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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 20068, member: 57463&quot;]eBay always seemed like &quot;a good idea.&quot;&nbsp; I never bought anythng there.&nbsp; I do not know anything about the millions of other kinds of sales that take place; for coins, the situation is grim.&nbsp; All I know is what people like you report.</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Anonymity.&nbsp; Buyers and sellers are protected from having their identities revealed.&nbsp; In the real world, when you meet someone, you might never learn their name, but you can see their physical nature. In the realworld establishing a new identity is somewhat complicated.&nbsp; New usernames on eBay are pretty easy to come by, apparently.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Low opportunity cost.&nbsp; Selling in most other venues requires more overhead and thus is a barrier to those who will not make some investment in what they do.&nbsp; Advertising is usually a significant cost of a mail-order business and buying advertising means revealing yourself.&nbsp; For a bricks and mortar store front, the seller has an even greater investment and therefore an inherent need for longterm relationships with individuals and communitiies.&nbsp; None of these applies to eBay with its low cost and low risk and quick profits.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. More basic than these is the fact that many (perhaps most) Americans are mollycoddled by a tame enterprise system where the government, the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, and Consumer Reports are just some of the watchdogs.&nbsp; Those enforcers and tattlers are needed only for those businesses that will not control their own actions as their standard operating policies.&nbsp; The result is that we do not take responsibility for ourselves.&nbsp; If we get cheated, we fall back in kindergarten mode and tell the teacher that Johnny was mean to us.&nbsp; When I get cheated -- and it happens -- I just never go back there.&nbsp; My actions are my responsibility.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. I once got a report of a less-than-helpful coin dealer in my area.&nbsp; In fact, one of the founding members of the local club said he would quit if Dealer X were allowed to join.&nbsp; I put on workman&#039;s clothes, stopped in at Dealer X with a mixed array of commons and a couple of interesting pieces.&nbsp; He lived down to the expectations.&nbsp; I did not do a lot of shopping there over the years... but I did some.&nbsp; KNowing the risks, I accepted the responsibility.&nbsp; Over the years, also, he has become a much nicer guy.&nbsp; I watch him at shows and he is a dealer, which is to be expected, but he is way more toward the center of the road and has become a responsible member of the dealer community.&nbsp; Of course, his name was not &quot;zippiecoins@internet.com&quot; so basically, the free enterprise system was able to work its magic on him.</p><p><br /></p><p>The point of 4. above is that you get report after report after report of fraud on eBay and still you go back there.&nbsp; Stop hitting yourself in the head with a board and your headache will go away.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also -- bottom line -- over time, eBay, Yahoo, etc., may well be impelled to excellence by the free market.&nbsp; It will not come about by tattling to the teacher.&nbsp; The Invisible Hand of Adam Smith needs time.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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