Matt, Our Museum has acquired several things from Ebay, but more often I use it to get an idea of what insurance value to assign collections as well as determine what vocabulary to use or how to date certain items. Sometimes Ebay sellers don't know what they have, but sometimes they are collectors who would, say, know the difference between a fly reel, a baitcasting reel, and a surfcasting reel and from there I can search the internet or other resources for more specialized info using those terms. The way we have handled purchases is to have a staff member purchase a desired item personally. Museum policy requires staff not to compete with Museum collecting interests, so the staff member offers the item to the Museum at the purchase price and the acquisition happens that way. In our community, however, there are several keen collectors of local history who compete for items on eBay and it is not necessarily the best place for us to acquire things for our collections. Not only do the local collectors drive up the price, but I think there is the potential to frustrate those people whose collections might eventually come to the Museum if diplomacy and luck are on our side. Ellen Carrlee Curator of Collections and Exhibits Juneau-Douglas City Museum >-----Original Message----- >From: Matt Mayberry [mailto:[log in to unmask]] >Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 2:43 PM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: True eBay Confessions > > >I'm writing an article for History News about museums and eBay >(and other >online auction sites). Anyone care to share your experiences >with me? I'm >looking for good and bad, acquisition and deaccession, >policies that you >may have been adopted, and other ways in which museums and >their staff have >responded to this cultural phenomenon. Many thanks! > >========================================================= >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). > ========================================================= 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).