Really Why I Hate eBay

From: Gary Oliver <go_at_ao.com>
Date: Wed May 10 13:39:11 2000

At 10:11 5/10/00 -0700, Sellam wrote:

>Well, upon thinking about it some more it finally struck me why I really
>hate eBay.
><snip>

>After eBay came it along, anybody with a little money (or rather a
>considerable amount of money in most cases) could amass a collection to
>perhaps rival mine without any of the hard work: without the journey.

I can see your point. However, you apparently believe that those of
us who do use eBay must buy things with money that was handed to us
on a platter. I *do* work hard for the things I buy - just not in
the same sense as you. I work long hours and long weeks as a proprietor
of a small computer software/hardware company. As a "working stiff"
much of my time is taken up keeping customers satisfied, or doing
installations or thousand other things.

Money is simply a unit of "stored work." (Admittedly some folks are
able to store more "work" than me... Some seem to store it without
actually *doing* much "work" - but I digress.)

>I guess it's typical human resentment. I resent the fact that my hard
>work could be equaled by a large number of dollars. I feel that a
>collection that can be bought so easily can not really be a collection in
>the sense that mine is, but something else entirely.

For me "hard work" *IS* equated to a (unfortunately seldom large) number
of dollars. But for me, "free time" (available for lengthy journeys
and digging in dumpsters, etc.) is less available than my "stored work."
Don't get me wrong: if I had my choice, I'd *always* be out digging in
the pits or going to garage sales, flea markets, auctions, etc. In fact,
most of my (ahem) collection is obtained that way. From the SOL I
rescued from a dumpster to the PDP-8/E that I picked up at a local auction
(and later donated to someone who could better utilize it) it's almost all
been obtained that way. But demands of the job (self imposed though they
may be) simply make it very difficult for me to wander around sniffing for
goodies. I *love* to but I just can't do it as much as I used to. I *do*
resent not being able to use "direct manual labor" to achieve my goals.
So instead, I "store work" and use it later - sometimes on eBay.

So we *really* don't disagree in substance - just details.

-Gary
Received on Wed May 10 2000 - 13:39:11 BST