There is something about eBay that scares me.
It scares me in the same way giant thrift stores scare me: I never know where anything is, and I never know how to find it.
Yes, I understand that you can, like, search for things and that there are categories, but whenever anyone says, “Look on eBay.” I suddenly become very overwhelmed.
There are many people, however, who aren’t frightened by its size and shop on eBay like they would shop through any online retailer. And they’re good at it.
For those people, there’s a brilliant new website called The Inside Source which makes sense of all that is going on on eBay – specifically what’s popular, and what’s trending, or how you an be a part of a fashion trend with items purchased on eBay.
Take for example the trend of wearing masks, made popular by Lady Gaga.
The Inside Source say that “with Lady Gaga as their willing promotional vehicle” that masks are no longer just part of the “costume party circuit” but that they’re now seen at concerts, on the catwalk and in “the closets of the very fashion forward”.
And then, because this site is afterall, run and about eBay, they share photos and links of some very cool masks that are currently up for sale on eBay.
Clever, no?
With the even more clever tagline of “We Trendspot, You Trendset” The Inside Source most definitely feels like a two-way communication system between eBay buyers and sellers, and eBay itself.
The topics of The Inside Source range from Pop Culture and The Green Scene to Tech, and it’s all packaged in a very clean, colourful, easily navigatable design.
Considering there have been many failed and poorly run blogs about stuff on eBay in the past, it’s a smart if not delayed move on eBay’s part to launch a site about trends on eBay themselves.