EBay Plans to Shut Down Half.com Unit (Whoa!)

Associated Press ^ | March 6, 2003

[Dont Mention the War]

Mar 6, 6:58 PM EST

EBay Plans to Shut Down Half.com Unit

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- EBay Inc. said Thursday it would shut down Half.com, its fixed-price subsidiary for used books, CDs, videos and other common household items, in late 2004.

Half.com founder Josh Kopelman also said he would leave the company's office in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., effective April 15.

The San Jose, Calif.-based online auction company purchased Half.com in a June 2000 stock swap. The acquisition of Half.com, which at the time listed about 1 million items and had about 250,000 registered users, significantly increased eBay's operating expenses for several quarters.

Founded in October 1999, Half.com sold previously owned products such as books, DVDs and board games for at least half the retail price. Sellers typed in a number corresponding to a bar code on most products, automatically providing them with the official list price.

The company gained fame in May 2000, when it persuaded politicians in tiny Halfway, Ore., to change the town's name to Half.com. Despite complaints from many residents who considered it a silly marketing gimmick, the city erected a sign that said, "Welcome to Half.com Oregon, America's first dot-com city."

Half.com's 65 employees in suburban Philadelphia may relocate to other eBay offices by the end of next year, or they will be eligible for severance packages, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said.

[Dont Mention the War]

Wow. I was under the impression Half.com was successful.

[blondee123]

My son has been saving a lot of money getting his college books there. Too bad, but I would imagine the books will be listed on Ebay after Half.com shuts down.

[weegee]

Going out of business sale! All merchandise must go!

Buy items for half of retail value!!!

This is series!

[Keith in Iowa]

>>This is series!

Yes, it is. I'll have to see if anyone has a moose, or some cheese to sell - but I can't do that until I've had my shower. All their half-off merchandise are belong to us - at even lower prices!

[dhuffman@awod.com]

That's not too surprising considering the concert between their business practices and your rhetoric.

[PackerBoy]

Good news. I hated their spam emails.

[guitfiddlist]

Ebay is getting greedy. They just plopped a 1% of Reserve price charge on all auctions with a Reserve price - a HUGE cost increase for those of us selling big-ticket items.

Time for Yahoo Auctions to step up - and provide some old-fashioned competition.

[_Jim]

I would imagine the books will be listed on Ebay after Half.com shuts down.

This *does* look more like a 'consolidation effort' than a simple 'shut-down' as the title implies ...

[KellyAdmirer]

Will Half.com Oregon now change its name to Ebay Oregon?

[lawgirl]

OH that SUCKS!!!!!!!! Half the time if I cant find it on Ebay, I can find it on half.com. Plus you can just BUY and not have to bid, which is SO aggravating. Ah well.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

How expensive can it be?

Run a database, send some emails...

BUT, they don't get paid until the item sells, unlike Ebay, and once you list it it STAYS there.

Yeah, I'd often read about items at Amazon, and then cruise over to half.com and buy them...

[weegee]

Krause publications has hobbyist newspapers for just about everything "collectible" with a publishing history of something like 30 years. I have run across many former dealers from these papers on eBay eventually (people I had ordered from for over 15-20 years).

If Krause started their own collectibles auction site (and maybe even hyped them in their weekly publications), they could take a sizeable chunk of eBay's sellers back.

I don't forsee this happening though because I believe that Krause published the "eBay Magazine" (I don't even know if that still exists).

There are plenty of dealers who dislike dealing with eBay but it gets the most traffic and is therefore still the best auction site.

[Dont Mention the War]

That's not too surprising considering the concert between their business practices and your rhetoric.

My "rhetoric?" A simple statement that I thought Half.com was successful is "rhetoric?" ROFL ... get a grip.

[Bitman]

This is series!

Could or would someone explain this to me... I have seen the same expression on a number of threads and I don't have any idea what it means...

[weegee]

It's a rib on the common (on the web at least) misuse of the word 'serious' (when someone means to type "this is serious").

I reserve my use for some lighter threads. That's not to say that I don't think this should have been posted to FR or even that this thread is "funny", I was just riffing on it because of some thoughts that ran through my mind.

[twigs]

I agree. Actually, I often go to Half.com and find what is currently selling on ebay for cheaper. If others do that as well, I wonder if that's part of their motive for shutting it down?

Try bookfinder.com. I can sometimes find good prices through it, although half.com is the best.

[twigs]

I'd often read about items at Amazon, and then cruise over to half.com and buy them...

I do the same. If I find something on half or ebay and am uncertain of quality, I read about it at Amazon first if a review is available. I buy enough from Amazon, too, so they're not losing anything!

[Poohbah]

Somebody, during one of our Orange Alerts, announced that something was "series."

He got teased a little, and he told us to stop the teasing, because the situation was "VEY SERIES!!!!!!" (Capitals and exclamation points in original.)

[ContemptofCourt]

Man, this sucks....every CD I have bought for the last few years has been from half.com....awesome prices, and no hagling.

[discostu]

There's usually a discount store near the university. In Tucson is Scholar's Dollars on Speedway (next to the Baskin Robins). When I did the school thing I bought from them and sold to the college bookstore (since their buyback price is based on what THEY would charge), actually turned a tidy profit one semester though most of the time it was break even. let your fingers do the walking you'll probably find one.