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Online commerce may or may not become a zillion-dollar industry by 2003, but it's worth remembering that people have been using the Net for years to sell other people their precious garbage, largely off the industry bean-counters' radar. Has anyone who's been sucked into Usenet, however briefly, been able to resist the lure of the old-but-functional Atari 2600, or the complete set of Dynamite magazines they found lurking in some misc.for-sale alley? Well, sure - this is yard-sale detritus, and resistance is less futile than fertile.
But if it's true, as so many modern soothsayers say, that time is a scarcer resource than money, the key impediment to such online attic acquisitions is neither refined taste nor tight purse strings, but the sheer hassle of haunting Usenet and trolling for tarnished treasure that somehow always ends up sold long before you've sent your first query. Which explains the surge in Web-based auctions, hundreds of which are listed in Yahoo, offering second-hand computers, books, antiques, toys, travel, taxidermy supplies, whatever. One stand-out is eBay Auction Classifieds, which mixes scads of listings with a surprisingly sophisticated backend. I've used it to ferret out everything from the first issue of Esquire to a vintage Victrola.
With 60,000 auctions completed (and about 10,000 new ones added) each day, the range is dizzying, but it's only when you actually take part that the thrill of this low-rent Christie's re-creation hits you full force. A high bid gives you the satisfaction of standing tall at the top of the trash heap; then, the minute you've been outbid, the humiliating news of your opponents' budgetary superiority (along with the annoying question of whether you can afford to counter-bid) comes flying into your inbox. Each auction lasts one week, to the very second - which suggests the most sinister (and risky) strategy of all. Rather than engaging in a seven-day bidding war, wait until the last 30 seconds, then bid high, and click as fast as you can. Of course, such a technique could easily result in your losing out altogether, especially if your connection decides to lag just as your hand grips the mouse. And other, more arcane tactics - which I'll leave unstated for now - will certainly present themselves once you've accrued a little auction experience. Just promise you won't use them to deep-six my next bid.
This article appeared originally in HotWired.
