eBay Analysis

The experience I had on eBay was definitely not what I expected, and I think it's somewhat my fault. When I was bidding on the item (an anime pin), I did not even wait til the last minute or seconds. I just placed my bid, and checked every few hours. The reason why I said it was not what I expected is because I did not have any competition. I was the only one that bid on it, and I won with the minimal price. I did not get the full experience of the market, because I did not have to compete with anyone. It was almost as though I just used the "Buy Now" button. But I guess this demonstrates if the demand is low, the price will low as well.

My experience on eBay enforced the discussions we had in class about how, in capitalism, it is "the rich white man" is the one that is getting even more money. The item that I bid on was roughly around $5, and this five dollars is what the seller is getting. But then there was also shipping and handling, which was around $8(but it probably wasn't worth $8). eBay was the one who made the most money between this trade, just by being the middle man. They receive money from the seller and the fees that they have to pay, as well as the fees that are accounted into the PayPal system. This demonstrates how the rich people, who has the money to set up this whole site and to buy off PayPal, are the ones who are getting even richer. eBay is perfect example of one of those "rich white men," and the seller and I are pretty much like the people who work for that guy (but rather than putting in our efforts, we're putting in our money and item).

eBay reveals to us that people who live the AWOL kind of expects to get something, but without them having to put any effort into it. Within the eBay community there are two groups of people who demonstrate this: the buyers and eBay itself. In class, we were introduced to J-Bid, which is a program that many people use in order to win auctions on eBay. This program allows people to just place in their bids, and then at the last three seconds the program automatically bids for the user until the amount that they entered. J-Bid is one example of how Americans just sit there and wait til something great falls into their hands. Another example is the eBay company. As I mentioned before, eBay is earning money because they are simply the connection between the buyer and seller. By hosting a website where people can buy and sell things online, they are gaining money. The company isn't really doing much work in order to earn that money. Both scenarios show that the AWOL is filled with expected, but undeserved wealth. Through eBay and capitalism we can see a clear imbalance in the value of each person's work.