The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Want A Front Row Seat To Watch a Train Wreck?

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
I am calling it early. Buy.com will be dead by 2014. You heard it here first, folks.

Here are my two facts that lead to this conclusion.

1. Their answer to their crappy sales? Start charging their marketplace vendors quarterly subscription fees in addition to their sales commissions. Not fix their crappy sales --- charge their vendors to compensate for their crappy sales. Um...pass.

but 10x more importantly than that, they are

2. Dropping the Buy.com name and address. What could they have gone to that is more significant, impactful, and screams retail more than the domain name Buy.com, you ask?

Rakuten.com.

Ahahahahahaha.

a$$ clowns. Probably MBA's. 2014. Write it in pen. This once high flying company will be in the retail grave yard by 2014.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Tommy92l

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
74%
Aug 20, 2012
658
484
32
Is there anyway to profit from this ?
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
To AgonI's point, eventually there will be a liquidation event. The buy.com domain name has serious equity, but that will probably be lost in the (eventual) bankruptcy to the largest debtor(s). However, when retailers start their death spiral, there will be inventory sold below cost for a while to try and meet finance demands.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

nzerinto

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
91%
Aug 1, 2012
454
411
Toronto, Canada
2. Dropping the Buy.com name and address. What could they have gone to that is more significant, impactful, and screams retail more than the domain name Buy.com, you ask?

Rakuten.com.

Seems quite a number of Japanese companies buying out major US firms recently....ie Softbank's purchase of Sprint is another example.
But you are right - not seeing the sense in this particular rebranding....
 

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ
I'm surprised they waited this long to change the name. They bought them in 2010 ($250M). The article I read said the change of name is because they believe it is necessary "to establish the Japanese brand internationally". Hmmm... now are the getting rid of the buy.com name completely (selling it) or are they going to automatically forward to the new domain name. Nevertheless, it doesn't yet make sense.
 

oddball

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
58%
Mar 8, 2011
715
417
Austin, TX
Buy.com had an 8.07% growth rate in 2011, selling about $805 million. Not sure about 2012 numbers but they seem strong still.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ
(Rakuten has purchased some of the largest online retailers around the world in recent years).

I'm curious about this so I'll look into some more but I wonder have any of them been as large as buy.com and did they also change the name of those?
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
Actually, both the CEO and COO are attorneys.

Sigh. Here we go again.

Actually,

Chairman and CEO
Hiroshi Mikitani
Mr. Mikitani received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Director and Vice President Executive Officer
Atsushi Kunishige
Mr. Kunishige received his MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

CFO
Ken Takayama
Mr. Takayama holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Senior Executive Officer and Director
Kazunori Takeda
Mr. Takeda holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Senior Executive Officer and Director
Yoshihisa Yamada
Mr. Yamada holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Your Wikipedia search caused me to do three minutes worth of research to correct you that I will never get back.
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
I'm sure they will redirect the buy.com traffic to their new domain name, but the buy.com name will be mothballed.

Someone missed the fact that Americans would rather buy from buy.com than from a Japanese company that wants their Japanese brand to become important in the United States.

Buy.com was all about the domain name. Aside from that, their site isn't that great. Never has been. They just won the race to the domain registrar.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Kak

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
492%
Jan 23, 2011
9,679
47,669
34
Texas
They sure pissed away hundreds of millions in brand building over the years just to change the name to rabguptartfi.com
 

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ
Someone missed the fact that Americans would rather buy from buy.com than from a Japanese company that wants their Japanese brand to become important in the United States.

Buy.com was all about the domain name. Aside from that, their site isn't that great. Never has been. They just won the race to the domain registrar.

I've never been impressed with buy.com. Never bought anything from them.
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
They sure pissed away hundreds of millions in brand building over the years just to change the name to rabguptartfi.com


Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Lol true
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

theag

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
297%
Jan 19, 2012
3,903
11,580
Someone missed the fact that Americans would rather buy from buy.com than from a Japanese company that wants their Japanese brand to become important in the United States.

This. I mean, seriously, how can you make a decision like that? I'm not living in the U.S. so I never used or even thought about using buy.com, but from what I read here, in other articles, etc, they had it hard enough before this decision (competition vs amazon mainly). Really stupid.

We actually had a similar situation in Germany a few years ago where Rakuten bought a German company similar to buy.com and shortly after changed the name to rakuten.de. I don't remember the name of the company or how it all turned out, but will check it and report back.

Edit: It was called tradoria before so they didn't kill so much domain equity as with buy.com. They also renamed quickly after the takeover. Don't have time to research how the business developed compared to before the takeover, but I guess in the german case it actually improved.

Here's a infographic that kinda describes their philosophy pretty good:

ds_rakuten.jpg
 

SeanKelly

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
63%
Aug 8, 2012
607
385
30
This. I mean, seriously, how can you make a decision like that? I'm not living in the U.S. so I never used or even thought about using buy.com, but from what I read here, in other articles, etc, they had it hard enough before this decision (competition vs amazon mainly). Really stupid.

We actually had a similar situation in Germany a few years ago where Rakuten bought a German company similar to buy.com and shortly after changed the name to rakuten.de. I don't remember the name of the company or how it all turned out, but will check it and report back.

Edit: It was called tradoria before so they didn't kill so much domain equity as with buy.com. They also renamed quickly after the takeover. Don't have time to research how the business developed compared to before the takeover, but I guess in the german case it actually improved.

Here's a infographic that kinda describes their philosophy pretty good:

View attachment 4495

This may prove to be an ignorant statement, but I'm not sure I'd like to empower Japan.
 

