To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (65954 ) 7/1/1999 4:37:00 PM From: Eric Wells Read Replies (1) | Respond to
I actually like Ebay as a company - I've bought a number of things on their site and have gotten some really great deals (despite the threat of shill bidders - which I have seen evidence of). Ebay is a dream for people who trade in certain items - like antique books - if you know the market, you know the prices, and you also know the dealers who do business there regularly - and you can determine when something is a good deal or a scam. Not that I haven't seen scams, I haven't bid on them though. But there are certain economic benefits that Ebay provides - for example, an antique bookstore in Omaha is going to ask for much lower prices than one in San Francisco (where I live) - and if I can find a particular book I am looking for from a dealer in Omaha, I can usually bid a price (and win) that is lower than I would pay for the book here. Such prices may even out eventually (when Omaha book dealers figure this out) - but right now, there is a sort of arbitrage to be taken advantage of on occasion (at least in the area of antique books). I've purchased probably about 100 items from Ebay and have yet to have bought something that I thought I was taken to the cleaners on. Of course, I have not bought any "new" items on Ebay - items being dumped by retail outlets.
