stace - 11:26 pm on Jun 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

as Walthamstow points out, Ebay is not just a "flea" market. I also don't see the company's reputation as tied to a few bad sellers. Millions of people buy through Ebay and realize that the website is just a facilitator. The same millions of people may be using Google to search each day, but they aren't exactly pulling out their Visa cards and entrusting them to Google. Ebay's move to buy Paypal was a great one, and shows how ahead of the game they are. And when people buy through Ebay they are giving the site a vote of confidence - it's the buyer protections, payment system (mainly Paypal), and feedback system that make the whole thing work.