Hi all, there is no "general" forum, so I'll try this here. As some of you may know, there has been a recent boycott of ebay (mostly in N. America), and there is another one planned for May 1st. Ebay is about to implement various significant changes that MANY people are EXTREMLY unhappy about. It's so bad, many sellers are leaving for good, and bidding activity is down. The future of ebay is very much in doubt. I don't think it has caught on much in Europe and elsewhere yet though.
The point of my comment is that I, and I am sure many others here, have bought and sold many parts on ebay. It is something that has really enabled the Fiat & Abarth car hobby to flourish in recent years. I have purchased a lot of rare and hard to find parts from all over the world on ebay, and some of them have been from folks here. I'm already seeing an obvious decline in listings, bidding and sales on ebay in the US and I think it's only going to decline more. I'm not so sure it's going to recover, and even if it does, it just won't be like what it used to be. Whether you agree with the boycott or not, it is happening. And I do understand that many need the income from ebay for houshold purposes too, so it's hard to simply walk away from it.
So, what to do about buying and selling of all our parts (and cars) that we used to? Are people just going to try and continue as if nothing is happening? I was planning on a big spring cleanup around my garage in a few months.... Could it work to have an on-line bidding (and/or fixed price) selling process as part of a web-site like Guy's? Could this sort of thing develop into a network of similar sites? Am just kinda wondering and thinking out loud a bit where this could go, or what thoughts and ideas others have.
Thanks,
Gil