Like many companies of the past, these will also peak at some point only to spiral out of control until management realizes there has to be a ceiling on profits. You can only continue to pass cost along to your customers for so long before you run out of customers. I've seen this first hand in the elevator trade. Working for a global company, I've seen the changes over the past 14 years. We've always been profitable, but it's never been enough. As we continue to pass along price increases to our customer, some have to question whether they can continue to afford having a contract with one of the big three companies that rule the elevator world. Sure for a salesman it's always an easy sales pitch, telling customers about our 24 hr support and million dollar parts inventory on hand at any given time, but to some customers, they simply cannot afford it anymore and have been forced by us to seek out smaller, less supportive companies.

eBay and Amazon are in business to make money, but is there a ceiling in their company? Probably not like most cooperate driven companies. They will continue to push and push as they pass along increase after increase to their customers. At some point, smaller customers like Nitrosports have to question the profitability of doing business with a company like this. I was in the same position about two years ago peddling parts on eBay. I understood completely that there was not much profit to be made on small parts but just assumed if I could get a little volume moving that it would be worth it to eventually make $200-$300 a month to help support the RC addiction. I found out early on like Nitrosports that the only one who would be making any money would be Paypal and EBay.

You would imagine that there are some people in upper management that realize these things and monitor it, but obviously we are the few because I can promise that if their sales numbers aren't increasing, changes will be made.