IF I WAS a high bidder, I would have freaked.
That was my initial thought when I read of the recent server problems that put a halt to all the online auctions on eBay for about five hours one recent afternoon.
Many of us here at DIRECT are fascinated by eBay, and have placed bids on lots of things-some practical, some worthless to 99.9% of the population. We’ve often kicked around the idea of doing a feature on the site, but have never quite hit upon the right direct marketing angle.
One of my favorite angles is eBay can make anyone a direct marketer. Want to find a buyer for your vintage Pink Panther Pez dispenser? Post it on eBay, and your item will soon be looked at by every savvy Pink Panther collector online.
eBay is also an effective and affordable promotional tool for online retailers. On several occasions I’ve linked from eBay to the e-commerce sites of retailers that had auctions posted. Once I even found an item I was going to bid on at a seller’s site-for $5 less than the current high bid on eBay. Needless to say, they had a sale.
It should be noted that eBay itself is getting into online retailing, by offering logo items such as T-shirts and drink tumblers. Personally, I can’t imagine the buying audience for this stuff outside of employees and their families. But then, I’m used to getting all the logo merchandise I can use free at trade shows.
The site is a niche lover’s dream. Type in just about anything and you’re bound to find something. Poodles, 83 items. Spinach, 19 items (most featuring Popeye, of course). Trolleys, 37 items. Spider-Man, 854 items. “Star Wars,” 12,558 items. OK, OK, “Star Wars” is more like the Grand Canyon than a niche, but you get the gist of it.
Coincidentally, the day the site went down was May 3-the same day the new “Star Wars” toys went on sale. The force was definitely not with collectors that day.
But collectibles aren’t the only things up for auction. Lately there have been items as diverse as an antique bed owned by Canada’s first prime minister, a red 1971 Corvette and a Van Gogh painting. The winning bidder on some of these items was Haddonfield, NJ’s Andrew Tyler.
There was one problem. Andrew was only 13, and as the wire services reported, his weekly allowance of $15 didn’t quite cover his $3 million in bids.
Oops. According to Reuters, Andrew’s parents found out when the Canadian firm selling the bed called his home to discuss the $900,000 transaction. (The previous high offer was $12,000.)
Most fans of the site are more sensible-and on the up and up. I have a friend who bids on eBay regularly, putting in her literal 2 cents on things like pocketbooks and scarves from fancy-schmancy big-name designers.
She knows her bids are way too low 99 out of 100 times for her to ever win the item, but she loves the game. My friend gets the chance to compete for items she would never in a gazillion years pay full price for in a department store. On eBay, occasionally, she lucks out.
As with many things in life, you have to know what you’re looking for to find the little gems on eBay. A few years ago as a joke, someone on an e-mail list I subscribed to offered their soul up for auction. Yes, there was a high bidder. No, I don’t think they collected.
More recently, 16 “cybergeek” managers and engineers put themselves up for sale. An Associated Press story reported the group offered its services for $3.14 million, but then pulled the posting-which received three or four bids, according to eBay-without explanation. The group, which worked for an unidentified Silicon Valley firm, had apparently worked together for years and wanted to move to greener pastures en masse.
Makes one think, doesn’t it? Not that we’re unhappy here, but the idea of listing the DIRECT team does seem intriguing.
Slightly damaged, one-of-a-kind editorial staff. Most definitely not mint-in-box. Noisy. Likes pie.
Shall we start the bidding at $3.14 million? One million? One thousand? What’s that? Twenty bucks and cab fare to our new home?
We’ll think about it. Do you have cable?
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