"norml" wrote in message
...
| Thanks for the detailed description, Richard.
|

I felt that it was neccessary for me to trot all this out to
explain what was behind my statements.

| I will admit that I have greatly reduced my patronage of ebay
and in fact
| have not implemented my plan to sell a lot of stuff on that
system as it
| has become larger, less responsive and increasingly coercive.
|
| You will understand that I cannot comment further on my
friend's departure
| from the company. (Not that I know very much more than anyone
else.)
|
| This seems not to apply to you, but I still think it wise to be
a little
| skeptical of those who rail too long and too loudly at the
dishonesty of
| everyone else.
|
| Norm


Thanks for that perspective, Norm. Yes, I understand about KP.
I'm sorry that you don't want to sell your stuff via eBay, but I
can understand that, too. Unfortunately, I don't know of any
alternative, since there just aren't any competing auction sites
that I've seen. Amazon seems to be dealer-only. Yahoo, to me, is
an unpleasant outfit to get involved with. So, I am planning on
unloading a few items on eBay myself. I'm prepared for a learning
curve and to gird my loins.

One can have some interesting conversations with the other party
in an eBay transaction. For example, I bought my Fourier speakers
from a guy in Florida. After I'd paid him, I couldn't resist
asking him why he bought them in the first place. I really wanted
to know (I forgot to ask him why he sold them!). His answer was,
"I heard them and I had to have them." And that was my thought
in 1985 or so, when I sold a pair to a customer: "I'm going to
hate anyone I sell these to unless I own a pair myself."

For those of you who have been following this exchange, let me
just say that I ordered myself a pair in 1985. There followed a
fire in the loft above the Fourier rooms; the firemen got water
into everything, destroying all the custom-made Fourier 6"
woofers. The company didn't last much longer; I managed to get my
hands on the final product just in time: the purpose-designed
studio monitors. I never thought I'd ever see a pair of Fourier
6s again, and one day, there they were on eBay.

eBay is outstanding when you are looking for a needle in a
haystack. It is also good when you're the one selling the
needle. However, I also believe in alternatives being essential
to capitalism; when the 900-pound gorilla ensures that they have
a monopoly, and there is no regulatory mechanism to help right
that power, we're in trouble.

Perhaps, having spilled all that bile, I should start a "good
company" thread. OK. I will.

Richard