Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

I remember listening to a few business owners sometime ago about using Skype to provide long distance customer service for clients. Though I never used it, I advised against it due to my research on Skype. So if you used Skype for business purposes, I would like to know your insights.
Also, it seems Ebay could not monetize Skype and sold it for less than what Ebay paid for. Seems they were taking business advice from Yahoo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/technology/companies/05nocera.html

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Quick context and outcome: eBay bought Skype in 2005 as a strategic play to add real‑time communications to its commerce stack. (sec.gov) eBay later divested a majority stake to an investor group in 2009 (the deal valued Skype at about $2.75B; eBay received roughly $1.9B cash). (investors.ebayinc.com) Microsoft then acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5B. (news.microsoft.com)

Why monetization proved difficult: Skype’s core product was free peer‑to‑peer calling, so only a small fraction of users ever paid. Public filings from around the IPO period show paying customers were a tiny slice of the base and most net revenue came from calls to the regular phone network (SkypeOut), not broad consumer monetization. (sec.gov) That business model makes turning a mass, free communication network into a reliably profitable commerce engine hard unless you add clear, paid value that customers are willing to buy.

Operational reality for business use: several members here (notably and ) highlight real, practical tradeoffs. Skype’s original P2P design uses supernodes and relay hosts, which can affect bandwidth, NAT behavior, and call routing — a useful explanation is in Skype’s network documentation. (manualzilla.com) For customer‑facing phone support, that means testing quality on target networks, preferring wired connections and QoS where possible, and keeping PSTN backup routes or an enterprise telephony fallback.

If the goal is to monetize a communications asset today, the pragmatic paths are to (a) productize reliability and integrations for businesses (SLA, CRM hooks, call recording), (b) offer PSTN bridging/phone numbers as paid services, or (c) sell verticalized workflows (telehealth, expert consultations, marketplaces) where the platform captures transaction or convenience fees. For single businesses using Skype for support, it can work well as a low‑cost tool; for building a scalable, revenue‑driven communications business, control over routing, APIs, SLAs and a clear paid feature set are required.

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Member Avatar for MktgRob

Trying to monetize something like Skype is the ultimate challenge and act of futility. Why would you try unless you are a glutton for punishment?

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

I personally never saw the use for Skype but I do remember some business owners who had international clients said they either wanted to use or used Skype to interact with those international clients. With the complaints I have heard about Skype, I would not want to interrupt a business call. That is just me.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

I personally never saw the use for Skype but I do remember some business owners who had international clients said they either wanted to use or used Skype to interact with those international clients. With the complaints I have heard about Skype, I would not want to interrupt a business call. That is just me.

With a few exceptions, it is not hard to get a decent connection for an overseas call so I think the business argument for Skype was never there.

Member Avatar for smrty

Really?

I use it all the time, outsource work
manage at least 5 workers on it
hold meetings
do demo's
talk to clients

I find it very useful and have used it almost daily for a couple of years.

I can't understand why ebay didn't integrate it right into the auctions, let people use it for customer service and questions ... but anyway ... ya, monitizing it is another issue, I've done all of the above for about $40 in skype out credits (which I probably still have $12 of)

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Thanks SMRTY for sharing that business testimonial. I knew Skype was used for more than just friendly conversations. Overall, Skype is not the only acquisition in which Yahoo could not monetize.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Really?

I use it all the time, outsource work
manage at least 5 workers on it
hold meetings
do demo's
talk to clients

I find it very useful and have used it almost daily for a couple of years.

I can't understand why ebay didn't integrate it right into the auctions, let people use it for customer service and questions ... but anyway ... ya, monitizing it is another issue, I've done all of the above for about $40 in skype out credits (which I probably still have $12 of)

Smrty, I think you are one of the exceptions rather than the rule. More power to you as it works for you!

Member Avatar for MktgRob

According to Mashable, the founders/creators of Skype are suing eBay for a massive amount over a technology issues. I bet ebay is regretting the whole Skype adventure big time.

Member Avatar for tiger86

What very few people fail to realize when they use Skype is that it is using a small portion of your bandwidth to make Skype well Skype. Each user contributes a small portion of their bandwidth while they're online which can be disastrous if you don't have that much bandwidth to begin with in the first place.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

What very few people fail to realize when they use Skype is that it is using a small portion of your bandwidth to make Skype well Skype. Each user contributes a small portion of their bandwidth while they're online which can be disastrous if you don't have that much bandwidth to begin with in the first place.

Excellent point. As a non-user of Skype I was not aware of that but it is something I will keep in mind when talking to my clients who ask. Thanks.

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