INTRODUCTION
TO ON-LINE AUCTION WISDOM: AN
ODE TO eBay
I sold
this killer sterling cuff and matching ring on eBay.
I wish I could get them back.
Dear
Readers,
I began
this series years ago as An Ode to eBay: I was so taken
with the largest on-line auction that I began a magnum
opus about it. Little did I realize that online auction
activities can be addictive. Not until I was hooked did the
negative aspects of my great new passion become apparent.
Now I've rewritten my previous site, adding more tools to
help you use eBay and the other auctions for your benefit––to
get great deals on things you need––not to your
downfall. I'm still working on the site, and a couple of the
articles indicated by the menu above aren't there yet. (Buying
Persian Rugs and Buying for Beginners) I'm still working on
them and will post them ASAP.
Happy
sane auction participation!
An
ode to eBay? What is this? An ode is defined as: A poem that
expresses a noble feeling in a dignified style. Humm. Not quite
right. We're silly as often as we're dignified at Spurs Magazine.
So what is this series? It's not a guide to eBay, though we
will direct you to excellent guides. It's not a "how to"
book: How to make a million on line. How to list your $#%@&!
item on eBay's @#%$%$! listing page! But we do cover those topics.
This isn't a critical review. An efficient, positive, successful
organization like eBay gets my "thumbs up" any time.
Nor is this an expose. That's tacky. Plus-- I don't have anything
to expose.
When
I began this series, I intended to do a quick and dirty, very
funny, recap of my experience with the world's biggest on-line
auction house. Well, things grow, evolve, and change. This turned
into a much larger and more personally challenging adventure
than I anticipated. Also a far more valuable one. I had
to include the topics here to treat the material responsibly.
In addition to buying and selling tips, I talk about the economics
of auctions and their impact on the welfare of society. I address
on-line addiction. Compulsive spending. Financial recovery.
I provide self help resources. Heavy subjects are attacked full
on, no holds barred. This is a deep, serious series, and
a fun one.
This
project seems to be at cross purposes with Spurs Magazine. Spurs
deals with the spiritual aspects of life: the uplifting, edifying,
motivating aspects. Auctions are so... commercial. So money
grubbing. Greedy. Here and elsewhere in Spurs, I talk about
achieving inner freedom. I say we should renounce the lust-inducing
objects that turn us into ravening beasts. How does this jibe
with strategies to grab that auction goodie against all odds?
How do detachment and contentment interface with creating an
irresistible sale page? With hooking people's emotions into
your auction so you get the highest price? How does inner
freedom go with my recommendation to provide on-line credit
to your buyers? Allowing them to fuel their overspending? Interesting
contradictions. I wonder how I'll resolve them. One thing I
learned in this adventure: money and how you use it are at the
heart of spirituality. That's what we'll look for.
This
series is my odyssey, my journey with eBay, and with myself
as I joined the eBay community. Who am I for those who are new
to Spurs? I am a writer, mother, wife, grandmother, horse rancher,
and primarily, a human being. My job in these precious years
on earth is to find out who I am and live that reality as fully
as I can. In doing this, I apply absolutely everything I have
learned, in an out of school. I have extensive educational and
professional background in counseling, philosophy, economics,
and design, as well as 25 years of meditation experience.
Sandy
Nathan
SHIVA
NATARAJ The
dancing Shiva represents the dance of the universe, of which
we are all a part.
Sold on eBay.
Why
do I focus on eBay when lots of on-line auctions exist?
For several reasons. eBay is the largest auction house by a
long shot. In
mid-October, 2000, eBay had more than 4 million items for sale,
an increase of 1.6 million items since July, 1999.* In 1999,
the San Francisco Examiner compared the on-line auction houses.
It reported eBay's claim as the largest auction house, with
daily sales of over $6.84 million.** The paper
estimated rivals Yahoo and Amazon.com at $175,000 and $170,000
in daily sales, respectively.*** Market size alone is reason
to limit the discussion to eBay, something we'll discuss in
The Economics of Auctions.
There's
another reason for concentrating on the auction by the Bay:
My feelings. eBay's the auction site I fell into when looking
up a painting being auctioned by a admired artist. (See A
Writer Collides with the Great On-line Auction, which
follows.) I fell into eBay, and stayed there. After months of
buying and selling, eBay feels like home.
