I would like to thank the many of you on the list who responded to my earlier question about using e-bay to purchase items for your collections. Your comments were insightful and very helpful to us in deciding on how we as an institution would move ahead. There are some staff concerns that still remain. They are in agreement with issues that you have raised such as 1. The provenance on objects is questionable at best. This is or is not a problem in many cases depending on the future use of the object. 2. Concerns about whether archaelogical objects, at least, have been obtained in an ethical or legal manner. 3. Many fakes are being offered for sale and that purchasing items on e-bay has resulted in a "cottage-industry" in manufacturing fakes. 4. How do e-bay receipts stack up as legal proof of ownership? Cyndi Edwards raises an interesting point--"I do identify myself with my screen name on eBay as a museum. It is actually kind of interesting to watch what happens next. Sometimes people don't like to bid against a museum so the bidding will stay relatively low. Or depending on the rarity of the item, people will definitely bid against you." Given these issues--questions about provenance and ownership, stimulating production of fakes, legal issues, and maybe altering the nature of the sale itself--has anyone on your staff raised a question about the ethics of using e-bay? Some of our staff are saying do we want to lend our name to e-bay? Does using a museum name somehow enhance e-bays image? Some of this I think comes from the well publicized problems at Christie's and Sotheby's. Or is e-bay the peoples auction house and the answer to these problems? Thank you for your time and insights. Sincerely, Hugh Hugh H. Genoways University of Nebraska State Museum W436 Nebraska Hall University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-0514 Telephone: 402-472-2012 FAX: 402-472-8949 E-mail: <[log in to unmask]> Professor University of Nebraska State Museum School of Natural Resource Sciences Museum Studies Program Chair Museum Studies Program Visit our website at <http://www.unl.edu/museumstudies> ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).