Kak

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
492%
Jan 23, 2011
9,679
47,669
34
Texas
Why the protectionist views? I guarantee that you own many things made in Japan. I am going to buy the best product for my money. Asian countries make better cars than the US for example. Why would I buy a Chevy when I can get a Toyota or Nissan?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
Asian countries make better cars than the US for example.

Finally, you and I have something to spar about. The mere fact that they make things cheaper does not mean that they make things better.
 

theag

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
297%
Jan 19, 2012
3,903
11,580
Why the protectionist views? I guarantee that you own many things made in Japan. I am going to buy the best product for my money. Asian countries make better cars than the US for example. Why would I buy a Chevy when I can get a Toyota or Nissan?

That has nothing to do with throwing away the buy.com brand..
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

SeanKelly

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
63%
Aug 8, 2012
607
385
30
Finally, you and I have something to spar about. The mere fact that they make things cheaper does not mean that they make things better.

I agree 100%. Even if they're products and innovations were truly better than that of the United States, I would support my country to my best ability in order to be better than them.
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
I don't get off on your hobby of getting in pissing matches on message boards.

Go engage someone that gives a shit about anything you have to say. I'm not one of them.
 

Kak

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
492%
Jan 23, 2011
9,679
47,669
34
Texas
Translation: I'm happy to talk big, but not willing to actually back up my ridiculous statements with anything of value.

Got it. Thanks for confirming.

Now you can feel free to go back to bashing the branding decisions of guys who built a $13B company...sheesh...

LOL, I think Vig is doing just fine.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,083
169,531
Utah
Translation: I'm happy to talk big, but not willing to actually back up my ridiculous statements with anything of value.

Got it. Thanks for confirming.

Now you can feel free to go back to bashing the branding decisions of guys who built a $13B company...sheesh...

Jason... I'm sorry bro, but your shit is getting old and frankly, I've had it.

Seriously, I don't give a shit how much "value" and great advice you bring to the real estate forum, or this forum. The problem with the value you deliver is it's constantly spiked with arsenic and shrouded in a "holier than thou attitude."

It's clear you've NEVER been wrong in your entire life. I'm sick of having to read it in my house.

Pretty much every thread outside of the RE board you comment in devolves into some internet war -- its obvious this forum is not for you. It's obvious you feel "Fastlane" is pretty much bunko BS. That's cool, not everyone agrees with the philosophy.

As far as I'm concerned, your 9 lives are up.

If you plan on being around here when you're eBook is made available for sale you might want to keep your incendiary comments to yourself and stay in the real estate forum... if you're still around by then, I'm sure many people will find your book valuable based on the solid advice you contribute on that board...

However I'm going to say this one time: If I have to kill another thread because you choose to play "internet hard a$$ that's never been wrong", you're done.

Thank you.
 

1PercentStreet

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
May 16, 2012
705
706
Vegas
Boy-That-Escalated-Quickly-Anchorman.gif
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Mike39

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Mar 17, 2012
1,496
1,496
Orlando, FL
Jason... I'm sorry bro, but your shit is getting old and frankly, I've had it.

Seriously, I don't give a shit how much "value" and great advice you bring to the real estate forum, or this forum. The problem with the value you deliver is it's constantly spiked with arsenic and shrouded in a "holier than thou attitude."

It's clear you've NEVER been wrong in your entire life. I'm sick of having to read it in my house.

Pretty much every thread outside of the RE board you comment in devolves into some internet war -- its obvious this forum is not for you. It's obvious you feel "Fastlane" is pretty much bunko BS. That's cool, not everyone agrees with the philosophy.

As far as I'm concerned, your 9 lives are up.

If you plan on being around here when you're eBook is made available for sale you might want to keep your incendiary comments to yourself and stay in the real estate forum... if you're still around by then, I'm sure many people will find your book valuable based on the solid advice you contribute on that board...

However I'm going to say this one time: If I have to kill another thread because you choose to play "internet hard a$$ that's never been wrong", you're done.

Thank you.


Translation:

NXV1u.gif
 

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ

andviv

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
40%
Jul 27, 2007
5,361
2,143
Washington DC
1. Their answer to their crappy sales? Start charging their marketplace vendors quarterly subscription fees in addition to their sales commissions. Not fix their crappy sales --- charge their vendors to compensate for their crappy sales. Um...pass.
Instead of focusing on the domain name issue, I rather focus on this aspect...

I wonder what makes them believe they can charge a subscription fee on top of their commission. It's akin to increase the rents to a shopping mall when less foot traffic is coming in.

Are they trying to get rid of smaller vendors and focusing on the bigger companies? Will this fee have a negative impact similar to what ebay suffered when they raised their fees to the sellers?
 

AllenCrawley

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
420%
Oct 13, 2011
4,112
17,270
52
Scottsdale, AZ
Instead of focusing on the domain name issue, I rather focus on this aspect...

I wonder what makes them believe they can charge a subscription fee on top of their commission. It's akin to increase the rents to a shopping mall when less foot traffic is coming in.

Are they trying to get rid of smaller vendors and focusing on the bigger companies? Will this fee have a negative impact similar to what ebay suffered when they raised their fees to the selle

Thank you. I meant to focus on this issue as well but got side tracked. I like your analogy of the shopping mall increasing rent with less foot traffic. It certainly doesn't make sense does it? I wonder if this is something they do with all of the sites they buy and not much thought goes into whether it will hurt more than help.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top