Ironically, I thought eBay is still available for consumers in Chinese market. However, referring to Jingyi Huang’s blog which article is called “Cultural difference is a main task for a company to enter a new market”. And actually, I agree with her opinion that entering a new market needs to do more search activities, because the backgrounds and environment are different in every markets.
As a Chinese, indeed bargaining is a cultural habits in transactions, but it is not true that on eBay, buyers cannot communicate with sellers to get a cheaper price.
In my opinion, the reason for not having a successful business in China for eBay is due to the quality and price. The items on eBay seem like out of fashion and second-hand which cannot attractive the customers’ segments, who are mostly in the age of 20s. Moreover, the price are much higher than other e-commerce sites. Is there any one who is willing to pay more to get products which price do not meet the quality?
The other reason for less competitive of eBay is charging sellers when they sell products so that there are fewer sellers or suppliers, causing fewer products.
In conclusion, sometimes the cultural differences is not a key factor. There are other factors that we should take into considerations such as consumers willingness.