[schnevets]

I had a summer of eBay nightmares in college. I was supposed to help a relative sell an attic full of old clothes and knick knacks. Nothing was buying because I was a new seller, so I put some old video games on to bolster my score with quick sales. Everything went well until one person reported me for not including the box & manual (which was never mentioned in the listing) while another claimed the disc was counterfeit. After these two headaches, my relative complained about having to give some costume jewelry up for $7. At that point I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Final profit was $97

There are definitely ways to improve the process. Maybe a "middleman" has to provide an appraisal or validation for the jewelry/electronic before making the listing. The true obstacle with any new competitor is network effect. When normal people want to sell local, they use Craigslist, when they want to sell nationally, they use eBay. Any chaff has already been taken by the big guys, and what is left isn't worth the fight.