eBay is eVil

If I don't watch out, eBay will ruin my life.\nThe commercials are enough to catch anyone's eye. Seemingly normal people bursting into song about the wonderful deals that are available for them online.\nMy eBay experience doesn't involve singing or dancing at all. It involves a natural reaction, much like the reaction of gasoline to a match. \nThe first step was going to the bank and finally getting a debit card, which allows you to impulse buy expensive things at any store that accepts Visa. However foolish, I did get the card for the legitimate reason of buying plane tickets.\nWhile online looking at airfare, I couldn't help but wonder what else I could buy online. I was surprised to find that I could buy just about anything, and eBay is the best place to get it.\nBut now I can't stop flipping through endless pages of crap to see what I can get and how cheap I can get it. I've always been a professional appreciator of stupid gadgets and toys, and it seems like the evil people that run eBay have zeroed in on my weakness and given me this compulsion to buy things I don't need.\nI know I probably shouldn't blame it on the creators of online auctioning, but I can't help but feel like it's all part of a master scheme to get us to succumb to endless commercialism. It's amazing that we are being made lazier and lazier.\nLet's go back to the 1800s. If you wanted something, generally you built it. For example, a man wants a wagon, so he builds one. A woman wants a new dress, so she sews one. It was a simple time when people did their own work to survive because it was the best way of doing business.\nBut nowadays you don't even have to use a catalogue or go to a mall. You don't even have to get dressed. If you decide at 3 a.m. that you are dying to buy a Felix the Cat clock, all you have to do is logon. It's simple! It's easy! It's gotta be evil!\nAnd it is.\nI think eBay's power lies in the pride you gain when you buy online and save a minimal amount of money. The horror that you have spent $100 on something useless is somewhat diminished when you realize it would have cost $105 in a store.\nMany poor fools think they have beat the system at this step. I feel sorry for them when they find out that shipping and handling costs are crazy. I honestly believe that many sellers on eBay must make a living from the $20 they charge to put your new CD player in a shoebox and ship it from Cleveland. \nYou may laugh about the perils of eBay, but the danger is real. David N. Greenfield is a psychologist in a private practice in Connecticut. His 1999 study conducted with ABC News ("The Nature of Internet Addiction: Psychological Factors in Compulsive Internet Use") estimated that about 6 percent of Internet users can be classified as addicted to the Web. Combine that with another danger -- compulsive spending -- and before you know it, you're freaking out about whether or not you got the highest bid on a Razor scooter.\nHeed my warning, those on student budgets! You may see eBay as a beautiful young new tool that will bring all you desire. Run from this siren, or she'll leave you penniless and surrounded with useless junk.