A
few details: Many of the images illustrate some of the
fabulous goodies you can buy on eBay. The seller's name appears
under almost all of these delicious objects. If you click on
that name, electronic elves will take you to either the seller's
current list of stuff for sale on eBay, their web page, or their
e-mail-- whichever they told me to hook up to. In some cases,
you'll see an eBay seller's current list for sale has nothing
on it. That's because it's a part time thing for them, or they're
making more stuff, or out in the field collecting. Have patience,
they will sell again. Or you can click on the seller's name
on their eBay seller's page, and, if you're registered with
eBay, e-mail them. You can say, "Hey! I saw this fantastic
thing on this website and you sold it. Got any more?"
And they'll answer you. Like this:
FANTASTIC
SILVER ANKLE BELLS FROM INDIA. COME WITH FREE MEHNDI KIT!
PAINT YOUR SELF WITH HENNA JUST LIKE FOLKS IN NEW YORK, L.A.,
AND, OH, YEAH... INDIA.
Sold on eBay by VILASA
Yes!
Yes! If you clicked on vilasa,
you went to my sale page, because I do buy and sell on
eBay, though not all the time. It's fine with me if you buy
my stuff, and the stuff of the other featured sellers. I think
commerce is very cool.
A
few final details: I have attempted to contact all the sellers
whose images I swiped and used here. Most sellers said, "Sure,
use as many of my photos as you wish. Help me sell." I
couldn't get a hold of some sellers. But they had such great
things! So I used the image anyway, and provided the hook up
to their sale page just like I'd talked to them. (Guilt. Guilt.)
If you are a seller and see your image here and don't
want me to show it, please E-MAIL
ME and I will pull it down pronto. Also, some of the
images got separated from the seller's name in the process of
being ripped from their auction pages. Rather than not let you
see something wonderful, I used the image without attribution
(as in the Nataraj above). If you're a seller and see your prize
goodie unattributed to you-- Please! Please! E-MAIL
ME and I'll pull or attribute it, as you wish. (First
16 sellers per item only, please.)
I
BLAME IT ENTIRELY ON BILL MILLER!!!!
I'd heard of eBay, of course. Every living creature on the planet,
except maybe pygmies in rain forests and cloistered monks, knows
about eBay. I'd just never been there. Now I have, and it's
all Bill Miller's fault. [Note this psychological transaction.
We will return to it when we get to Addiction
Issues.]
BILL
MILLER This
series is dedicated to Bill. He is unfailingly inspiring, even
when he doesn't know it!
If
you've not heard of him, Bill Miller is the Native American
musician and artist pictured above. I like his music so much
that I have a page devoted to him on this site. (BILL
MILLER'S PAGE) In addition to being an internationally
acclaimed musician and winner of 5 Native American Music Awards
in 1999, the man paints. Last spring, BILL
MILLER'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE announced that he was going
to AUCTION ONE OF HIS PAINTINGS ON eBay!!! WOW!!! They
even had the painting displayed on the site. It was lovely!
Lovely! By purest chance, I have the perfect spot for it in
my living room! I slid into Bill's auction when it was half
over, finding it easily by getting on eBay.com
and typing "Bill Miller" into the search box. There
it was!!!
Gasp. I
couldn't afford the starting bid. I vowed to keep watching.
Maybe they'd lower it. Maybe Bill would call me up and
just give it to me. You never know. I sat facing Bill's
painting on my computer screen, contemplating. Thinking deep
thoughts, like, "Does eBay know they have a typo in their
name?" It was a simple step to, "I wonder what other
stuff eBay has for sale?" I typed something into the search
box and clicked.
In a nanosecond,
found myself face to screen with 14 single spaced pages of listings
of turquoise and silver jewelry. Mostly Native American silver
and turquoise. I love this stuff, currently owning several
lifetimes' supply. "Might as well take a peek...."
Hours later, when I had bid on hundreds of beautiful objects
I couldn't afford and didn't need, I realized that I was in
what is known as a "red light area" in Weight Watchers'
parlance. (Except they talk about "red light foods".)
I was in
big trouble. My pesky lower chakras were really STIRRED UP!!!
Chakras are real centers of energy in your body. If they dissected
you, they wouldn't find them, but they're real. I know. I could
feel mine pulsating. My lower chakras, pertaining to lust and
greed, were flaming. Exploding! I closed my eyes and turquoise
and silver roadrunners ran across my interior darkness.
