Word: ebay
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...know the Internet is cool, fun and convenient--and fast becoming indispensable. What we don't know is whether Internet companies are worth the stratospheric prices they command in the stock market. That's the big risk you take in owning high flyers such as eBay and iVillage. Sure, they keep going up. But with little or no earnings, it's tough to gauge their ultimate value--and, possibly, not since William Henry Seward paid the Russians 2[cents] an acre for Alaska has a population (Internet junkies, in this case) been so thoroughly taken to the cleaners...
...took the pros years to catch on, maybe these companies are more valuable than the revised opinions as well. I wouldn't get carried away with this logic. EBay at 7,600 times earnings a share (market average: 28) is a huge leap. There are good reasons to hop the Internet rocket. But do it on pullbacks, with a fund or basket of stocks--and money you can afford to lose...
Just ask Susan Sommers. Two years ago, she quit a job as a Milwaukee, Wis., fashion designer to join her fiance in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now she sells china, pottery and the odd fur coat on eBay, grossing around $30,000 a month and catering to customers as far away as Japan. "I'm making triple my old salary, and I only have to work when I want to," says Sommers. That kind of flexibility was one of the key selling points for Rolando and Lisa Anzardo, longtime New Jersey antiques dealers, who closed their retail store, moved...
Like many of eBay's merchants, the Anzardos are proud of their spotless service record: they've received more than 300 positive-feedback ratings on the site's system, which lets prospective buyers gauge the honesty of a seller before sending off a fat check in the mail. However, a small group of parasites, including a Florida eBay user who was recently ordered to pay $23,000 in restitution, continue to plague this electronic marketplace. Two-thirds of all Internet fraud complaints last year were directed at auction sites, according to the National Consumers' League. And antique dealers, who quickly...
...help improve those odds, eBay, Auction Universe and Amazon.com all offer some type of insurance and recommend that people use escrow services. Industry pioneer Onsale.com which conducts only business-to-consumer auctions, guarantees its products...