In article . com,
Jules wrote:
On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:30:33 -0700, Dave Starling wrote:

In practice Ebay have a monopoly and they can ride roughshod over
everyone.

Indeed. Never bought anything on there, never want to. I sold about five
or six items, and it was a painful, time-consuming process to do so.

You need to get organised to do it easily. Like with most computer progs.

I've found it's *far* easier to buy/sell collect/give-away items via
Freecycle, local ads, local newsgroups etc. than it is to deal with EBay.
If they had more competition I suspect it'd be very different (but even
then I have issues with the way auctions tend to over-inflate the value
of things)

Freecycle - in London at least - gave me lots of grief and for no return.
Not even one thank you email. Never again - I'd rather take stuff down the
tip.

Its worth seeing if there is CheapCycle yahoo group in your area.

Heck, I'll t ake a look at that myself - sounds interesting. Our local
Freecycle list is a bit of a joke; folk demanding high-value items yet
offering things that are 'easy' to give away. It's a far cry from
the Cambridge one that I was used to...

Carboot sales shouldn't be forgotton although they do have a stigma for
some people.

I miss car boot sales over on this side of the Pond. Althought we do have
*lots* of yard/garage sales, which folk tend to treat almost as a
treasure-hunt kind of game (it's kind of fun rushing the the next site,
and bumping into folk you've seen at other sites) - but nothing beats a
good ol' car boot sale for convenience...

My favourite is a good autojumble. Can spend hours there. They usually
have tools to bring it more back to DIY.

--
*Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time *

Dave Plowman London SW
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