eBay’s model over the past 13 years is an iconic masterpiece of businesses based on the Web. The auction model took millions of people’s interest, and it became the online shopping experience.

But things have changed since those days. It is harder to get that bargain, the place is crowded, and the effort and cost involved for sellers (and if things go wrong, buyers too) begins to make the benefits of the idea negligible.

Ebay / Paypal have continued to rise prices, and scams become common place. The difference in stress between a one-click buy on Amazon, and a 3 week “am I even going to receive it” gamble on eBay, is palatable. Ebay knows this, and that’s why they have incorporated more and more “buy it now”, and shop features. In other words, they created space for normal online stores, but mixed in with the messy auction system.

I think this is where the mistakes reside. They noticed the problem – good. But what they should have done was create these shops and fixed-price outlets away and separate from the auctions many have grown to loath. Leave eBay.com/.co.uk/.tld-of-your-choice to the auctions, and focus the stores on a different domain. I know why they didn’t do this in the first place – the eBay brand was too important, but they could have incorporated the world eBay in to this new property if they so desired.

Separating the two entities provides clarity for the visitor – one of the most important aspects of running a business online. If a visitor goes to ebay.com, they want to have a set of expectations and leave their decision-making on autopilot. They don’t want to be continuously analysing whether something is an auction, or a fixed-price item. The separation clears this decision making, and buying from either site feels more comfortable.

In the title of this post I say “compete with yourself”. In other words, if you need to diversify from your business model, to the extent eBay has, set up another site, company, whatever, and do that model there, keeping the existing one that is still making money. Don’t feck around with an audience that likes things how they are, but provide a different space for people begging for the new model.

Ebay would be so much better off if they had done this, I am sure of it.

Acer have been running an advert for their Aspire One netbook on UK television of late, in prime time slots to boot. Though these ads do little for Acer’s reputation, showing a fundamental and complete lack of understanding of the market in this country.

For those unfamiliar with the UK retail market specifically, there is a more cynical view taken to advertising from consumers. We want to know the facts, the benefits, and the cost. A little humor (or a lot, sometimes) can go a long way - but with one condition. It has to be British humor.

The Acer advert includes a very Americanised sketch featuring two women with half of Debenhams on their faces (not concealing much elsewhere, either). One brags about her new Aspire One, and the equally cheesy waitor pipes in with his approvement. The overriding sense of the ad is cheesy - and the British viewing public generally only like cheese when it is ironic and self-deprecating humor.

This isn’t the first time a company has tried to enter the UK market without first adapting its techniques to a differing culture. Apple’s iPhone originally cost £200, plus the rolling monthly costs of a contract. As a nation we are used to getting the handset free, and thus the uptake of the iPhone was limited to those that kept tabs on US tech until the recent change in price structure.

I embed the advert below, though I apologise for the quality (and sound - turn it up!), as it was the only copy I could source. I would probably be interested in an Aspire One, but this advert has actually given me a negative feeling about it, without me even seeing one before. I’m sure their aim was to give you a positive feeling about the product, without even seeing one before, but I am afraid Acer fail here hands down.

I’ve said many times that the relationship between vendor and customer is almost unidentifiable from that of a personal friendship, or even relationship (if you’re an Apple customer). That is why one of the biggest mistakes I personally see companies make time after time is building up a false image of themselves as caring and sharing, and their actions then going totally against this philosophy.

Twitter did it recently.

Telling your customers that you love them, and then proving that you lied, is worse than not telling them anything in the first place. And, in this context, “telling your customers” can be something like using cosy language (”We be IBM. Who you be? :-)”) or it can be a blog post where the CEO is dreaming of you.

My main point: Don’t pretend to be hip, cool, with it, or new media, if you are just doing it for appearances. You will be caught out. And it will be the death of any PR strategy you have or will have.