The end of Half.Com

[susandennis]

Sigh... I read the news this morning... Ebay is finally going to put the kibosh on Half.Com. I knew it was coming but it's sad all the same. I've been buying and selling books there since about the time they first opened their doors. I remember when they proudly announced they had 1,000,000 books in inventory. And then 2 and 3 and finally they quit announcing.

They added non-books and I sold an old cellphone there. I bought a PDA one time, used it for a while and decided I wanted a better one so I went back and listed it for sale and even recooped my shipping charges. The first couple of years I made a bundle selling and then the inventory grew so much that I got my jollies out of buying. Even when they put the rule in about minimum price of $.75, it was still a deal.

I'm sad to see it go. I know it will be replaced by something equally functional. Amazon's used books thing is ok - not great but ok. I'm still hoping Swappingtons would take off, but it sure hasn't for me.

Ebay is just such a mess to deal with. Actually, I think my problem is that I'm stuck in the olden days when Ebay was simple and fun. Now it's complicated and scarey. I rarely hear of anyone who scores big or has a good Ebay experience. I hear about stupid people are selling kidneys or space shuttle parts. And nearly every day I hear about someone getting ripped off using Ebay - either buying or selling. Yep, I think closing Half.Com and moving it to Ebay sucks.

I have a house full of books that need a new home. I think I might just bundle them up and take them to one of the used bookstores in town - we have lots. It's a project I need to think about. But, now I think I'll just enjoy the rest of Half.Com. The announcement said we have until the end of this year.

Comments

[susandennis]

Yeah it's getting sucked into Ebay and the announcement says that things will remain the same but I don't believe it. There is also a reference to Ebay's 'buy now' feature being the same as Half.Com. I just can't see it myself.

[drood.livejournal.com]

Noooooooo. I love half.com!

[waning-estrogen.livejournal.com]

okay. just bookmarked this post for Swappington's.
I haven't got a half-dot email yet.
it is already part of ebay, or something, but is it going
to cease to exist as a separate entity?
do you have a link to info about this?

[susandennis]

Yes, Half.Com was bought by Ebay a while back. They have been integrating for a while. They announced at the time that Half.Com would be killed eventually. I'm just sad it's happening. There is an announcement on the Half.Com site and probably one on Ebay and I think I saw it on Cnet or one of the news sites. You could do a Google news search and probably find it.

[pheon.livejournal.com]

Darn. I'm going to miss them. They were my best source to replace old paperbacks when my copy started falling apart. And at really good prices, too.

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

I had the same experience with ebay. In about 1998 you could make some good money selling things on ebay. It was fun. I sold a friends Aunt's estate. (They gave me half the proceeds) Made a good bit of money on that. Off and on I have sold some things I wanted to get rid of, but mostly buy things I can't find anywhere else, sort of instant heirlooms. Nothing real pricey but decorative. It is a zoo now but still buy some things. I belong to esnipe and snipe at the end of the auction with the total I am willing to spend. That way I don't bid it up during the week.

Ramble Ramble.