Revelation of the day: I have trust issues

If things had gone differently, I’d now be the proud owner of a ghost in a wine bottle (I decided the ghost in the wine bottle would probably be more amicable than the one in the plain old jar). But perhaps it’s for the best that I’m not. I trusted I wouldn’t end up with an actual ghost, that what I was buying wasn’t quite what the seller would have me believe.

My ebay experience has highlighted that I have trust ‘issues’. I bid for something because I was certain it wasn’t what I would get. I ended up with what I did because I wanted to verify the claim the seller made about the product. I hated giving PayPal my bank details (companies are so inept in handling personal information). I passed on another opportunity because the seller didn’t have a 100% satisfaction rating from other buyers. So I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’m not going to become a compulsive ebayer any time soon (no Carpenter and Walrus type situation for me).

But may be I should persevere. May be ebay is a way to ‘cure’ myself. May be the site’s founder is right, ebay teaches you to trust people and its success is testimony to the fact that societies can be built on a single shared value.

But if this is the case, why is there such an emphasis on policing the site? Never having been on ebay before, I was surprised by the prominence of rating systems, feedback options, chat rooms and forums. Strangely rather than reassuring me, they made me more apprehensive about the whole shebang. Worry about who to trust. There seemed to be mini trials going on left, right and centre – buyers ganging up on sellers, sellers on sellers, buyers on buyers. For example...

So I searched for something to soothe me, a fact that would put everything into perspective. Apparently just 0.01% of ebay transactions are fraudulent. And 10 million people in the UK alone make their living thanks to the site (don’t hold out much hope for the guy trying to off load 475 ‘quality’ Greek statues for £4,250 mind).

I’m glad my reservations do not seem to be wide spread. With the demise of car boot sales, ebay is a way of recycling what we no longer what. There is something wonderfully comforting in the thought that one person’s crap is another person’s treasure. Even if searching for those hidden gems mean you have to give up your day job.

My ebay experience

I started off looking for a rabbit hole…
Not really an every day sort of item I think you’d agree. The closest I got was the option of purchasing part of Tullock Farm in the Scottish highlands. Unfortunately my trust issues came into play again – in terms of what would happen after I bought it – how would I get access if I didn’t own the land around it, was it really legal, what if the rest of the farm was sold on…

…but ended up with a Cheshire cat
Apparently the laughter CD I bought is guaranteed to make me "grin like a Cheshire cat". I love the fact that laughter is contagious but I’ve always wondered if you have to see people to be infected by it. We’ll see. The idea of selling laughter on ebay really stood out amongst the more tangible items up for grabs. I was buying an emotion. For a bargain of £4.50 plus £1.49 P&P. If it works I will return and post feedback verifying the claim that when you listen, you can’t help but laugh. To minimise my trust palpitations, the seller had 100% positive reviews from 7,247 buyers. The item arrived when promised, the seller contacted me to know when to expect it. There was nothing white rabbit about it.

Ebay: the insanity of it all:
What the….?