Ebay

Ive always heard a lot about eBay but never really took the time to really look at the website. I always thought it sold items that weren't really of any important. When i got the assignment to take a look at eBay and try to do an auction for an item i was interested in. I happen to find a lot of items that was either surprisingly expensive or surprisingly cheap. Many of the items I saw was from common stores such as American Apparel. Most clothing from that store is ridiculously expensive, for example a colored hoodie would cost around 40 to 60 dollars, on eBay I saw a lot of the same exact items selling at a ridiculously cheaper amount around 20 dollars. When i found a sweater that I was interested in (no a item that was taken from American Apparel) I attempted to bid for it, as there was zero bids placed on it I bid it in the very beginning. I wasn't really anxious or anything because I thought I wouldn't have won the bid as no one seemed interested in biding on it as well. The next day as I check back I had surprisingly lost the bid. This taught me that no matter what it is crucial to bid at the very beginning which is a strategy i learned in class. This made me think that the other person who had won the bid most likely had used that strategy.

This very much relates to the idea of capitalism. The first thing that came on my mind was supply, demand, scarcity, and oppourtunity cost. On eBay, as many people bid on the same item this is the idea that there is a limited amount of supply as demand is more because there are more people who want the item. Scarcity is when you get what you get when you buy something. As i search through eBay there was a certain amount of money that I was willing to spent which also meant I only had a certain limited amount as well, this meaning i also only had a limited amount of items i could get with my certain amount of money. As lastly relating it to opportunity cost, when I didn't get the item that I wanted I went on the the second best thing that I had my eye on.