A friend of mine is a seller on these sites and through him I got to know some of the tricks of trade being employed in this. As consumers it is great to buy stuff at a heavily discounted price, right now. For big moneybags are discounting our purchases so that we may form a habit of it. But is this something which will benefit us in the long run? Not just the exchequer, but also the small and medium scale retail are being wiped out in the process. As for those who ARE selling via these site, they are doing the dog work of handholding new customers, getting them to use the site, providing the players valuable data on which products sell and which product has the best margins, relationship manage and a lot more. All for free. Somewhere down the line, those who survive will fight over crumbs. The big cake will be with the big players. Once monopoly or cartel positions are reached, we will be at the mercy of the price set by them. Shouldnt we as consumers be taking note of it right now?
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:35:44 +0000