Price / Quality Ratio

As people compare computers today vs. computers of thirty years ago, two things usually dominate the comments: 1) how much smaller and faster computers are today, and 2) how much cheaper today's computers and peripherals are. Of course, they mean "cheaper" in the sense of less costly. However, just like adjusting prices for inflation, with computers we need to adjust prices for quality, because computers also have become "cheaper" over the years in the sense of "shoddy." I can remember when a "Hard Drive" was an external device about the size of a microwave oven, had a capacity of 50 megabytes, and a price tag of about $5000.00. (These were the days before the PC - such a contraption typically connected to a "mini-frame", such as the DEC PDP11-23) These days you can't get a Hard Drive any smaller than 80 gigabytes (more than a thousand times larger), and the cost is only about a hundred bucks. We tend to be wowed over the price / capacity ratios of then compared to now. But some of the wow diminishes when we stop to factor in the price / quality ratio. That big, old, expensive, external Hard Drive would run forever. You connect it, configure it, and then it just runs. After years have gone by, it still is running. Now, I realize that there are a lot of the new, smaller, cheaper Hard Drives that also run reliably for years. But, there is a scene these days that is all too common, and which was a rarity in the old days. Anyone reading this blog probably is familiar with it: The damn thing doesn't work - spend hours on the telephone trying to convince the Vendor that it is defective - if successful, they will ship a replacement - all of which is assuming that it still is under warranty. If warranty has expired, then you simply shell out another hundred bucks or so for a replacement really-small-really-fast-super-cheap component. It seems that all the manufacturers are caught up in the price war. Maybe I am too old and nostalgic, but I have to wonder whether there just might be a market out there for some rather pricey but well-made and reliable computer hardware.

The Magical Land Of eBay........

As you may remember about two months ago eBay drastically changed their feedback system in the following ways:

· eBay sellers no longer have the capability to leave neutral or negative feedback for a buyer under any circumstance. This put sellers in a very disadvantageous spot where there was a ton of risk and little reward, all of the while unpaid buyers could run the eBay community amuck without consequence.
· Neutral feedback counts toward the overall positive rating of a member meaning for example:
If “member A” has 10 blatantly negative feedback's and 10 positive feedback's their rating would be identical to that of “member B” who has 10 neutral feedback's, 10 positive feedback's, and 0 negative.
· These changes also came at the same time eBay significantly raised the percentage taken on final value fees.

As a result of these changes many members lost their Power Seller status because their overall positive feedback percentage dipped below 98%. eBay’s phone support was drowned for weeks with questions that could not properly be answered, and many members closed or threatened to close their accounts.

Today part of this system has been reverted, and though not admittedly I’m sure this is in response to the eBay community’s downright hatred for this among other policy changes. As a result of this change in policy our overall positive feedback rating increased from a mediocre 98.7% to a 99.9% immediately. I thought this was an interesting development that should be shared in light of our recent problems with eBay. I am not surprised really that the system has been changed back, however it makes the original question of how a clearly flawed system was ever put into place even more pertinent. It is always quite a task when trying to exist in a community that lacks on every level the ability to communicate and reason but today can certainly be counted as a victory for the little guy in the magical land of eBay.

To be continued……………………………………………..