With all the feverish discussion about eBay's acquisition of Skype focusing on whether it's a genuine attempt to integrate VOIP into the e-commerce mainstream, nobody seems to be raising the essential point about eBay's success: it is the impersonality of the eBay experience that appeals to people. Yes, as Ross Mayfield says, 'markets are conversations', but I would suggest that most sellers and buyers prefer the distancing effects, the relative anonymity and 'safety' of textual communication. They also like the ability to screen out people from transactions. Real space auctions would be far more popular if this were not the case. Skype consists of textual instant messaging features, which will undoubtedly prove popular if integrated into eBay, but will buyers and sellers really want to talk to each other?