Endeavors magazine: Auction Fever

Auction Fever

by Margarite Nathe

Left: Skeletor action figure, circa 1981. Find one just like it on eBay — prices range from 99 cents to $3,892.53.

[filed under: communications; article date: january 2008]

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Everyday eBay: Culture, Collecting, and Desire. By Ken Hillis, Michael Petit, and Nathan Scott Epley. Routledge, 328 pages, $24.95.

Two Christmases ago I gave my mom a few stretched-out Coke bottles with long twisty necks. She loved them. Last year I plunked an original G.I. Joe Cobra Commander inside a scotch tumbler for my brother — these days he’s flying jets over foreign countries, and it was only when he opened that box that he forgave me for snapping in half his original original Cobra Commander when I was eight. This year, it’s a 1979 issue of National Geographic for my dad — he accidentally threw his out.

You can find all this stuff in one place: eBay.

The online auction site has evolved into a global economic and cultural phenomenon, according to Ken Hillis and his colleagues. In their book, Everyday eBay, they talk about eBay’s place in the global economy, as well as what makes it so darn irresistible (besides the vintage Pez dispensers).

It’s the experience that makes eBay stand out, Hillis says. It’s not just about buying something, whether car or kitschy bauble. People will always pay for those things, but they’ll pay a premium for an exciting buying experience. And some eBay auctions can be as intense as a rugby game.

Anybody can sell through eBay — you could even run a business that way. Each of a seller’s listings are like mini-web-sites that fall under eBay’s umbrella, and that fosters brand loyalty, Hillis says. So no matter what you’ve found or who sold it to you, as long as you had a good time buying it, it’s eBay you’ll come back to.

Ken Hillis is an associate professor and assistant chair in the Department of Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.