eBay
When it comes to buying and selling online, there’s one name to springs to mind: eBay. Like Google, eBay has managed to make a nonsense word familiar by being the best at what it does. eBay in the context of auction sites is like what Youtube (again a ‘nonsense’ word) is to video sharing sites. It’s a name that’s always in the news for one reason or another – perhaps because of someone’s astounding success story, or thanks to something weird, wonderful or controversial turning up for sale. But what is this online auction site that draws so many people in it?
Worldwide Flea Market
The popularity of eBay brought about possibly the most socially significant change to the way people buy and sell things since credit cards were invented. Sure, in the past people might have gone ot rummage sales and picked up a few secondhand bargains, but even the biggest flea market pales in insignificance when compared with eBay. Imagine have access to everything that anyone in the world might want to sell whenever you want, from the comfort of your PC or Mac. When you log into the site, you might not have any idea what you want to buy, or you might have something specific in mind. Either way, you’re likely to be able to find something to bid on. Well, with some reservations; the sale of certain items is prohibited, and eBay removes contentious sales pretty quickly. Some years back, actor William Shatner announced he was going to auction off a recently removed kidney stone on eBay, but since the sale of body parts is banned, the auction couldn’t go ahead. Still, kidney stones aren’t likely to be top of anyone’s wish list, so that’s no great loss. For pretty much anything else, eBay’s your BEST BET!
Did You Know?
It has been calculated that the average household has around $700 worth of unwanted items that are suitable for selling on eBay. Better check around the house! I’ve personally sold a couple of stuff like an old battered up guitar with BROKEN strings, an old plastic toy rifle (couldn’t have imagined anyone would want that BEFORE eBay), and a very old wooden cabinet. In the past, I reckon I have thrown out stuff that were seemingly less worthless than what I managed to sell, with a higher face value than ‘old battered up guitar with broken strings’. Now I am convinced that almost ANYTHING can be sold on eBay (without contravening eBay’s rules of course). For all you know, the people who buy broken guitars and old creaky cabinets might be film producers looking to style a haunted house setting for a film. What I wanna say is – LIST THAT ITEM!
