Faith and trust online
I bought my first laptop computer through an online auction at eBay. It was used and the price was right. That was four years ago.
There is a thrill to online auctions that is not unlike, say, a fishing expedition. You get a big one on your hook and then fight to reel it in. When it’s yours, there is a real sense of accomplishment. Same for outbidding the competition for a used computer.
The difference is that when you are bidding online for an item that you’ve never seen from a person you’ve never met, there is a tremendous amount of trust involved. The used computer was the biggest item I’ve ever bid on.
I had heard the horror stories of online fraud, but still had faith to plunge into the auction. I read and re-read the auction page and looked at the photos, including one that showed a slight flaw in the top of the computer case.
So I bid and won. Four days later my faith was rewarded when the computer arrived by UPS. It lived up to its promises.
That old Powerbook traveled the state and nation with me until last year when technology passed it by and it began to have problems of its own. I sold it for parts to a new buyer who put his faith and trust in an online auction.
I hope it was all he envisioned.
Jim Stafford
Business Reporter
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