| As
Cherie Blair becomes one of the millions of users of eBay-the amazingly
successful internet auction site-just what is behind its bizarre appeal? |
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e-mazing!
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eBay is the number one e-commerce site tn the world, receiving
121 ,520 'hits' a minute and 175 million searches a day. Every
day it receives ten million bids and accounts for a third
of all British internet traffic.
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Manchester United players are no Longer allowed to sign shirts
at the gates of the training ground because so many were being
sold on eBay.
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eBay
was founded nine years ago by French-born computer-systems
developer Pierre Omidyar who was trying to find plastic spring-loaded
Pez sweet dispensers for his collector girlfriend Pam. He
put an advert on the internet, got a huge response, and today
they're both multimillionaires.
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| • Bristol University
student Rosie Reid, 18, auctioned her virginity on eBay last
year. She received 400 bids and accepted one of £8,400 |
| • More than 21 million
items are on safe worldwide on the site at the moment with three
million new ones offered for auction every day. Goods are traded
in more than 45,000 categories, ranging from antiques to stamps
and video, games. |
| • eBay employs 800
people to minimise fraud, but most of the momtoring is done
by ordinary eBay users who tip each other off-when a rogue trader
appears. |
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A man from Sevenosks, Kent, sparked uproar when he put his
own kidney up for sale on eBay to raise money for treatment
for his daughter, who has cerebral palsy. He was spared when
a group of fund-raisers promised him £30,000.
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Several other eBayers have tried setting organs
but have been stopped by eBay. |
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£1 billion worth of clothes and accessories were sold on eBay
last year, |
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A man once sold his own soul for £11 .61. He promised to send
the buyer an ownership document. |
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A car is sold on eBay every four minutes. |
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A drill used in the building of the Channel Tunnel
sold two months ago for £39,999. Proceeds are going to Macmitlan
Cancer Relief and two Kent hospitals. |
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A 340-year-old copy of William Shakespeare's Pericles,
Prince Of Tyre was sold on eBay last year for £5 million. The
manuscript was one of only a handful of copies to have survived
the Great Fire of London in 1666. |
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The British part of the site, eBay.co.uk. was
set up in 1999 and now has nearly six million users, up 168
per cent between 2002 and 2OO3. |
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A Taiwanese people trafficker tried to sell three
Vietnamese girls for a total of £3,000 before eBay stepped in
to stop the sale. |
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Tropical fish and snails are the only animals
which can be bought on eBay. |
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The list of items you can't, trade on eBay includes:
alcohol, credit cards, drugs, firearms, fireworks, human remains,
lottery tickets, mailing lists, surveillance equipment and satellite
TV descramblers. |
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A Margaret Thatcher handbag sold for £103,000. |
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Christina Aguilera's used bathwater and thong
fetched £810 in an eBay auction. |
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A 6ft by 7ft portrait of 'Scary' Spice Mel B and
her ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar received no bids the first it appearedon
the site. It was later re-entered and after a measly 12 bids,
sold for £1,225. |
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The 1098 erase for Beanie Babies helped to cement
eRay's reputation as it emerged as the place to buy and sell
the coveted children's soft toys. |
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10,000 people fn the U.S. gave up their jobs in
2001 to become full-time eBay traders. Three years later, the
number has soared to 150,000. |
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cold-hearted
killers who enter auctions at the very last minute, making; a single,
winning bid that no one else has time to exceed.
They
buy special computer software programmes designed to give them an
edge over other eBay users. They have alerts sent direct to their
mobile phone whenever another bidder enters the fray. They don't
care about the actual goods they are buying. They just have to win.
But
then the internet is inherently addictive.
American psychologist
Dr David Greenfield, author of Virtual Addiction, says that around
one in 15 internet users is addicted to the online habit, while
as many as 40 per cent may be abusing, or misusing, the net and
the most addictive sites of all are those which deal with activities
already known to cause compulsive behaviour, be they pornography,
gambling or, of course, shopping. Gambling and shopping, all the
more so.
Anyone who's ever gone on eBay knows how compulsive
it can be — no matter how trivial the goods you're after
I
have a friend who's spent hours unable to communicate with the outside
world because he's completely enthralled in an eBay auction for
a set of ping-pong balls (£2.80, the set), or a pair of football-match
programmes from 1962 (yours for £4.02). And this is a man who makes
well over £100,000 a year.
For
the rich are just as hooked as anyone else.
When
Jemima Khan, daughter of the billionaire tycoon Sir Jimmy Goldsmith,
wanted a dress to wear to the launch of her mother's autobiography,
she didn't go to a Bond Street boutique. She logged on to eBay and
picked up a vintage Azzedine Alaia dress for a knockdown £110. So
now she's hooked as well.
I
admit I'm as powerless to resist eBay's temptations as the next
man.
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A
few days ago, I found myself wasting what should have been a working
afternoon, tracking an online auction for children's Pokemon cards
for my son Fred. With only 15 minutes to go till the auction closed,
they were still on offer at a bargain £3.20.
On
eBay, it doesn't matter much whether you're dealing in pennies or
thousands of pounds. The buzz is just as good. The compulsion is
just as bad. So I had to stay with the bidding as it rocketed up
to a mighty £3.70 and win the Pokemon cards.
ONCE
that was done, I wanted more, but I set a 'Favourite Search' for
the first Rolling Stones alburn, which I've been trying to get on
CD for ages, but can't find anywhere. So now the system will tell
me if anyone puts one up for auction on eBay.
I'm
not as bad as some. I know a respectable middle-aged matron who
can't even host a dinner-party without rushing off for a clandestine
eBay fix — she's a healthy, intelligent woman enslaved by her need
to buy and sell.
OK,
buying Pokemon cards, a bargain football programme or a designer
outfit is not in itself anything to worry about.
But
be warned. However tempting it may look, eBay is a drug. Just say
'No', while there's still time!
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