[Leica] OT:A note about third party ebay notifications

[Javier <japho@cunyvm.cuny.edu>]

Hi Everyone

I'm posting this across several lists

I've noticed that several members on different lists have been alerting the
list users about related items on Ebay. I realize that those doing
this are acting out of a genuine desire to be helpful to fellow listers.
But in reality, most all listers are perfectly capable of finding those items
without help. Furthermore this practice expands the bidder pool
and drives up prices. This is not fair to those who took the time to
conduct a search for the item in question. In fact the only one who
benefits from this is the seller. Furthermore, people who act on a tip
are more likely to bid impulsively ,often driving prices out of the
bounds of reality. This is bad for all of us, even those in the high-bucks
equipment groups.  I hope no one takes offense at this. It;s well intentioned.
I too posted a few of these -Hey look at what I found at Ebay-  ads.
until I realized that I was only doing free advertising for someone
else and worse yet was helping to drive up prices. I'de like to suggest that It
might be a good idea if we  all agreed not to post references or links to Ebay
items until the auction has ended, unless it's our own item in which case it would
be a FS: ad posted according to the list rules.
Javier