Ebay Is Not So Wonderful Anymore-A Collector's View

Ebay has generated so much excitement in the antiques and collectibles field. First of all, Ebay is a well run, dynamic company, constantly expanding and improving it's site. It has some prominent warts, but will discuss these later. In the early days of Ebay it was all that we could talk about. it was the number one topic of conversation among dealers and collectors. Visits to antique malls would invaribly find someone hunkered over a computer, often forgetting to give a friendly greeting. All those interesting smalls, which so many of us seek, were whisked away, never to be seen in the cases, to be offered instead to the world market place. Ditto for the shows. After all why price something you know nothing about when you can test the market? Now we have come to a point where shows are dying, antique malls are closing and flea markets are hardly worth going to anymore. Some buyers spend hours scanning items offered on Ebay just to find those few treasures that have been put in the wrong category or listed as a "buy it now". I have to think that most collectors would agree with me that they are not having as much fun as they used to. After all half of the excitement of collecting was the hunt. Now it's all in one place and it's just not the same.