This is strictly my own personal point of view, and I don't expect many to
agree with it, but
I adamantly refuse to succumb to the Ebay madness. More than anything, I
simply detest the
notion that a mostly non-involved third party has become the defacto
clearinghouse for used
merchandise of all types. It sickens me when people act like the only way
to buy and sell things
is through the auspices of an auction house. I don't like auctions in
general, and feel that they
quite often bring out the greed, the gouging and the dishonesty that have
plagued too many industries for too long. This is not any type of cheap
shot at anybody. It's simply something that I've observed. The time
pressures of an auction, or a "limited time offer" only serve to boost the
price of goods that might well not sell at all in a lower pressure
environment.
Sure there are plenty of folks that have gotten amazing deals off Ebay, but
there are plenty more who haven't been quite so lucky. It's my deepfelt
feeling that a large quantity of the stuff sold there would not sell at all
if people really got to examine what they were getting prior to committing
cash. More and more I'm willing to pay slightly more for merchandise sold
through reputable individuals and firms that have proven to me that they'll
take back anything I won't accept. To my way of thinking, the lure of
getting a "bargain" loses it's luster if even one such bargain proves to be
of little use. If others want to snipe the auction houses for amazing
deals, and then re-sell to me at a slightly higher price, that's fine by
me, provided that they'll stand behind what they sell to me. In that
respect, I've gotten some very good deals from members of this list who do
use Ebay. For me, the freedom to spend my time photographing and developing
is certainly worth the slight premium.
I don't expect much support for that position, but here's a really
off-the-wall thought:
What percentage of sales of used merchandise would an auction house like
Ebay have to control to *effectively* control the market of any specific
product, given that many resellers base their price on Ebay averages? Did
anybody else see the price of local Yashicamat TLR's rise to meet the
temporary price spikes that a small handful of individuals caused on Ebay?
I don't blame Ebay for that, and don't even fault the local merchants, but
it's an example of how Ebay can at times contribute to prices that don't
reflect absolute value.
As for Cambridge and other similar known ripoffs, I'd highly recomend
visiting Phil Greenspun's
http://www.photo.net for a very good take on what to expect. A search
of Deja.com should yield all the incentive anybody would need to stay away
from certain NY camera shops advertising prices significantly below market
average.
my 64 bits,
Mike Swaim
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|