eBay Matchups, the fun but pointless “which is better” game, has been removed from the eBay site. It was launched in November 2006, apparently the after-hours brainchild of a couple of eBay employees. Matchups had its finest hour when blogger and eBay forum regular Fruit Helmet Cat beat then-CEO Meg Whitman hands down:
More important is what this says about eBay’s future. The holding page says that Matchups has gone “due to changing business climates”. Fun-but-pointless used to be a characteristic of eBay: think of the words of the song, the rare mint snow globe and the Smurf TV tray, things you might want, but certainly didn’t need, one person’s rubbish that became another person’s treasure. eBay has moved beyond that: its about big business now, which seems not to have room for pointless fun. Which is a shame.
7 Responses
😀 I miss my cat, used to be my sig on the PS board before I fell by the wayside 😆
if eBay becomes, less fun, that will be a shame, but I was a buyer (still am) long long before I was a seller and I had never even heard of matchups, until I started reading this blog. So I spose I won’t miss that particular ebay “quirk”
Got me singing the Weird Al song again though, simultaneously grinning from ear to ear, what a great song!
Is the market being knocked down to make way for the Supermarket?
Amazbay perhaps?
@ Mark: I think the market making way for the supermarket is inevitable, but it’ll be a shame if they don’t allow a few buskers outside and have an entertainer or two in the malls 😉
I think the professional focus is good, but like you say a street market outside the supermarket is probably a good idea…
I wonder though, are they justing using Amazon as a template or are they really try to push the envelope?
I would like to see them innovate and not copy…
Amazbay doesn’t really appeal.
I like Ebay..
The point raised by this blog post is quite succinct. I have always poo-pooed the idea that Ebay was either a fad, or destined to collapse or lose it’s substantial marketshare when the next wannabe opened the next great website. The direction Ebay is taking right now, and the intrusiveness into the business of it’s clients, though, makes me wonder whether the client base will indeed shift away. The “magic” is being removed, the “variety” of interesting and old stuff is being discouraged, and the intended shift is to being just another strip mall. I am not covinced that this is good for Ebay’s business, and I am certain that it is not healthy for my business.
Then again, Ebay doesn’t want to be recognisable in 12 months time. Shedding “old school” clientelle, and removing the fun is probably part of that process. I suspect it will be their loss, as well as mine.
Kevin
I agree with kevin
there just seems something more dangerous with how ebay are doing things at the moment