It's worth considering too that most - perhaps all? - of the large retailers on eBay have their own websites from which they sell. Sometimes the prices on those websites will be better than the prices on eBay; I can think of one recent example.
Not only that, but often phoning the retailers gives an excellent result when it comes to items that are listed on their sites as "out of stock" or "limited stock - phone to enquire". I have experienced that recently as well; more Tojiro knives from P's of K!
The only reason why I sometimes buy through eBay when it comes to items stocked by a large retailer is in order to take advantage of a good discount offered by eBay. If eBay can afford to keep on subsidising the larger retailers, all well and good; buyers like me will sometimes buy through eBay even though fewer and fewer sellers are here offering rare and wonderful things, or hard-to-find things, etc. But can eBay keep on doing that?
Moreover, what's happening with buyers' online buying habits? As we see increasingly that retailers are joining the online marketplace with their own online sites through which buyers can purchase, are we going to see a swing towards buyers buying directly from sellers? Particularly if we see things such as reward points, or free postage if buying directly from the sellers' sites, or other incentives?
Is it possible that some larger retailers are using eBay for the meantime as an advertising platform in a way? The eBay customer base would become aware of a particular seller, and perhaps end up buying directly from the seller, and thus eBay can be discarded like a spent match?
It could be something that eBay's management/executives/director are not considering... that eBay could well need a core of sellers who don't have the traffic of the larger sellers and who need eBay far more than the larger sellers need eBay.
But I agree that sellers who need eBay as their business model stands at present are vulnerable, and should be putting alternatives and backup plans into place just in case their eBay sales and eBay situation become untenable. There's such an imbalance of power between eBay sellers and eBay itself; it makes for a frightening vulnerability and an uncertainty about sustainability and growth and future directions.
