[Boatanchors] Slightly Off Topic: E-COMMERCE

[Ed Swynar]

Good Morning All,

I am very curious as to the thoughts & experiences of others regarding the "...state of the art" of buying & selling on-line, especially those thoughts & experiences from friends in the U.S.A.

Now, before you proceed to blindly flame me with comments suggesting that discussions on the exchange of money have no place on Reflectors like this --- that somehow Ham Radio & its antiquities are mystically above mere dollars and cents --- let me ask: when it comes to acquiring parts, vintage rigs, and the like, are you really all that adverse to investigating each & every possible avenue of opportunity, including the (apparently) dreaded eBay...? Or are one of those closet eBay surfers, investigating listings therein after dark, with a sheet over your head, so that no one can see...?!

Here's the scoop: it's been said that "...all things must pass", and I am coming around to honestly believing that the hitherto irrefutable reign of eBay & the like has peaked --- at least here in Canada. My experience yesterday in mailing out 14 back issues of Popular Electronics to a fellow in Wisconsin illustrates this, I'm sure...

I packed the mags as compactly as I could in a cardboard box, & took it over to the local Canada Post outlet. The cost of having these mailed out --- "cheapest way", as specifically directed by me --- was a whopping eighteen-plus dollars! When I questioned the amount, the clerk said, "Oh, but it's automatically insured for $100.00, and you can track the  parcel's delivery on-line! And it's GUARANTEED to arrive in no later than 5 working days." I said the fellow who bought the magazines from me didn't even WANT such options --- the clerk simply gave me a blank, silent, dumb look. 

At one time in Canada, insurance & registration of a parcel was an option that could easily cost up to THREE TIMES as much as "Surface Parcel Post" cost...now they've eliminated this latter class, and upgraded EVERYTHING to the premium rate to, as the clerk told me, "...harmonize all rates to all parts of the world".

English translation: to gouge everyone equally, no matter where their parcels might be going. 

Well, after seeing TV ads from Canada Post deliberately plugging eBay --- and seeing eBay ads at their site deliberately plugging Canada Post --- why should I be surprised...? The two have obviously become smitten with one another and are now sharing the same bed. 

So be it.  I paid my money, and went to deposit the buyer's U.S. Post Office International Money Order at my bank...that's where I got surprise #2...

USPS international-type m.o.'s (the pinkish-yellow kind) USED to be as good as gold here --- emphasis on the words "...used to be". The bank clerk told me that she would have to first secure the permission of her manager about accepting it(!)...huh? When she came back, she said there'd be a 15 day waiting period for the m.o. to clear --- seems they'd experienced a lot of fraud of late from some nasty Americans forging money orders to rip-off trusting, dumb Canucks like me. Can you imagine that...? The desperate, devious lengths some folks will go to get their hands on 14 old issues of Popular Electronics...!

Well, even I can see that my disappointments yesterday have culminated in a rant now, & for that I apologize. 

It WAS fun, though --- at least while it lasted --- buying & selling things in order to build-up the "pin" money to acquire even more toys in Ham Radio to play with...but from the looks of things, on-line / via the mail exchanges of small ticket items will surely slow down considerably. I predict that the consequent backlash of diminished e-commerce in this way will only be a boon to Ham Radio flemarkets & Hamfests. Here we've been predicting the demise of face-to-face exchanges, when in fact we'll surely all be returning to buying & selling the old-fashioned way once again, as greedy corporate (and now government) entities continue to kill the goose that's been --- until now, anyway --- laying those golden eggs...

This is the perspective from ONE guy, albeit a Canadian --- I wonder if this same malaise is spreading south of the border, as well, & what my fellow Canadians might have to say on the matter...? 

...And again, sorry for the whine on my part. I just had to vent.

~73!~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