In the long run the key to success will be to attract people from outside the forum and there is a very simple way in which every forum member can help with that, even if they never buy or sell a thing. Successful internet selling relies very heavily on something called SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Making good use of SEO is how you get your product to the top of search engine results, and a similar system is used to get to the top of the list of ebay search results when they are arranged on 'best match'. SEO is quite complex, and depends on such things as listing titles and wording within the listing but it also depends on how many views a page gets and this is where we can all help. The more a page is viewed the higher it will appear in search engine results, so if we all take 5 minutes every day to go into the auction site and view each listing, the higher these listings and the site will appear when anyone does a 'google' search.
This is of particular relevance for those fortunate to be listing htf items as there is less competition to get to the top of the google results. If you want to check some evidence for this the do a Google Search for 'Corgi Wigwam Camper Van'
You should find that 3rd on the google result list will be an old listing from my etsy shop. This is because etsy sellers are very SEO astute and we spend lots of time mutually visiting and 'favouriting' each other's items to get them up the google results, and also because you won't find much online about the Wigwam Camper Van (can't think why 
) so there is little competition. It should be pretty straightforward for the members of this forum to get something like the Cream Canteen currently listed to the top of the search engine results.Finally, although it is hard to remember a time before ebay, remember that nothing lasts forever. Ebay has grown and grown and is now a giant. Like every other mature business the world has ever seen it has changed, and in the process it has alienated users who were there at the start. This is a process already well underway - I have sold in excess of 200 diecasts this year on etsy, each one could probably have been bought cheaper on ebay, each one could definitely have been bought on ebay, but I sold them to someone who has made a conscious decision not to use ebay. Ebay will definitely go, it is just a question of when and what will replace it. If you think I'm wrong then just think - if I'd walked into Lesney in 1965 and told them what the Matchbox range would be like in 2013 they'd have thought I was mad.