eBay vrs42?

From: Vintage Computer Festival <vcf_at_siconic.com>
Date: Sat Feb 12 03:17:36 2005

On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, vrs wrote:

> From: "woodelf" <bfranchuk_at_jetnet.ab.ca>
> > Jim Battle wrote:
> > > Likewise, colluding with other prospective bidders to artificially
> > > lower the selling price of an item is depriving the seller of rightful
> > > revenue.
> >
> > Well I view it this way, as long as other people have a fair chance to
> > bid I don't see this
> > as unethical.
>
> If the only other people involved were bidders, I'd agree. But the seller
> and eBay are also stakeholders.

They are entitled to nothing.

> I think it is important to treat sellers of classic equipment well -- we
> want there to be more of them, not less.

So we should now all feel pity for the sellers and require everyone to bid
on every item no matter whether we like it or not, just so the seller can
get the highest price possible? Taken to the logical ends, this is
basically what you're arguing.

> I also think that, while we probably all have disagreements with various
> eBay policies, they provide an invaluable service by bringing buyers and
> sellers of this equipment together.

Anybody could've done what eBay did, and there were in fact many
contenders. eBay just happened to be the one that won. It's the overall
quality of their service and their policies that make it such a drag.

> I'd be essentially unable to pursue the hobby without them -- there just
> aren't enough collectors and equipment known to me personally. Without
> connections, I'd still have just the one bare-bones 8/i that I started
> with. (I still might not have been willing to toss it, but I bet others
> who could never hope to fix it would have.)

That's no reason to force everyone to bid one every item so that the
seller's can become wealthy. They aren't entitled to anything.

Ugh.

-- 
Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Sat Feb 12 2005 - 03:17:36 GMT

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