Hello , world~~My name is Yu Tian, senior in information science. A year ago, I transfered to Cornell from Beijing, China . Initially misled by the information 'Ithaca is in NY state, where is not far away from NYC', I thought I was going to a place full of shopping malls...yeah, I know this sounds stupid, but after I talked to another freshman this evening, I figured that I was not the only one( thank god....) Anyways, after I was done with Pyramid Mall quickly after I got here, I started my new hobby, shopping online( especially ebay), which improved my understanding of online bidding system and cultivate my interest in e-commerce area at relatively small expenses of spending a few extra bucks ( fine, this is my story and I am stick to it...=P) And what's more important, it provides me with some idea for this very first assignment for my new favorite course. =)
I believe that people are familiar with some shopping websites as ebay.com, amazon.com. I mean, even those alien robots know how to use it... Not mentioned in Wallace's book, these kind of websites might need to be classified into a new internet enviroment. Take ebay for example, even though looking at computer screen, we are actually dealing with people: people who sell , people who buy, people who make reviews and people who read reviews. So, how do these people affect each other in this space? How do people be affected by the limited information revealed on the webpage? Will we be willing to buy stuff from a seller with 10 good reviews and 3 bad ones or a seller with 3 good reviews, and more importantly, why? I am very interested in learning to analyze what's really going on under all these online social activities, also, hopefully this will help me in my future bidding.
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I would just like to say that I was immediately drawn to this blog when I saw the title. I also love to shop online especially during the school year when there is really lack of a better alternative. I enjoy searching through all different types of shopping websites as though I was walking through my own personal store. In particular, e-bay can be a great resource for a variety of different items including handbags, wallets, etc. From experience, the key thing I have learned to focus on is that the seller is willing to provide pictures of the item and guarantees that the item is 100% authentic or the buyer gets their money back. I agree that this sort of communication is asynchronous through most of the process, however, it also has a synchronous component. As the remaining time allotted to place a bid runs out, potential buyers become more and more competitive, offering bids back and forth. At that point users respond immediately to other bidders making it seem more like a synchronous way of communication.
Hello Yu. I'm sorry you thought Cornell would be near NYC, but it's easy to catch a bus there, which I'd recommend if you only think the city has to offer is shopping malls.
I think you make an excellent point in suggesting that shopping websites don't really fit well into any of Wallace's online spaces. In terms of ebay, I would go so far as to say that it deserves a separate online space, because it is truly a marketplace and thus different from conventional online stores. ebay's forums may conform to Wallace's description of an asynchronous discussions forums, but the bidding, selling and leaving feedback processes compose a set of user interactions that are perhaps unique on the internet to marketplace communities, of which ebay is, at least in the US, the biggest.
I would think that there must be a immense amount of economic and psychological elements in the study of ebay, but I think it's worth mentioning that ebay too is potentially addictive, though this doesn't seem to apply to our generation much...yet.
Your observations on online shopping through websites such as ebay.com as an internet-related phenomenon is very interesting and has allowed me to view such websites with a new perspective. I agree that it is rather unusual that shoppers will be willing to trust ratings from anonymous buyers and sellers. I am actually one of the few people who have never used such websites because I find myself questioning the opinions and creditability of those who I have limited information about.
It is ironic that while the internet impersonalizes relationships, it also provides an environment of mutual trust that internet-users take part in without much skepticism. Perhaps the reason why people are willing to depend on others is because they would rather stay at home and take the risk of trusting an unreliable source rather than physically going to stores and waiting on long lines. While this may be true for some online shoppers, I cannot help but wonder if an underlying understanding and standards of decency exist in the internet community that prevents one from deceiving their fellow anonymous shoppers.
Yu, your topic immediately struck a chord with me. While it's definitely important to look at why people trust online sellers and buyers, for what reasons people trust, and the fact that we are dealing with people it would be interesting to see how people react to shopping online simply because of the fact it's online and not how/why people trust the other side of the shopping equation.
I bring this up because my dad absolutely refuses to buy anything through the internet, whether it's Amazon, Craiglist, Ebay, whatever. I don't know if this stems from an age issue in that our generation is simply more comfortable with technology or some other reason. When I ask my dad why he won't consider online shopping in the face of sometimes amazing prices, he doesn't talk about trusting whether the seller will try to cheat him, but rather he simply wants to physically hold/look/listen to whatever he's interested in. “Dad there's a really good deal on a laptop from newegg.com (a very respectable computer/electronics online retailer).” “I'd rather just go to Best Buy and see the laptops there” “But you'll get a worse laptop for more money!” “I'd still rather go to Best Buy.” :/ ? Why does he say that?
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