‘I'll sell this and I'll buy them that’: eBay and the management of possessions as stock

Abstract

In this paper we document practices associated with selecting and selling previously owned goods through the online auction house and marketplace, eBay. More specifically, we discuss the processes through which the economic or exchange values of previously owned goods are re-activated and the role eBay plays in facilitating such practices. Drawing from phenomenological interviews with heavy eBay users from various backgrounds living in the South of England, we discuss key emerging themes on the ways in which eBay is used for the disposal of goods. We find that eBay fuels practices of disposal that may encourage the transformation of the humble pre-owned good into valuable stock. Besides those curative practices which have been captured in previous research into the divestment of possessions we find that work of another kind is required to move a used good back to a commodity phase in its career. We see this as turning used goods into stock. This transformation accelerates a good's biography as it enters the realm of the owned possession and then quickly returned to a sphere of exchange. In such process, goods become assets which are reinvested to fuel promiscuous consumer behaviours.

Sustainable Retailing in the Fashion Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

“…One term is secondhand fashion, which is defined as previously owned and used fashion products [80]. Secondhand fashion categorizes any fashion product that has been used before, notwithstanding the product age [81][82][83][84][85]. Consumer decisions to acquire secondhand fashion products are mostly motivated by lower prices and are often associated with sustainable consumption behaviors [86].…”

Possession Work on Hosted Digital Consumption Objects as Consumer Ensnarement

“…For example, research has explored the significant second hand market fuelled by material goods repeatedly reentering the commodity sphere (Gregson and Crewe 2003;Sherry 1990;Belk, Sherry and Wallendorf 1988;Lastovicka and Fernandez 2005;Denegri-Knott and Molesworth, 2009), as well as documenting the passing on of family heirlooms (Price, Arnould and Curasi 2000) and practices of giving our possessions to, and sharing them with, family and friends (Belk 2010;Tinson and Nuttall 2008). However many such practices documented lack a DCO equivalent.…”

The relationship between ownership and possession: observations from the context of digital virtual goods

“…Research docu-595 ments second hand markets fuelled by goods repeatedly re-entering the commodity sphere (Belk, Sherry, & Wallendorf, 1988;Denegri-Knott & Molesworth, 2009;Gregson & Crewe, 2003;Lastovicka & Fernandez, 2005), the passing on of family heirlooms (Price et al, 2000) and practices of sharing and lending (Belk, 2010;Jenkins et al, 2014). Here the consumer moves goods from one stage of their biography to the next (Kopytoff, 600 1986), however new ownership configurations may limit their ability to do so.…”