Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:09:21 -0500
From: "Evan Koblentz" <evan at snarc.net>
Subject: RE: Ebay idiocy
Sellam knows he's, shall we say, a
"direct" communicator. That's why I like
the dude. :) Anyway, the fact remains that his auction site DOES address
all of the stuff we hate about ebay -- and if it's doesn't in some case, he
will quickly fix it.
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Interesting that you, who took offense when someone used the word "Jew" for
its phonetic value without, as far as I can see, in any way casting aspersions on
people of that faith, likes what you call "direct" communication, i.e. using
the
"F" word six times in 13 paragraphs without any consideration of whether
that might offend some of the 2000 or so readers of this list, not to mention
what it says about this list to someone stumbling across it through the Web.
If he'd just reminded us that VCM was there and asked us for more support,
fine; I'd probably have clicked on it right away and bookmarked it. As it was,
however, I found his message quite offensive, FWIW.
I assumed that his comment about the IPO was meant tongue-in-cheek (as he
pointed out to me in a similarly "directly" worded, ("F"'ing)
off-list reply), but I
suspect that if he really did give eBay a run for its money and someone offered
him a bag full of money (not so ridiculous these days), he just might say yes.
Nevertheless, if he were truly as altruistic as you say, why is he ranting
at us so forcefully for, essentially, not generating enough traffic for him to be
able to justify charging for his service? I imagine that Jay and the moderators
donate far more time gratis running this list than VCM demands of Sellam...
Not that I see anything wrong with it, but perhaps it is relevant that he does
make money from renting out equipment, sourcing obscure items, etc.
I doubt that he will be able to address the stuff we grudgingly like about
eBay: the wider selection of available items (and price range) for buyers,
and the vastly larger number of potential buyers for the sellers; blaming
us for that is pretty silly. Maybe good will isn't worth what it once was,
but I don't think ranting at and offending potential customers has quite
made it on the list of successful business tactics yet.
m