16 Jun
2000
16 Jun
'00
12:08 p.m.
Given that collecting (of anything) is a very large
industry, they're
missing a chance to _make_ a lot of money.
Very true.
I don't understand your point about eBay wanting
to avoid "legal hassles"
over auctions gone bad. They are just the middleman, all of their contracts
state that they are not responsible for the authenticity, condition,
delivery, etc. of the items. The buyer and seller voluntarily assume all
the risk. I don't see how providing a database of past transactions
involves them any further in a legal sense.
Auction houses are always getting sucked into legal problems - even if it
is just to be a witness (expert or otherwise). With Ebay's volume, they
would have to have a large expensive legal department just to deal with
it all.
It seems to me that Ebay has already had some massive legal headaches
concerning Nazi collectables in Europe.
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org