Explore reading: Strange things sold on eBay Have you ever bought or sold anything on eBay? In groups, discuss your experiences. Read the article about strange things sold on the internet. Choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1–8. Put a cross ( ) in the correct box. The first one (0) has been done for you. 33 a b For sale on eBay The online auction website eBay was founded in 1995 by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar. The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Omidyar had put that item up for bid only as an experiment, so he contacted the winning bidder to make sure the latter understood that the laser pointer was broken. The buyer replied that he was a collector of broken laser pointers. By early 2008, the company had expanded worldwide with hundreds of millions of registered users. And selling strange things on eBay continues. Ian Usher, 44, put his entire life in Australia up for sale on eBay, with a starting price of one Australian dollar. On offer was his home, his Mazda car and his Kawasaki motorbike. Originally from County Durham, England, Mr Usher loved his life in Perth, Australia. But when he divorced from his wife, Laura, he decided to offer it to the highest bidder. On his website, Mr Usher said, “My life here is absolutely fantastic. But I just want to make a clean break and start again, so I am selling everything from the contents of my wardrobe to my car.” When bidding closed, he received $384,000. Usher was not the first person to auction his life on eBay. In 2007, another Australian, Nicael Holt, offered his existence to the highest bidder, in a package that included his name, phone number, CDs and childhood photographs, a circle of friends and “a repertoire of six jokes.” Holt, a 24-year-old philosophy undergraduate, also offered to teach the buyer his skills, including surfing, skateboarding and handstands. An unknown buyer eventually bought his life for $7,500. In December 2002, Joe and Elizabeth Lapple used eBay to auction Bridgeville, a largely uninhabited 82acre town 260 miles north of San Francisco. It drew a large number of bids, including a late offer of $1,777,877 from a buyer who did not complete the sale. The land, including a post office and a cemetery, had been owned by the Lapples since 1985. It was the first town offered in an online auction and has been auctioned three times since. Kyle MacDonald had a red paper clip and a dream: Could he use the community power of the internet to barter that paper clip for something better, and trade that thing for something else – and so on and so on until he had a house? Starting with the paperclip, he traded up through a doorknob, a camping stove, a snowmobile, a recording contract, and an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper. It took him exactly 14 internet trades to move from the paper clip to a house on Main Street in the tiny town of Kipling in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada. 0 What is eBay? A an online encyclopedia B a social website C a computer programme a website for selling and buying things 1 Why was Omidyar surprised about his company’s first sale? A He didn’t think he would make a sale so quickly. B He didn’t expect interest in something that was broken. C He didn’t expect to be offered so much money. D He didn’t know anyone collected laser pointers. D 2 By 2008 the company A had shrunk. B had gone bankrupt. C had grown. D had remained the same size. 3 What did Ian Usher wish to sell? A his house B his car C all his clothes D everything he possessed 53 Language skills Extras Explore 4 Lost and found Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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