Buy It Now

Michele White is Associate Professor of Communication at Tulane University. She is the author of The Body and the Screen: Theories of Internet Spectatorship.

"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 “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) “[White’s] study might be useful for researchers studying similar ‘market-oriented sites such as Etsy and craigslist,’ and her approach would also be a useful guide for those thinking about how to study newer collection websites such as Pinterest and Goodreads. Recommended.” - S. Pepper (Choice) “This book ultimately makes a significant contribution to the field of social scholarship, where there has been a shortage of critical Internet studies. . . . This work provides brilliant insight into these dynamic power relationships, between workers and corporations, by exposing how businesses use the rhetoric of community to achieve dominance. . . . [A] timely text of significance for cultural studies scholars. . . . .” - Christopher T. Conner (Visual Studies) “Buy it Now will find a receptive audience in scholars of internet and new media, gay and lesbian studies, museum studies, race studies and women and gender studies. It is suitable for graduate and capstone undergraduate courses.” - Michael Petit (New Media & Society)

• Figures viiPreface and Acknowledgments ixIntroduction. Lessons and Methods from eBay 11. Between Security and Distrust: eBay's Brand, Fan, and Virtual Communities 242. Pins, Cards, and Griffith's Jacket: Producing Identity and Brand Communities through eBay Live! Conferences and Collecting 523. You Can "Get It On" eBay: Selling Gender, Sexuality, and Organized Logic through the Interface 844. eBay's Visible Masculinities: "Gay" and "Gay Interest" Listings and the Politics of Describing 1105. eBay Boys Will Be Lesbians: Viewing "Lesbian" and "Lesbian Interest" Vintage Photography Listings 1436. Re-collecting Black Americana: "Absolutely Derogatory" Objects and Narratives from eBay's Community 168Afterword. Everything in Moderation: The Regulating Aspects of craigslist and the Moral Assertions of "Community Flagging" 203Notes 219Works Cited 289Index 309