Ebay comes to Malaysia

It has just come to my attention that Ebay will be starting up in Malaysia. The news article that was published by Star Online can be found here . While this is a step forward for Malaysians to be recognized on the global level, I do questions whether the whole idea will really take off locally. Here are the reasons why Ebay will be a flop in Malaysia....

1.FEAR OF ONLINE TRANSACTIONS:
Only a handful of brave souls actually use the internet to make monetary transactions in Malaysia. No one really trusts the security of computers at home. Malaysians still want to "try before buying".

2.SLOW CONNECTION SPEEDS:
On Ebay, it really helps to have a fast connection speed especially if you want to be a sniper (someone who undercuts the highest bidder at the last second). Because bids are time sensitive, your data transfer rate is critical and a 56k modem just wont cut it.

3.NO RELIABLE ONLINE PAYMENT SERVICES:
Here in the USA we have Paypal, which makes transactions quick and easy. People can pay with their credit cards or their bank accounts directly and have their items shipped the very same day. Paypal doesnt offer its services in Malaysia because of rampant credit card frauds. Maybank offers some kind of service similar to this, but not everyone uses Maybank.

4.HORRIBLE SHIPPING SERVICES:
With Poslaju's incompetence, it will be a real gamble when it comes to shipping products. There's always FedEx and DHL, but their fees will probably cost more than the item you're purchasing.

5.RAMPANT SCAMMING:
Every single day, Ebay is faced with reports of scammers and conmen. Chances are, they're going to be a whole lot more of that going in Malaysia. It's not so bad because the legal services and law enforcement agencies in the USA are pretty good. But in Malaysia, dont ever hope to get your money back.

6.ASIAN KIASU MENTALITY:
Listing items on Ebay isnt free. There's a listing fee, then there's a cut off the final selling price. Asians love free stuff, and a simple thing such as a sellers fee is enough to turn many away.

7.LACK OF VOLUME:
Ebay's huge success comes from the number of people using it to either buy or list their items. In Malaysia, not every household has internet access. From that number think about the number of people who will actually use Ebay to buy stuff (after considering the factors above). Ebay Malaysia will run at a loss.