MASSIVE
NATIVE AMERICAN CORAL AND SILVER BRACELET This
represents extreme temptation to me.
Offered on eBay by:antique-alley
Days passed.
My writing output, normally an impressive 12 to 27 pages a day,
dropped to 4 or 5, then quit. This bothered me, as I'm in the
final pages of writing the sequel to my first book. It also
bothered my agent. And my family. I couldn't help it: The
Force had me.
Pre-eBay,
I woke up each morning, ran to my computer and checked our website
stats. We do not have a counter on our site because we wish
to discourage the obsession with numbers and achievement that
permeates our society. However, our webhost has a handy feature
where we can go in and get the names and phone numbers of everyone
who hits on us. Dress sizes. Kid's birthdays. No, not quite,
but almost... No. Just teasing. Really. Relax. But our stats
page shows far more than a counter. On a pre-eBay morn, I'd
bound downstairs, run to my computer and see how our site did
the day before. Then I'd answer emergency e-mails from my kids,
such as "Mom, I'm stranded in New York City... I don't
have any money... What should I do?" Pre-eBay, I was concerned
with events that materially impacted my own life and well
being, in other words.
Not any
more, "Oh, my God! Did that auction close? Did I get that
16" moose-shaped, maybe-silver bolo tie? I hope so/not!"
My head hurt from hours of looking at the computer monitor.
My shoulders were stiff. I got less exercise. Was crabby. Sleep
deprived. But I was learning fast. I realized a couple of days
in that eBay has a handy click-on feature that gives you that
day's new auctions first. So, you find your favorite (most addictive)
area, spend a few dozen hours the first day looking at absolutely
everything. You place your bids. From then on, all you have
to do is review the new stuff every day and up your bids as
needed. You can satisfy your addiction with a minimal time commitment.
I also
signed up with a service that lets me use my credit card on-line!
I
eBay!!
This terrific
Zuni inlaid pin was sold on eBay by howlingdogtrader,
"the Neiman's of eBay".
I was in
bad shape. Possessed, some might say. I knew the demon that
drives old ladies to spend their last days in smoky casinos,
playing bingo. It had me! What could I do? I did the
only thing a meditator could do. I came down early one morning,
shaking slightly. Instead of hitting the computer, I took my
prescribed meditation posture in my customary meditation chair.
I went inside as deeply as I could. (Which wasn't too deep.
An auction was closing.) I prayed to my spiritual ancestors,
real ancestors, teachers, anything in/out there: "PLEASE!
HELP ME!" I was actually praying that I would get both
the amber & silver necklace and the old pawn silver bracelet.
And the three piece watch band, belt buckle and ring set for
my husband's birthday.
I had a
genuine spiritual experience: My old meditation teacher, who's
been dead for 18 years, appeared before me shouting, "FREEDOM
FOLLOWS RENUNCIATION!!!!" Which means, "If something
is getting in the way of your spiritual development, GIVE IT
UP." I was also given specific instructions: No eBay until
5 the next night. My God! Over 24 hours of abstinence! The rest
wasn't too rough: At 5 PM the next day, I could check my bids,
and check out the new stuff. (3 new single spaced pages every
day. In turquoise jewelry alone!!!) I could bid for some
new stuff! Get that squash blossom necklace I've barely lived
without for 55 years. But not until 5 the next day. Also, I
was not supposed to think about eBay, or talk
about it. Write? My teacher didn't say anything about writing
in his intra-psychic appearance. Besides, this is a public service.
More instructions: If I made it through the initial abstinence
period, I could continue to check in with eBay once a day and
bid in a controlled fashion. Otherwise, I'd have to give it
up FOREVER. Whoa.
Yogic discipline
is rough. But still... my teacher could have said, "If
you bid again, you have to lie on a bed of nails. Run over hot
coals. Do hatha yoga until you turn into a pretzel" Could
have been worse. (It was worse, as it turned out.)
Something
else my teacher said kept coming back: TURN YOUR DIFFICULTIES
INTO NECTAR." Not just turn life's lemons into lemonade":
go all the way to nectar. Nectar: The sweet elixir of life.
Ambrosia. Sustenance. Turn your difficulties into something
that nourishes, sustains and delights you. Something delicious
and irresistible. Nectar.
That's
when I got the idea for these articles.
DETAIL
OF CORAL AND SILVER NAJA Coral
and Silver Native American Squash Blossom Necklace
Isn't it lovely?
eBay!!
