posted on June 23, 2001 08:08:16 AM
Each of us perceive online selling as offering some opportunity in our lives and eBay, because they dominate the marketplace for independent sellers, as being the major venue for achieving our goals.
The diversity of what we want and expect from online selling has wide variations .
For some it is the most casual of activities, of little importance financially and simply an occasional alternative to other ways of disposing of unwanted items in exchange for a little money.
For others, online selling seems to offer the one best opportunity to meet the income needed for survival. Circumstances within their lives demand both that they be self supporting and find ways of doing so that take into account some limiting factors that make working in the general job market difficult or impossible.
Between these two points of view is a spectrum of needs, wants and choices that combine to make up the reasons why each of us pursues this work.
I must view things in the context of my needs. I can easily support concepts that meet my needs and the needs of others who are most similar to me in their perception of what is wanted from the online/eBay experience.
To use the analogy of a town, I'm most concerned about my home. My neighbors needs interest me because we share the same sidewalk, streets, fences and common ground for our families.
The needs of people on the other side of town are of less immediate concern to me because, well, they're on the other side of town.
We all share some services like water, sewer, phone and electricity but we have a choice if we are going to work together for "our town" on other issues or fragment into more self centered my community/home smaller groups.
And one thing that is assured, no matter what we do, we will never all agree on anything.
Maybe if we explore what we do have in common, what are the concerns we share and what goals we can all support, we will find what links us together. And support each other, even when it's not in our own immediate self interest, because we see value in working together.
I'm not suggesting that this isn't already being done. The original "eBay community" was a very effective example of this dynamic. OAUA, eBay user boards and the very fact we are here today are all part of this "working together" process.
If there are things we would like improved, if this approach has worked before, if it offers the opportunity for addressing concerns and meeting our individual and group needs then maybe we better explore how to make better use of it.
