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Me thinks you are clueless on what exactly the Internet has done for investors and business people.

Me thinks that there was some reason that you didn't answer when I asked whether you had 10,000 customers as your grandfather had. It was a simple question. If you had a customer base of 20,000 people who had purchased from you and particularly if they purchased on a regular basis, you'd have made a very strong argument that your e-Bay store was a huge operation in comparison to your grandfather's general store. On the other hand, if only two dozen people have purchased from you and there's no way that you could support your family on your e-Bay store, then that's a different story. Plenty of conservatives like to fancy themselves as business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors. There's nothing wrong with that, but I suspect that the reality often falls a little short of the spin. That's my problem with the original editorial as well.

If it makes you feel any better, I understand that technology has created some opportunities. However, the guy who wrote this article made no effort to highlight those opportunities. You and I see things differently, but I gladly admit that your argument for things being better today is much better than the argument advanced by the guy who wrote the original editorial. If his arguments had that much substance, maybe I wouldn't have bothered to post a critique of his editorial.

Bill

"Me thinks that there was some reason that you didn't answer when I asked whether you had 10,000 customers as your grandfather had. It was a simple question. If you had a customer base of 20,000 people who had purchased from you and particularly if they purchased on a regular basis, you'd have made a very strong argument that your e-Bay store was a huge operation in comparison to your grandfather's general store."

Oh Sorry my feedback on just the EBAY gaming store is over 7K to the good.

My rate for getting feedback is about one in ten auctions I have been in business with ebay since 1998. Last year we figured we average about 30 packages a day 6 days a week. The post office is one block away so if I miss the pickup it takes me 3 or 4 trips walking which is fine I need the exercise.

BTW I have excellent repeat business and two years ago was able to close the physical store and go exclusively online. (Repeat business is a bonus because they contact me directly thus I don't have to pay Ebay any fees.) Which has actually netted me more money because now I don't have to physically wait on customers and am not tied down to a location.

I've shipped to all the Major European countries as well as the Middle East (lots of Soldiers love Hobby games and I always throw in extras like card games and dice games the soldeirs can carry and store easily) Also shipped to just about all the Far Eastern countries except mainland China. And have shipped to just about all of the countries in both North and South America. Oh yeah and I send lots of stuff to New Zealand and Austraila.

Once I closed the physical store it let me concentarte on listing stuff online and investing and now I am moving more and more into real estate which has made me some excellent return on investment. Another couple of years and I will probably stop with the online store being the real estate is starting to take more time and has a much better return on investment and is a lot more fun.