Greg Perry at Lew Rockwell is publishing a three-part series on eBay, covering its greatness and its problems. Here's a link to the first installment. Excerpt:
Over 475,000 people now make a full-time living from eBay alone. Billions of bids go through eBay's system every month. You pay too much for everything you buy if you don't first check eBay.
It's my contention that the free market aspects of eBay helps keep prices down worldwide. And eBay is a worldwide phenomenon. Nothing has ever come close. Perhaps nothing ever will.
The "world's largest garage sale" has done a tremendous favor to you and to me: kept prices as low as possible. Perfect price information at every second and a superb (but not perfect) supply-and-demand matching system keeps prices everywhere else in check.
Yes, even at Wal-Mart prices have downward pressure due to eBay. eBay is one of the few entities that puts pressure on Wal-Mart instead of the other way around.
