[AMRadio] Monopoly?

[Rob Atkinson]

I can never post in any way, a negative comment about eBay without
someone deciding that must mean I hate the free market.

Those are all _ham_ sales venues on-line.  The vast majority of estate
sale vultures, relative mass market parts sellers, nephews with old
dead Uncle Elmo's "junk," widows, and any other non-hams with ham gear
have probably never heard of those places and go to eBay, or the even
more worthless Craig's list.

Tell me about another on-line auction site/service besides eBay that
more than three people have heard of.   For every ham on swap.qth.com
there is probably 100 million people buying/selling on eBay.  Quit
kidding yourself.

>Anyway, auctions give everyone a
> chance, not just the first buyer who makes it to the hamfest seller opening
> his trunk, or the first person to hit refresh on the Eham classifieds.

Nice try but auctions don't last forever either and people can be late
for them too; they are just another way to list something but with an
open ended price that is good for the seller but not always the buyer.

If you really want to give everyone a chance, why don't you try this:
List an item for a week on some ham web site.  Collect offers to
purchase and put them in a drum and draw one.  No auction, a set
price, you get to be fair and give everyone a chance but without
pitting people against each other for your benefit.  Of course you put
forth the terms in the sales listing.  How about that.

73

Rob
K5UJ


On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 4:27 PM, john <johnmb at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> "eBay exploiting its near monopoly as an
> on-line marketplace--"
>
> Ever check the Eham/QRZ/QTH sale forums, or your favorite reflector (like
> this one?)
>
> There's lots of alternatives to Ebay. Anyway, auctions give everyone a
> chance, not just the first buyer who makes it to the hamfest seller opening
> his trunk, or the first person to hit refresh on the Eham classifieds.
>
> I don't sell on Ebay any longer, but I sure sell and buy a lot of stuff on
> the forums and mailing lists.. as well as hamfests.
>
> Free markets...they're a beautiful thing!
>
> John K5MO