Ebay Buys Megento… Good or Bad?
Yesterday it was announced that Ebay had purchase the Super Cool (Yet complex) Megento E-commerce software business. This news came out later and somehow I missed it at first and was told by a fellow developer. We here at Dreamsites have worked on many Ebay ProStores sites, as well as various Megento sites. (3+ in works now). My initial reaction was UGH, NO NOT EBAY! – After some reading not I am not intirely sure yet, but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any “funny” business that Ebay adds to Megento. That being said I hope they don’t mess with the business model, but use it’s resources to help advance the platform. Big business doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to making good things better. Remember Ebay buying Skype?
Why I don’t think this is good for Megento:
- Ebay’s Business Model is Making Money off Percentages, Not Software. This means those decieving “final value fees” from Pro Stores and Ebay could come when Megento is updated down the road.
- Ebay’s ProStores is great at connecting Ebay Store Owners to Ebay… but sucks in the template management department. Upgrading an custom templated site is a mess.
- My gut tells me that Ebay will change the overall model of how Megento gets customers in the future.
- Just attaching the Ebay brand may not be good for Megento… Store owners who have left Ebay in the past as it changed it’s fees around
Why I think it could be good for Web Development Firms…
- Some clients may see this as a validation the Megento is now mainstream and be more willing to spend the money to use Megento over some other platform.
- Maybe clients who were thinking or are using Pro Stores will now want to switch over to Megento.
I would love to hear your opinion… what do you think?