On Mon, 26 Oct 1998, D. Peschel wrote:
I have not been paying attention, so I could be wrong.
But it seems to me
that this argument is a bit worthless because if you succeed in moving all
the old computer auctions over to Haggle, and Haggle becomes popular, then
the same old dirty dealings will happen on Haggle too, just like eBay.
Except for the fact that the owner of Haggle is also an avid computer
collector, and is sympathetic to this sort of thing (he's also, irony of
all ironies, a user of eBay). So I'm sure he would be open to refining
his auction to prevent this from happening.
I guess you're hoping that eBay will remain
popular for ordinary auctions
and Haggle will become popular for computer auctions... this might work but
it might actually make things worse, if the compu-vultures start to pay
special attention to Haggle. If you're banking on some innate difference
between eBay and Haggle... well, yes, that might work.
One of my points (which I forget to mention) was that it will bring all
the computers into one listing so you don't have to go searching for them
in a bunch of different categories amidst other uninteresting crap. The
other point is that we can get Haggle to alter its auction policy (I've
discussed this at length with the owner). eBay could give a rat's ass
what you think. They're just happily collecting listing fees.
Boy, I'm really pessimistic (especially
considering I've never actually
used eBay or Haggle).
Good. You should keep it that way.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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