I love the eBay. Love love love it. If you’re patient enough you can find just about anything you want in this whole wide world. In fact, and don’t tell anyone this, that’s where The Boy actually came from. Shh.
You might have to pay through the nose for it, of course—it’s remarkable what folks will pay for some stuff (although The Boy was cheap; he came with major undisclosed user fees bundled in, though). Used CDs that are available new from Amazon for thirteen bucks’ll go for twenty on eBay. On the other hand, I’ve picked up a goodly number of discs for three bucks, including shipping. I got a boxset of the Shostakovich string quartets, brand-spankin'-new for nine dollars, WITH shipping—the same set would have set me back forty bucks in a store. It’s a good thing.
Then there’s Herbert Blomstedt’s recording of Sibelius’s First and Seventh with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. New it would have cost less than twenty bucks in a store. Since Blomstedt’s never been anybody’s favorite conductor—except perhaps for me—it was quickly deleted from the catalog. Three copies have been put up for sale over the past six months, and the CHEAPEST it’s gone for has been two hundred dollars. One went for $330 this past week. Who are these people, what are they smoking, and can they give me the money they wasted on those discs? Seriously, I'd make much better use of that cash. Especially since, if the record label ever re-releases those recordings, these fools’ll be out $310. What maroons.
Like most things, of course, moderation is the key. It’s easy to get sucked in and find yourself checking it thrice daily to see what new treasures have been put up for sale, or what’s about to go. And it’s waaaay too easy to get sucked into a bidding war. Fortunately, I learned my lesson on that one early and without too great an expenditure of money. And, what the hey, I got a son out of the deal. So there’s that.
But there’s at least one common practice on eBay which drives me absolutely insane. After you complete a transaction, Buyer and Seller are both supposed to leave feedback for each other, so others can see how reliable any given person is. The problem is, the practice may have worked originally but these days it’s degenerated, so that now many people will only leave positive feedback for you once you’ve left it for them. Which obviously strips it of all meaning. It’s a fraud. It's an honor system devoid of honor, a code that's a con. And that simply kills me.
I try to leave great feedback whenever I feel it warranted, unless the person specifically says he or she will only leave feedback once you’ve left feedback first—I mean, jeez louise, they come right out and say that’s their policy, that they’re holding your feedback hostage. I never leave feedback for them, even if they’ve provided the greatest service in the world. Sure, my position is futile but it’s all I can do. You draw your line somewhere and you stick to it. That’s life.
Comments