"The eBay Effect"

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Posted By: Julie

Interesting show (CNBC--tomorrow, 8 P.M.--east and west?). 1) It's huge. TOO huge.
2) the President and CEO has a great smile, but--I don't quite trust her when she says they're doing everything they can for their customers. Most memorably, their fees rise every year, in spite of the enormous (increasingly) enormous profits they make).

As far handling complaints, you only have to look at the phony Wagner thread (near this one)--we have literally bombarded them with e-mails, the card is OBVIOUSLY phony--and it's still up there, with 2 days left.

Several impressive success stories. BTW, I didn't know that all you "power sellers" had had two months of $1000 sales or more (that's in the show). They never mention sniping services, leading viewers to believe that THEY are the only "sniping service," and of course your bid gets "outed" whenever anyone tops it.

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Posted By: Bob Rousseau

re. not metioning sniping services- excellant, cause clearly some of the regular bidders I go up against don't know what they are either.

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Posted By: DJ

I found it quite amazing what a large animal this company is. I think it's required viewing for anyone who deals with eBay. I do like the fact they dealt with some of the concerning issues like the road trip three kids made to get their money back from a crook and those who are simply anti-eBay because they don't like the increased fees and/or they have burned once or twice. Of course Meg is going to give canned responses but that's her job. Either way, ebay is a force, a juggernaut and I felt like this special did a great job in being biased to both the good and bad. I think they should have brought up shill bidding which is a problem and as you say, esniping.

You can't buy breastmilk on ebay? That's simply unfair!

DJ

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Posted By: Bob Rousseau

I give Ebay a HUGE thanks for giving me a chance to pick up cards and things I never would've been able to find, and at competitive prices. I shudder to think what my collection would look like (or have cost) if I was just at the mercy of my neighborhood dealer. A nice buy, but way off the charts with his prices. Ebay also gave me an opportunity to get rid of a lot of stuff that didn't mean anything to me anymore, but at prices beyond garage sale.

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Posted By: Dan E

Ebay has it's up's and down's, however, without it a lot of us would not have amassed even close to what we have. Only recently have the auction houses become "mainstream" for folks like me as well. I feel that with the two, there is a fine balance and as always the buyer must beware. As the old saying says "A FOOL AND HIS MONEY SHALL SOON BE PARTED" < or something close to that.

Despite owning a couple thousand shares of Ebay, I do agree that their fees are out of hand and that they are potentially setting themselves up for a competitive company to make a run at them. I think that will surely help out the fees, kind of a Blockbuster vs. Netflix, amazing how fast the late fees went away when Netflix got in to the mix of things. The competition has made Blockbuster a better company in the long run. My wife and I should own our own Blockbuster with all those late fees that we have paid over the years.

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Posted By: Julie

but I couldn't locate the scan of the Oshkosh cabinet with Hoy, Selee and McCarthy--so I left it unsaid! (pretty selfish...). It's a particularly good example of what you can get on eBay, when someone neglects to mention the NAMES of the pictured players, and only one other board member notices the photo--and since I only snipe, thinks he's the only one.

On the whole, I've gotten greater things from board members and favorite dealers and auction houses, (eBay feedback only 98 after three years)--but--once in a while, it's only on eBay!


Hoy--lower left; Selee, center of middle row with big mustache; McCarthy to his left. 1887 Oshkosh photo.