16 Jun
2000
16 Jun
'00
4:55 p.m.
On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Chuck McManis wrote:
eBay doesn't keep historical data because they don't want the storage
requirements or performance hit the data would give them. They have
*lots* of trouble keeping search performance acceptible given the volume
of data they need to index today. Multiplying that problem by an order of
magnitude or two isn't a problem they want right now. If their growth
stays flat, they may get around to addressing this -- I'm sure they've
considered it, but it's not core functionality.
Cheers,
Doug
Ebay does not
want keep all of the auctions as a publicly accessable
database, simply because it is not their job. After a few months, they
can "wash their hands" of the deal, and with it, any disputes that may
come up afterwards (problems in the car auctions leap to mind). They don't
want the legal hassles, basically.
I don't believe this is true. I believe Ebay doesn't want to keep its
auctions accessible because it wants to sell that information for money to
people like appraisers for big BUCK$. I've been creating an automated
process in my spare time to harvest the information I'm interested in
(average selling price of classic computer systems) but not enough time etc.