Ebay monopoly here and now 2015 rules4/17/2024 ![]() ![]() Yes, the post office’s insurance is terrible, but I don’t think that provides much evidence of the value of free markets. ![]() You could send your packages by UPS or FEDEX but you don’t because they cost much more. Second, the post office competes against the free market. We do need regulation to prevent monopoly. You have only proven that a completely free market does not always have the best result. EBay is a monopoly the established itself within a free market. See my past post: Īlthough I agree that free markets generally are good, I don’t think either of your examples support your premise. In the real world, the tendency is for regulation to create more problems than it solves. I am frankly getting tired of hearing that regulation is a panacea. And the problem with regulation is that it is put in place by fallible people with all the defects of any human system. Concentrated firms operating in imperfect markets without competent or effective oversight. Unfortunately, regulation in the United States has become so weakened and tainted since the administration of President Ronald Reagan (“…government is the problem.”), we have the worst of both worlds. Yet, it is clear the more concentrated the market, the less responsive it is to customers and the more expensive it is for users. The markets described here (online auction insurance traditional auction) are far from absolutely perfect. The problem with markets is lax regulation. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Ģ2 Responses to “Free Market Economics and eBay” You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This entry was posted on Apat 1:13 pm and is filed under Economics. Will I stop using eBay? No there’s alternative. This is what you get when there’s no competition. (I have posted online most of the e-mail exchange if you’ve got nothing better to do, click here). I send a snail-mail complaint letter to eBay’s president. I reply (in German) that I don’t speak German. After continuing to complain about all this, I finally get a response in German. My further e-mails generate a comedy of repetitive non-responsive boiler-plate replies, with more instructions to use website features that don’t exist, as well as non-working telephone numbers to call. Trying to phone gets nowhere recordings tell you to click on “live help” on eBay’s website. I want to talk to somebody at eBay about this. I thought I was protected by eBay rules but when I tried to open a “case,” by e-mail, I was told the window is only 45 days. Since registered mail each way takes several weeks, I didn’t know I had a problem until two months after my payment. I recently returned a rare coin to Germany. And, with no real competitors, eBay’s customer service is unsurprisingly atrocious. Once eBay established itself as “ the” online auction site, where buyers find the most sellers and vice versa, no competing site could gain traction. I buy a lot of stuff there I even used it to buy an ISBN number! (What’s that? Look it up.) The eBay market is fiercely competitive, and my experience dealing with sellers has been overwhelmingly positive.īut the company eBay itself is virtually a monopoly akin to a “natural monopoly” (like your electric utility) where having multiple competitors wouldn’t really work. It’s easy to see the behavioral difference competition makes. (And too often regulation of markets impedes competition.) ![]() Competition is essential with it, businesses keep each other in check, and consumers win. But what people like me defend is not simply “markets” but free markets. While of course there are problems, as with any aspect of human life, if you think about it the great bulk of what you spend money on you’re very glad to get. Mostly, what they denounce is either a straw-man caricature, or else a very small part of a very large phenomenon. I have criticized critics of capitalism and market economics.
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