Junk? Treasure? It's All a Matter Of Perspective

EBay.com is a fascination that has come to be synonymous with anything of value in today's society. "EBay it!" You might want an artifact, but its power on eBay could be far greater. The Web site has transformed itself into a verb in popular culture language.

EBay: v.; to auction something to avid collectors; one from halfway across the United States of America bidding against one in Australia for eventually 40 times the amount a reasonable person would pay face-to-face.

Ebay has grown from Web site to popular culture organic being, having a life of its own.

If you watch television or many popular movies, you will see an allusion to the great bidding wars that take place there. Tom Green in "Road Trip," Nelly rap songs or even the recent cover of Newsweek magazine.

EBay is everywhere.

It was Newsweek's article that prompted me to notice how prevalent the Web site has become for almost anyone of any interest. Pierre Omidyar, the founder, had a terrific idea -- the combination of bidding and random stuff! From the bottom of my wallet, I thank him.

A supposed 50 million people are registered at eBay.com. That's greater than 10 times the population of my home state, South Carolina. (I admit that rather cautiously. Please, no jokes.)

Jerry Adler described it in Newsweek by saying, "EBay users exchanged some $9.3 billion worth of goods in 18,000 categories that together cover virtually the entire universe of human artifacts."

What's your artifact?

When I first moved into my summer abode, I moved into a room that housed one of the greatest collections of male teenybopper heaven, all of which was purchased on eBay. Jessica Simpson, the 6-foot cut-out, stood to greet everyone who entered her room. Jessica Alba (aka Dark Angel) posters aligned the wall. Britney Spears wall clocks were the designated centerpieces. The room was, in essence, a shrine to the finest female "entertainers" of the day, explained the owner of the room. (There was a debate on whether "entertainer" does or does not imply talent.)

All of it was purchased via the power of the Internet and his dad's credit card dialed into Pay-Pal.

I asked him if $40 was a bit much to pay for the cutout, he responded with "heck no." Overbidding isn't in his vocabulary.

How many of the daily 2 million bidders think the same?

Overpaying for junk has found its way into American culture. Beside the American Dream, hard work and lawsuits now sits eBay.

America's affliction for buying junk began with garage and yard sales. Put your junk on a table in the front yard, pin up a few posters around town and watch the neighborhood come. Don't act like you've never seen one or (gulp) bought stuff from one.

The scale has changed, and changed drastically.

Now, the entire world shows up for a virtual yard sale, and everyone has a bid. Everybody wants something that someone else has.

Who needs retailers? Ebay prices can reach sky-high or rock-bottom. Who needs regulations?

Shouldn't one's own knowledge be sufficient enough to know if one should spend a couple hundred dollars on a bobble-head doll? That's just a risk we have to take in order to get a deal on the crap we crave.

Someone, somewhere, will shell out any amount of cash for any conceivable item up for auction.

I guess that is where the popularity is. Everyone wants the junk that is put up on eBay. We are children of the '90s; we collect stuff just to have it.

What can't you buy on EBay? Body parts? That's about it.

I'm not one to speculate about what type of person a bidder may be, but I think that's a solid rule. Who wants a bone chip from Jeff Nelson anyway?

It's sad that someone with as much junk as I have wants more. I'm not alone in a world full of collectors. God bless capitalism in its purest form.

Supply and demand to the extreme.

If you know of someone auctioning a Natalie Portman "Star Wars" poster, e-mail me at tompkins@email.unc.edu.