The five values

A big part of being a good seller on Ebay is knowing your demographics and being able to market to that specific sub-culture of whatever you're selling. As you go to point out in your article, people like Pam didn't have expertise in bidding on items and therefore was jacking up the price against herself. Because the items she was bidding on contained a childhood importance, people like Pam engage in "sniping" to get what they want; overpaying on an item when they could probably have it for less. Not all people are like Pam, however. Jarrett goes to show us ebay's declaration of community values. "We believe people are basically good." "We believe everyone has something to contribute." "We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people." "We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual." "We encourage you to treat others as you want to be treated." Well, too bad everyone isn't like this. Check out http://www.aboutpaypal.org/home to get a list of "Paypal and Ebay horror stories".