidence.

 

[Gwent rail]

With such an attempt to be all things to all men, it seems that Google are confusing themselves with God, or have they got that copyrighted too?
In reality, if they sued for all minor infringements the biggest division of Google would be the legal department. How can such a farcical situation be legal? Major blame must lie with the government department responsible for allowing such a badly framed law onto the statute book.

Nothing new there then!

 

[60134]

Is that God or G'od? Don't tell me they've got the Big Fella involved as well!

60134

 

[bangerblueed]

I think google are wasting their time and resources ebay is too well established and popular no new site offering the same service is going to attract enough of ebays trade to become profitable

 

[Dennis David]

They said the same thing about search engines before Google took that segment over.

Oh and tell that to eBay in Korea who are getting their lunch handed to them by an upstart called Gmarket (No relation with Google) after once dominating the market.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE They said the same thing about search engines before Google took that segment over.

Thats true. I didn't think there was gap in the market for another one at the time and now they dominate.

 

[Don]

QUOTE (bangerblueed @ 14 Jul 2006, 22:13) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think google are wasting their time and resources ebay is too well established and popular no new site offering the same service is going to attract enough of ebays trade to become profitable

I think Ebay's fees have become excessive and as for PayPal, theirs are outrageous, especially their currency conversion rates, have you tried buying from overseas on Ebay? I reckon there's plenty of room for GBay to enter the market with very low (or no) listing fees and GPal to offer much lower fees for small transactions, and still make big profits. I would change over straight away and some competition would be good for all of us.

 

[spongebob]

I wonder if google would stop the ebay crap coming up on their searches, after all it would be effectively promoting the competition. There are many small auction sites that have gone the same way as the hornby effort through lack of sellers and buyers so maybe it is time someone with the worldwide reputation of google tried to offer something to compete.
Ebay has got greedy with its fees and you now effectively pay three times for selling things if you use paypal. The idea of making enough through ebay to move up to the lower percentage thresholds for many is a joke.
It has a faceless presence and contact is usually through automated replies( no phone numbers or customer services lines but then again no customers as such) and has a bit of a bad name for scams and fraudulent activity which it somewhat arrogantly insists is none of its business.
I signed up for the hornby site but never found anything worth purchasing and very infrequently looked on after the first few weeks.

 

[neil_s_wood]

A few good points there. When I have had a bum deal through EBay and wanted to get it sorted, I lookd through their greivance procedure and it's al just bu

it really. In effect you will get a tiny percentage of your loss if you persist for months. PayPal is just as crap with it's useless safe purchase stuff.

I reckon Google would have to cut the adds for EBay which come up on every search.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 16 Jul 2006, 01:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A few good points there. When I have had a bum deal through EBay and wanted to get it sorted, I lookd through their greivance procedure and it's al just bu

it really. In effect you will get a tiny percentage of your loss if you persist for months. PayPal is just as crap with it's useless safe purchase stuff.

I reckon Google would have to cut the adds for EBay which come up on every search.

I used to get p***** off with eBay overload when doing searches - easy solution - just enter <ebay> in the "not including these words" box & far less ebay !

Brian

 

[Dennis David]

I use eBay to buy and sell items and though I don't care for their laissez faire attitude when it comes to fraudulent activity I still think it's the best way to sell smaller priced items. Just compare their prices to real auction houses if you want to complain about commisions. As far as PayPal, compare their pricing to Western Union or similiar types of operations.

It's popular because it's convenient.