angelstruck: well, it did surprise me that they mentioned her latest book, at the end of the article, but the end of the article states that she and her mom can't afford the rent and it did seem surprising for a published author to be in that predicament.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:20:05 PM
Capriole - umm not really important but, it is RnR not M R - "And if you are going to write for Salon.com at least spell better than your editor (who clearly missed that one!)" I did not write the article - don't write for magazines only for TAGnotes. I just supplied factual information about ebaY outages and problems. -Rosalinda
TAGnotes - daily email synopsis about the Online Auction Industry http://www.topica.com/lists/tagnotes
posted on October 27, 2000 04:25:01 PM
I believe that TECHNOLOGY has changed EVERYTHING, including the collectibles market.
eBay is blamed for ruining collectibles.
I said it is TECHNOLOGY that has changed the Collectibles Marketplace, and that TECHNOLOGY will change EVERYTHING, and indeed, the economic system that awaits us is INDESCRIBABLE.
Some stores on Main Street survived the advent of Walmart. And some thrived.
Some independent bookstores survived the combined assault of the Superstores & amazon.com. And some thrived.
Some eBay sellers are having a very difficult time, currently, but even the New York Times shows how some Power Sellers are having remarkably good sales.
Kitsch1: You mention, "all over this great country of ours", but see, this TECHNOLOGY will cover the entire planet. Thinking in terms of the sorry plight of neighborhood Goodwills, for instance, which are in the richest Western nation, is simply tooo parochial.
EVERYTHING will change.
The entire economic infrastruction willmetamorphize, due to **TECHNOLOGY** - everywhereon the entire planet.
e-Commerce is in its infancy. It's final form will be very werry different from its present form.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:30:00 PM
Eventer I think you misread what I wrote - I said - Unfortunately, no matter how dramatized, the elements of TRUTH are there -and the info about ebaYs outages - FACT. (this next word should have been capitalized, sorry for the typo - it starts a new sentence)for every well informed seller on the boards who know exactly what is going on at ebaY and reacting accordingly, there are several million in ignorance who - no matter how you cut it - ebaY is stealing from.
How do I know that? From running into people all the time who sell on ebaY who do not have a CLUE that ebaY has outages. From emails I get from people who stumble across TAGnotes in a totally off ebaY non OAI/OTI venue and subscribe and say - WOW - I did not have a CLUE that the reason XYZ did not sell was because had outages all week. From reports from other TAGnotes subscribers who tell me the same thing. The number is an estimate but my gut (a well informed and fairly accurate gut at that)tells me I am right. -Rosalinda
TAGnotes - daily email synopsis about the Online Auction Industry http://www.topica.com/lists/tagnotes
Really, however, you did point out something -- that the piece of work definitely does contain within its structure many elements that fiction writers utilize in their craft.
However, I'd still like to examine her auctions. I'd like to find something I can bid on from HER & her mom.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:34:51 PM
Perhaps that is the only way she, the writer, could get noticed and bring ebaY's problems into the press. If that was the case, she's pretty smart IMO. Many people have been searching different outlets in the media to talk to about these latest antics. My hat's off to her if she did it this way.
It was also a lot more favorable for her to get that foot in the door already being an established author.
Perhaps ebaY has effected all markets and all collectibles. Perhaps there is SOMETHING out there bigger than they are. There is or will be.
I can dream, can't I? And I DO believe it will happen.
RNR GROUP please keep telling us the whole truth. I rely most heavily on you and TAG.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:37:07 PM
radh, I myself have sold to bidders in numerous countries. I'll give you that. it has ALL changed for good AND for bad.
Internet has changed things drastically yes! BUT.... ebay has changed things in the collectible field more than anything, it comes back to ebay. How many people heard about ebay, then decided to get connected? I am guessing a whole freakin lot of em. Word of mouth over the years....where did you get it? How are you making it? answer is not my web page or yahoo or amazon. It is ebay.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:38:59 PM
Ask the shop owners...why did that mall close???????? Answer...They are selling on ebay and selling the building.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:42:59 PM
There are two hanfuls of people that I know of here in this small town that connected to the internet just because of ebay.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:46:18 PM
I live in a small town. The PO sees me coming in the door and say where are the boxes traveling today? They SOLD on ebaY before things got out of hand. Then there is my friend who runs an antique shop open only on weekends.
He has someone else write and post his auctions. Nobody ever meets reserve because it's not junk he's selling.
However, they have all left. Why? Moved to Yahoo. It is free and pretty stable most of the time. Everyone I know has tried it. They left either because it was too much trouble with low to no bidders, or they got sick of paying the ridiculously high fees. I have to agree. Guess that is the small-town mentality.
Rosalinda, funny you should mention that most sellers and buyers never check the AB or the chat boards before listing. That was a topic of conversation after someone posted your original url over there.
[ edited by millicent_roberts on Oct 27, 2000 04:49 PM ]
I am sorry but I have had to delete your post because it contained the URL to another Message Board. Links and URLs to other discussion forums are not permitted under the CGs.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:50:23 PM
Over at the otwa board, a poster claiming to be the author of the article in Salon, has alledged that her story is factual, 100% true - and that it was NOT a *compilation* merely authored by her, and nor was it a work of fiction.
