The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 29, July 10, 2005, Article 21

TEN YEARS OF EBAY

Dick Johnson writes: "We have all been exposed last week to
the tenth anniversary hoopla of eBay in every media possible.
EBay’s officials have acknowledged that coins, tokens, medals
were sold in the early days of eBay’s existence. Numismatic
items helped establish it and sustained it all along.

But what started out as a means of people wanting to buy and
sell collectibles has turned into a giant worldwide monster
machine to market merchandise. Something manufactured
yesterday could be listed today. Somehow, the heritage of
collectible items of the past have been overshadowed by items
no different from what’s at Wal-Mart or any department store.

Now eBay claims 300,000 numismatic items are offered at
any time. It has become a mixed blessing. Not all eBay
phenomena has been beneficial. The losers and winners are
extreme.

Here is an analysis by your writer (who has only 88 recognized
purchases -- but actually closer to 400 because I refuse to play
eBay’s game to report on sellers – thus they don’t tattle on me).

Winners:

1) UPS and FedEx for moving this stuff around (and FedEx is
now hauling all the U.S. Post Office’s packages).

2) Dealers who can easily locate the one buyer in the world
who will pay the highest price.

3) Antique dealers who are clearing out a lot of stuff
unsold for years.

4) Crooks who have mastered the way to cheat eBay
buyers in many ways from not delivering the goods to
proffering fake items.

5) IRS as this material is sold, often sold again, as
material is churned.

6) Meg Whitman, who knows little about collecting,
but makes $2.9 million a year at the helm of eBay.

Losers:

1) Unknowledgeable sellers whose material is listed too
high (and get no bids) or too low (and lose potential profits),
often lacking accurate descriptions with little concept of
what they are actually selling.

2) Collectors who are buying unguaranteed or even
fake collectibles.

3) Both eBay sellers and buyers subjected to eBay’s
dictatorial policies and heightened fees.

4) Heirs, inherited stuff often sold at way below its value.

5) Flea market operators as dealers drift away to sell on
eBay in preference to selling person-to-person.

6) Storefront renters as dealers close up shop to operate
out of their homes or less expensive digs.

7) Sellers who cannot type, write grammatically accurate text
–or in all caps–who infuriate literate buyers; or post out-of-focus
pictures which do not reveal detail, or those who charge high
"handling fees" for wrapping and shipping.

After ten years what’s your opinion of eBay?
Good or bad for numismatics?"

[I tend to believe the good outweighs the bad on eBay,
but must admit it's been years since I bothered to browse
the listings - the amount of stuff offered is overwhelming.
I've not bothered to set up automatic searches, but that's
the way to go, if you can narrow down your wants to a
manageable set of keywords. Frauds are rampant, but
buyer beware. Because eBay is such an open environment,
it empowers the do-gooders as much as it does the thieves.
There are regular discussions on other numismatic email
groups about the authenticity and attribution of items offered
on eBay, and last week's story about the recovered stolen
stamp collection shows that material can only stay out of
the limelight for so long - inevitably someone will offer it
up for sale where it can be found. Other thoughts, anyone?
-Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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