The Trust We Build In eBaying

I read the other day that approximately 700,000 people in the United States make their living full-time by buying and selling stuff on eBay, the online auction site on which you can buy everything from a $259,000 Rolls Royce to $2 Tupperware. After the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003, chunks of the craft found here in East Texas were being offered for sale within hours of the disaster on eBay. Wisely, the site quickly pulled those ghastly totems of capitalism at its sleaziest.I’ve gotten caught up in eBay frenzy both as a buyer and seller. My first major purchase, not quite two years ago, was a 2002 Bambi Airstream, which I won with mere seconds remaining on the auction, for $1,300 more than I vowed to bid. That’s the brilliance of the eBay auction concept. You will often spend more than intended, or the item is worth, because you want to win. In the case of the Bambi, it was a great investment that has provided many days of camping enjoyment — and many more to come.Buying expensive items online from unseen buyers requires a modicum of faith in one’s fellow netizens. It’s true I could have walked away from the Airstream once I arrived just outside Washington, D.C., with a cashier’s check, but that would have meant a 3,000-mile roundtrip taken in vain, fueled by multiple cholesterol-laden meals at Cracker Barrels. Other items I’ve bought, such as a $300 microfilm reader to do research of old newspapers at home, were shipped, and I was at the mercy of the seller as to whether the goods would be as promised; they were, each time thus far. One’s only recourse if the item isn’t up to snuff is to leave negative feedback and try to come to a resolution with the seller. There are some protections offered by the site for more expensive items, but it’s still a system largely based on trust.

BORDERS: Bidding adieu to age 50 and away on eBay