[tmikaeld]

Don't know why i found it hard to grasp the ghist of this but.. he buys second hand items (paying before receiving) and then sell them at higher price on his own (in-app) store (if they arrive)?

If that's the case, such a system would depend on people being honest. In Japan, this provenly work, maybe even in Sweden - but in less honest countries, i really doubt it.

[lazyjones]

It takes a while until scammers figure out how to best game the system, so I suppose selling this quickly was a smart move.

[bfuller]

I would say it takes a while until scammers get noticed. Usually anything worth scamming has a scammer around it since many times the scammer is an inside man.

[jstanley]

> such a system would depend on people being honest

People always said eBay would never work because people aren't honest, but it turns out most people are honest.

[bryanlarsen]

Most people are honest, but it only takes a couple of bad apples to spoil the entire barrel. eBay 15 years ago was so much more awesome than the eBay of today.

[abakker]

Is that really because of honesty? or because ebay allowed vendors?

or, is it really because eBay is a more complete marketplace now, with better information, in many ways it is more efficient, and arbitrage opportunities are lower, and market pricing prevails more often. But...it almost seems like less efficient markets are more fun to play in.

This may be a stupid comparison, but a microcosm of this might be the experience of the World of Warcraft Auction House vs the Diablo 3 one. In WoW, the market rates differed hugely by server (realm), and were influenced by drop rate, population, and relative maturity of the realm (e.g. mostly low-level or mostly high level). In short, the pricing mechanics were simple, and the supply was constrained and grokkable. It was also only fake money (aside from the gold farming, which wasn't sanctioned).

BUT, in D3, the drop rates were more random, the population on the AH was giant relative to WoW, and people were playing with real money. As a result, the market got efficient quickly, and the the pricing adjusted very quickly such that it was no fun to play. the drop rates were so low for items that of high enough quality that it wasn't worth participating as a buyer or seller unless you were only in it for the money.

[jstanley]

> eBay 15 years ago was so much more awesome than the eBay of today.

That's simply not true.

There is so much more available on eBay now. I do almost all of my shopping on eBay because it presents a consistent user interface, with a quick checkout flow, and good competition between vendors to keep the prices down.

[JoeAltmaier]

...and I have abandoned eBay entirely, due to my perception that's its a hive of villainy. Folks listing computer equipment for sale above the regular price. Auctions that routinely go for more than you can easily buy elsewhere. Insincere bidders that try to con sellers into cancelling a bid (thus ensuring their confederate will now win, with a bid well below the value of the item). And so on.

[bitxbitxbitcoin]

True, but you have to set up a lot of barriers to entry and exit to have that.