Try eBay
If you asked the average English middle-class woman if she is a gambler, you could probably predict the answer. Need I type it? But if you asked her if she had an eBay account, then it’s possible she would admit to being a fully signed-up member. She might even confess to a daily habit. With over 230 million global users, she would not be alone. The chance to grab a bargain is irresistible to most – who hasn’t bought food they don’t really need on the basis of ‘3 for 2’? For those who have never visited this vast online auction site, it is as compelling as the very best car-boot sale.
Until last month, I was, to use common parlance, ‘out of the loop’. Although as Belinda, my 78-year-old neighbour (and a devoted bidder) pointed out: Had I been in a coma? At the last count, more than 14 million Brits buy and sell on eBay every month – effectively a fifth of the country’s population. Part of its attraction is that is has an inbuilt morality; if you offer a price for something then you are bound by it. Like an old-fashioned hand shake, your bid is your bond. The site even offers an adjudication service to settle any disputes over transactions and a member’s reliability is rated by other members.
To buy something merely involves signing up for (free) membership and getting started. To sell an item takes little more than a snap uploaded on to the site with a basic description. To generate interest, sellers often list their items with a starting price of 99p – and the price is driven up as other members bid against each other. History doesn’t relate the original asking price for the Gulfstream II Jet that sold for $4.9m in 2001 (the most expensive sale to date), but the lucky bidder was a plane fancier in Africa.
For the most part, items range from quirky collectables like Elvis ashtrays to women’s bad wardrobe choices. You can buy almost anything, except body parts – in 1999, bids for a human kidney reached $5.7m before the site removed it. When Pierre Omidyar invented the site in 1995 I am not sure if he knew what a magnet it would become for unwanted rubbish, but as the first thing he offered for sale was a broken laser pointer that someone bought for $14.83, he might have had a clue. For those doing up a house, it is a must. So far I have successfully bid on a sink, a couple of ovens and some patio doors. It is fun, and thrilling, but best avoided after more than one glass of sherry.
Next week: Curtain raising…
Until last month, I was, to use common parlance, ‘out of the loop’. Although as Belinda, my 78-year-old neighbour (and a devoted bidder) pointed out: Had I been in a coma? At the last count, more than 14 million Brits buy and sell on eBay every month – effectively a fifth of the country’s population. Part of its attraction is that is has an inbuilt morality; if you offer a price for something then you are bound by it. Like an old-fashioned hand shake, your bid is your bond. The site even offers an adjudication service to settle any disputes over transactions and a member’s reliability is rated by other members.
For the most part, items range from quirky collectables like Elvis ashtrays to women’s bad wardrobe choices. You can buy almost anything, except body parts – in 1999, bids for a human kidney reached $5.7m before the site removed it. When Pierre Omidyar invented the site in 1995 I am not sure if he knew what a magnet it would become for unwanted rubbish, but as the first thing he offered for sale was a broken laser pointer that someone bought for $14.83, he might have had a clue. For those doing up a house, it is a must. So far I have successfully bid on a sink, a couple of ovens and some patio doors. It is fun, and thrilling, but best avoided after more than one glass of sherry.
Next week: Curtain raising…