Figures  vii

Preface and Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction. Lessons and Methods from eBay  1

1. Between Security and Distrust: eBay's Brand, Fan, and Virtual Communities  24

2. Pins, Cards, and Griffith's Jacket: Producing Identity and Brand Communities through eBay Live! Conferences and Collecting  52

3. You Can "Get It On" eBay: Selling Gender, Sexuality, and Organized Logic through the Interface  84

4. eBay's Visible Masculinities: "Gay" and "Gay Interest" Listings and the Politics of Describing  110

5. eBay Boys Will Be Lesbians: Viewing "Lesbian" and "Lesbian Interest" Vintage Photography Listings  143

6. Re-collecting Black Americana: "Absolutely Derogatory" Objects and Narratives from eBay's Community  168

Afterword. Everything in Moderation: The Regulating Aspects of craigslist and the Moral Assertions of "Community Flagging"  203

Notes  219

Works Cited  289

Index  309

“Throughout this painstakingly researched text, White provides examples of gender and sexuality stereotypes—including wedding dress categorization and symbolism, or ‘gay interest’ sellers who are often linked to underwear and swimsuits—within eBay that reinforce traditional gender role attitudes. . . . [A]n intriguing look at sociological implications of new media.”—Publishers Weekly

“With Buy It Now, White succeeds in posting a compelling call for further study of how eBay and other online communities shape and serve the
expression, consumption, and perpetuation of key constructs of our culture and society.”—Susan Chenelle, Bitch

“Throughout this painstakingly researched text, White provides examples of gender and sexuality stereotypes—including wedding dress categorization and symbolism, or ‘gay interest’ sellers who are often linked to underwear and swimsuits—within eBay that reinforce traditional gender role attitudes. . . . [A]n intriguing look at sociological implications of new media.”—Publishers Weekly

“With Buy It Now, White succeeds in posting a compelling call for further study of how eBay and other online communities shape and serve the
expression, consumption, and perpetuation of key constructs of our culture and society.”—Susan Chenelle, Bitch

"Buy It Now is an excellent, solidly researched book on the ways in which online communities are formed within a context of commodity consumption. There is no other book that I know of that engages eBay community formation and member identity in such a thorough way."—Sarah Banet-Weiser, author of Authentic™: The Politics of Ambivalence in a Brand Culture

"Michele White explores eBay as a brand community of monetary and affective circulation that encourages certain uses and, indeed, configures its users as certain kinds of consumers. By doing so, she makes a compelling argument for how identity categories and historical layers of representation are played out on eBay as an assemblage of sellers, buyers, lurkers, information architecture, interface design, business concepts, acts of branding, and item depiction. Critical and astute, Buy It Now pulls the rug out from under those who consider online marketplaces as the instrumental means to an end."—Susanna Paasonen, author of Carnal Resonance: Affect and Online Pornography

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