[Boatanchors] Ebay problems

[Robert Nickels]

J Forster wrote:
>  IMO, the best approach is through the governmental agencies:
>
>   
Unless someone can cite a law that's being broken, I don't see that 
governmental regulators are likely to get involved in telling a business 
how to structure it's terms and conditions.    There are too many 
examples of comparable situations to even mention...

The operative phrase is "Let the market decide".   eBay evolved to be a 
one-stop shop for just about everything because in its early years, the 
terms and conditions were attractive to private sellers and businesses 
or "power sellers" alike.  If the new rules mean that's no longer the 
case, then private sellers should simply turn to other venues, as has 
been mentioned several times on this thread.  As collectors and users of 
boatanchor radios, we probably don't miss a thing by shopping at a site 
that is focused on our interests.  The bottom line is - eBay became what 
it is because it was the best option for both buyers and sellers when 
compared to the next-best alternative.  (To be blunt, this meant that 
sellers got more money for their stuff on eBay!)  The reason for this 
was primarily due to the world-wide market exposure that eBay provided.  
One could argue that the ham-only classified sites offer the same 
exposure, we'll just have to look in more than one place.  (Any 
programmers out there feel like ginning up a cross-site search tool?)

My guess is there will be a relatively small exodus of sellers from eBay 
and that it will continue to be a source for buying and selling items of 
interest.  Some buyers and sellers will prefer the new terms, after 
all.  But if other venues including local hamfests become better options 
as a result, that's all good IMHO.   Just don't expect the government to 
tell eBay how to run it's business.

73, Bob W9RAN