Letters to Ebay

Book excerpt: By day, Paul Meadors is a fifth grade teacher in a small California town. By night, he trolls the millions of items for sale on eBay, posing as his alter ego Art Farkas, and catching sellers off guard with his ludicrous and bizarre questions about their auctions. As he amusingly demonstrates time and time again, even in today's hyper-vigilant and impersonal digital world, the spirit of human salesmanship lives on, no matter how outrageous the question or request. For example, Art asks the seller of a set of bongo drums if there would be a way to attach them to his grandmother's back so that she could take them to the corner and play on the street to earn her rent money--which elicits a sincere, yet bitingly humorous response. From the entertaining auctions themselves, to Paul's loony letters and the serious responses they provoke, Letters to eBay provides a fascinating and humourous glimpse into the strange world of eBay and those who dwell within.