Well spoken, and good points everyone...part of my issue lies thus.
Out of my circle of friends, only two have not been repeatedly ripped off via Ebay folks to the point where they won't use it.
Ebay, like the Internet, isn't -in and of itself- something one can attribute moral character to, it's tool, just like the Net, just like an axe.....and muchlike the fact that an axe can fell firewood to build a frozen person a fire, or be used to harm said person....the bias it has, is the uses it is put to.
Having watched the Internet's downward slide into scammery, commercialism, spam, ripoffs, viral releases and heaven-only-knows how much chicanery, while the actual informational content available (for free, that is) slowly declines...it upsets me, greatly so, because of what it says about us (humanity).
Seeing that same pattern on Ebay bothers me as well.
As well the lack of physical consequences seems to encourage some pretty nasty behavior, for it's a far different cry having to change providers, than having a dentist trying to fix a couple knocked-loose teeth.....without the consequence of potentially having one's ass kicked, peoples behavior changes, unfortunately for the worse in many cases.
I think, in the back of thier minds, a lotta folks are against the human cell cloning issue because of human natures propensity to so terribly misuse the tools they do have, in short...most folks think that rather than replacing the current catch-as-catch-can organ donation system it would rather be used to create shocktroops for our military, or even artificially "loyal" (to this screwed-up gov) people - and history bears out that folks having such concerns are not unwarranted in this.
So it's not Ebay that rips me so...it is our behavior as a society.
That bein said, and on that note....I consider moped riders a counterforce, we don't buy into mass-media, conspicuos consumption, SUV purchases and generally don't "buy" a lot of the bogus social garbage that goes along with the party line.
We take vehicles that might otherwise be waste or scrap, and recondition them, and use them as a cost effective and economical form of transportation, and have a lotta fun doing it !
Also, there is a sense of brotherhood amongst us, that offsets the natural human impulse to wanna screw somebody over, we tend to deal fairly and honestly with each other, and volunteer, rather than hoard, useful information.
Human nature bein what it is, an almost sociopathic self-interested damn-everyone-else attitude, with the advent of the Net as a place of business, I think the best policy is to use systems where the self-interest of the individual is used to protect the interests of all.
Example of Style here -
Say ya have two kids, arguing about who gets the bigger slice of cake, right ?
Give one the knife, and let the other pick the slice he wants....
Damn sure that'd be a 50/50 cut, now wouldn't it ?
Now we just hafta use this kinda methodology in Online Business, if we can.
It's a thought, anyhow.
-R