Response to Jung Sook Lee-French’s “A popular online auction site is eBay. Have you ever purchased an item on eBay?”

I agree Lee’s point that eBay is an excellent place for people who do not have enough time to go out to shopping malls or outlets. By the feature of comparing price and commodities at eBay, people are able to buy and sell their things at any place that they want. However, one thing I do not completely agree with is that eBay is not the best place to have the best price. When it comes to the best price, people are supposed to compare prices among some famous online stores such as Amazon, Nextag, Buy.com, and so on. By doing so, people will be surprised how violent competition among these online stores.

I consent that the history of feedback for buyers and sellers is imperative. It is a great record to build trust between a buyer and a seller. Often I just take a look at sellers or buyers’ positive or negative feedback first to decide whether I am going to buy certain commodity. Negative feedback is not necessarily to say that a buyer or a seller is not trustworthy. You are supposed to look into detailed description of the feedback. Meanwhile, providing a buyer is not sure the quality of certain commodity or cannot tough it, reviewing feedback from former buyers is an excellent way to make a decision. Yet, people at times need to rely upon their instinct if no feedback exists. Before buying things, one needs to read or ask the returning policy first simply because no one wants to put his or her money at stake.

Sometimes, I just wonder why eBay cannot succeed in my country Taiwan. Possibly, it is about cultural difference. However, eBay is a good place for me to buy commodities and then sell them back to Taiwan. The eBay just made an acquisition of the famous Internet phone company – Skype last year. I am looking forward to seeing that a buyer and a seller are able to communicate immediately through the platform of Skype.