The Guinness World Record for the most successful internet trade belongs to Kyle MacDonald. On July 12 2005, MacDonald used a free online classified service called Craigslist, to post about his desire to trade one red paperclip for something bigger and better. MacDonald pursued this bartering chain for approximately one year, and ultimately traded a movie role for a two story house in Saskatchewan.
Online buying and selling sites are so convenient and easy to use, they have flourished. Almost everyone I work with has made a purchase from eBay, the online auction and shopping site. PayPal is a business (owned by eBay) which makes transfers of money over the internet secure.
One of the things I like about eBay is the Advanced Search feature. With this tool, you can refine your search by price range, catagory, specific seller, location, or listings ending within a certain time period. I used this option to select listings within 25 miles of my zip code when I wanted to buy a cabinet. I was able to locate an item, win an auction, and pick it up right away without having to worry about shipping. I also used a local yard sales site to sell my car. There was no charge for me to post my advertisement, and I quickly found a buyer. It was wonderfully simple and painless.
It was not wonderfully simple and painless to view the "What is PayPal?" video. I could not find this video anywhere on PayPal's web page. Many online stores accept the PayPal form of payment, such as The Sharper Image, Omaha Steaks, Barnes and Noble, 1-800-Flowers, etc., but my favorite store, Amazon, does not. They will, however, accept a "PayPal debit card".
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