She wrote a really good post over at OTWA. Maybe she'll check in here, too!
posted on October 27, 2000 04:55:05 PM
Claudia's email addie was over at the ther messageboard, so I have emailed her, and brought this messagethread to her attention. I hope she'll post here, too.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:55:09 PM
Sheesh ModeratorG, not unlike birth control in the 40s you'll force people to get their info and or protection from hearsay in the back alleys.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:55:22 PM
Doesn't matter whether it's online or not... if whatever you're doing is bringing in more money than you would ever have expected, sooner or later (more likely sooner), you're going to have company.
Tom Hanks, in "A League of Their Own":
"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it."
posted on October 27, 2000 05:00:07 PM
Kitsch1: I seriously do NOT believe that eBay is to BLAME.
Nope!
I'm not pleased with how the vulture capitalists funded alla those dot-coNs to try and siphon our bidders from eBay -- but, that was an inevitability.
I'm not pleased with Bezos wanting to be the WalAmazon.dot.MART of cyberspace, and I believe his OLD FASHIONED ideas based upon Industrial Age methodology has about as much relevance today as the Iron Age does.
THE TECHNOLOGY created the change.
NOT the name of anybody who simply utilized the technology.
AND THE FUTURE IS ARRIVING WITH BREAKNECK SPEEEEEEEEEED!!!
posted on October 27, 2000 05:00:35 PM
Kel..yes, the internet and ebay has changed the collectible and antique market...and so have we as buyers and sellers. The problem is, you can't BLAME ebay or anyone else. Blame tends to imply a deliberate act was done. Ebay did not set out to destroy the collectibles marketplace and we can't lay at their feet the responsility for what is actually just a normal progression of commerce.
We can't blame ebay for malls closing anymore than the buggy manufactures could blame Ford for the collapse of the buggy market. It was progress..if Ford hadn't of done what he did someone else would have. If there had been no ebay someone else would have developed a similar concept and IT would have taken off. The time had come for this to happen.
Rad is right..we have become a nation of victims with a victim's mentality. We want to blame someone else for our bad decisions, we want to make someone responsible for the inevitable.
The author of this article had a flawed premise. She wants to blame ebay, other sellers etc for the fact that markets change. She wants us to believe it is not the norm for many merchants to jump on the bandwagon of success. She, and others who cry her cry, are hiding their heads if they didn't realize many others would start selling on ebay once the word was out how "easy" it was to make money at online auctions.
I find it odd that Roz talks about truth yet put a link to an article that probably had no truth to it at all. The author has no credibility and her article is nothing more than propoganda...based on the "facts" as supplied by Roz it seems. A pure propoganda piece rooted in fiction!
posted on October 27, 2000 05:06:34 PM
I do NOT blame ebay for my failures as a seller. I am saying that ebay has impacted the entire collectibles market....what a seller does with it is their deal.
I DO however remember every dollar they have cost me when THEY fail.
posted on October 27, 2000 05:12:56 PM
I think many of you missed the point of the Salon article.
It was NOT about a corporate evil doer.
It was NOT about a failed ebay seller.
It WAS about the evolution of the eBay site, and how the present scale of the site is effecting many sellers.
It seems sarcsm only when eBay is blamed for anything but the outages. But, the outages are mentioned to show how they impact at least some sellers.
More importantly, the article points out the vulnerable underside of the small seller on eBay and how they may be ill prepared for a changing market.
The article should make many sellers start thinking about P2P Net sales and any future economic upheaval. Some of us older folks remember the economic downturn of the late 1970's and the 1980's. The Net economy has never experienced a general economic downturn.
If you think things are tough now due to competition, wait until the unemplotment rate hits 7% or higher and how this will effect our buyers- remember, the Net economy has never seen this before.
AOL, eBay, Amazon, and even the cable TV boon, have never experienced a general economic downturn- will AOL be the first thing to go in the household when one or more of the workers is laid off - will the cable TV go also ? I think we can say for certain online purchases will drop. However, a general economic downturn may also cause a landslide of new sellers to auction sites.
I find many may have been spoiled by this record setting prosperity. Just wait a while, the present trend toward putting one's social security and retirement fund in the stock market will appear as crazy as "investing" in Beanie Babies now does. It took 25 years for the Dow Jones to regain the levels it enjoyed before the 1929 crash - imagine if you wanted to retire on your Mutual fund in 1929 !!!
The article was a warning, not a blame game piece.
posted on October 27, 2000 05:23:15 PM
I've never read Salon, maybe I'm missing something.
I don't understand the talk about metaphors and such. Is it Salon's style to have writers write what appear to be first person articles that make statements such as: I'm being evicted... and the readers are supposed to know that that's really not true?
posted on October 27, 2000 05:34:21 PM
Kerryann: a poster claiming to be the author of the Salon article made a post over at OTWA, and explained that there had been previous problems with her landlord, and that he filed with the court when she was 2 weeks late with rent.
In her explanation of the previous problems, alledgedly the landlord had stolen electricity from the meter to her & her mom's apartment.
Uhm, many people would have take photos of that, and called the police and the electric utility, as such theft is a criminal action.
posted on October 27, 2000 05:39:36 PM
Reamond mentioned, "...the vulnerable underside of the small seller on eBay and how they may be ill prepared for a changing market."
~ ~ ~ ~
Well, I must say that the current press has NOT been at all observant of that fact.
However, once again, eBay is NOT responsible nor to blame for the inadequacies of the press, the non-business background of many small sellers, the lack of sellers to be concerned about the myriad of variables that comprise the changing market, nor for the fact that TECHNOLOGY will change EVERYTHING.
