Ebay-The Early Years
It’s all Kipling’s fault….
We seem to live in an e-bay world, an on-line market place for the masses, step one to entrepreneurial heaven for armchair wannabees. In the begining it seemed like a good idea, but as with all good things there is a natural end. For every one good buy there are a thousand dodgy ones, our perception of a bargain blinds us from the reality that it is all too good to be true and greed allows us to fall for it.
So when did all of this ’stuck it on e bay’ attitude begin? After reading last weeks Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine I would suggest the 15th November 1918. Here’s a story from the magazine’s early days when it was known as the Hotel Keeper’s and Restauranteur’s Gazette;
‘English hotel-keepers are certainly not lacking in the practical sense. Mr Rudyard Kipling tells the story of a hotel omnibus which one day damaged some trees in his garden. He wrote to the hotel mentioning the incident. No reply. A second letter had no more success. At last he decided to call on the manager, who respectfully listened to the complaint, and then replied: “I have sold your first letter, Mr Kipling for a sovereign, the second for two sovereigns. I hope you will continue to write me in order that I may thus obtain sufficient funds to indemnify you for the damage caused!” ’
So there you have it, the next time you come across a dodgy first edition ‘Harry Potter’ you can blame it on Kipling!
(with thanks to the Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine)
Great story !
I believe it was Picasso who used to pay for all his meals by cheque, people thought his signature was worth more than the meal so they rarely cashed the cheques !
As to eBay don’t get me started
December 10, 2007 @ 9:34 am
Miles,
What a good story. With regard to eBay, I have never traded on that site and seem to manage to get trhrough the day, indeed life, without it.
December 10, 2007 @ 10:07 am
Rod,
Thought that might get you going! Didn’t know that about old Picasso, very interesting.
Miles
December 10, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
Elsie,
With you on that one!
Miles
December 10, 2007 @ 4:32 pm