Exploring Sellers' Experiences in the C2C Online Auction Environment

<p>Online auction websites are becoming increasingly important as an intermediary for both sellers and buyers. They offer consumers an alternative source of goods to those sold at retail stores and other second-hand traditional consumer-to-consumer (C2C) channels, such as garage sales or flea markets. They also represent a new market model which incorporates a new distribution channel and a new means of establishing prices. Some researchers predict that retailers are now facing a new competition and the potential for declining sales as a result of the cannibalisation effect of the C2C online auction market. Noticeably, although much research has been carried out in an attempt to understand online auctions in relation to buying behaviour, little effort has been made to investigate the dynamic nature of individual sellers, in particular C2C sellers, in the online auction environment. Therefore, this study is aimed at filling in the gaps by exploring the sellers' behaviour and experiences in the C2C online auction environment. Its objectives are: (1) to explore the learning process that individual sellers go through in the C2C online auction environment; and (2) to find out what skills and techniques are commonly used by sellers and how these skills have been applied when marketing their products in the online auction environment. This study used a qualitative method, and a market-oriented ethnography was adopted. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with sellers on TradeMe and from a wide range of archival documents. Nineteen sellers were recruited to participate into this study. Consequently, a learning model has been built, based on the consumer socialisation model, to explain the learning process of sellers as they become experienced in the C2C online auction environment. The findings from this study highlighted that sellers went through a learning process to become more experienced in online auctions. Moreover, different learning methods occurred at different stages of the learning process, including social interaction, observing and imitating, rewards and punishments, and other sources of information. This study also demonstrated the fact that sellers both implicitly and explicitly perceived the importance of marketing strategies and tactics and had extensively applied them. Several implications and recommendations arise from this study, including the need for more in-depth research on sellers' behaviour and experiences, using a longitudinal approach. Additionally, it is recommended that TradeMe should continue to improve their auction site in order to attract more sellers which, in turn, will lead to a greater number of buyers.</p>

Exploring Sellers' Experiences in the C2C Online Auction Environment

<p>Online auction websites are becoming increasingly important as an intermediary for both sellers and buyers. They offer consumers an alternative source of goods to those sold at retail stores and other second-hand traditional consumer-to-consumer (C2C) channels, such as garage sales or flea markets. They also represent a new market model which incorporates a new distribution channel and a new means of establishing prices. Some researchers predict that retailers are now facing a new competition and the potential for declining sales as a result of the cannibalisation effect of the C2C online auction market. Noticeably, although much research has been carried out in an attempt to understand online auctions in relation to buying behaviour, little effort has been made to investigate the dynamic nature of individual sellers, in particular C2C sellers, in the online auction environment. Therefore, this study is aimed at filling in the gaps by exploring the sellers' behaviour and experiences in the C2C online auction environment. Its objectives are: (1) to explore the learning process that individual sellers go through in the C2C online auction environment; and (2) to find out what skills and techniques are commonly used by sellers and how these skills have been applied when marketing their products in the online auction environment. This study used a qualitative method, and a market-oriented ethnography was adopted. Data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with sellers on TradeMe and from a wide range of archival documents. Nineteen sellers were recruited to participate into this study. Consequently, a learning model has been built, based on the consumer socialisation model, to explain the learning process of sellers as they become experienced in the C2C online auction environment. The findings from this study highlighted that sellers went through a learning process to become more experienced in online auctions. Moreover, different learning methods occurred at different stages of the learning process, including social interaction, observing and imitating, rewards and punishments, and other sources of information. This study also demonstrated the fact that sellers both implicitly and explicitly perceived the importance of marketing strategies and tactics and had extensively applied them. Several implications and recommendations arise from this study, including the need for more in-depth research on sellers' behaviour and experiences, using a longitudinal approach. Additionally, it is recommended that TradeMe should continue to improve their auction site in order to attract more sellers which, in turn, will lead to a greater number of buyers.</p>

Beyond Bias: Critical Analysis and Layered Reading of Mao-Era Sources

Scholars of Mao-era history adopt a wide range of approaches to the selection and treatment of source material. Some scholars regard published sources as propaganda, and therefore as biased and unreliable. For many, archival sources are the gold standard; others question the reliability even of the archive and favor materials that escaped the filtering fingers of the state to be found in flea markets or garbage piles. Avoiding the false choice of either accepting sources as received wisdom or dismissing them as biased, the author argues that how scholars read their sources is more important than which they keep and which they throw away. She advocates for a layered approach that accounts for contexts of production and circulation, and further emphasizes the need to make this process of reading sources visible in our writing. A critical, layered reading of three unlikely sources demonstrates the myriad possibilities for analysis that combines the empirical, the discursive, and the self-reflexive.

50 Shades of Red: Recreational Communism in Post-Socialist Vietnam

Using a post-socialist framework, this article analyzes recreational communism, that is, the commodification of communism through commercial places that use Bao Cấp (subsidy period in Vietnam) for tourism and leisure. These places include cafés, restaurants, souvenir shops, art galleries, or flea markets. Why do places dedicated to pleasure make use of such a painful period? I propose to go beyond this paradox by focusing not only on the economic, but also the emotional, political, and memorial value of Bao Cấp, both in the way they are designed by their owners and practiced by customers. The visual descriptions and interviews I accumulated since 2006 allow me to address the dynamics of social interactions between people, place, and space. The spatial analysis of this material explores recreational communism as a practice of social distinction in the sense that it involves upper classes within the most globalized cities of the country.

An Investigation Into the Livelihoods Strategies of Informal Women Traders in Zimbabwe

This article investigated the livelihoods strategies used by various informal women traders doing business in the Hare Business Districts of the Harare Province. The study was informed by the Sustainable Livelihood Approach proffered by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Division (SIDA, 2001) for Policy and Socio-Economic Analysis. A quantitative and qualitative research design was utilized and data was gathered through questionnaires, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and direct observations during transect walks. The objectives of the study was to; identify micro-credit schemes used by the informal women traders doing business at flea markets, explore the livelihoods of microcredit schemes as pathways towards poverty eradication and finally determine possible interventions and sustainable strategies that could be used for the informal women traders. The study revealed that women informal traders engaged in diverse activities for sustainable livelihoods strategies that eradicate poverty. Numerous informal women traders face staid livelihoods challenges, resulting in them living in dire poverty. The study calls on Government and financing institutions to finance them for local empowerment as well as gain access and control of available livelihoods resources in a meaningful way. Thus comprehensive policy interventions and sustainable strategies would enable informal women traders doing business at flea markets to eradicate poverty in Zimbabwe.

LOKA LOAK KEBAYORAN LAMA

The existence of transit hubs is a prominent feature of urban life that hold human movement and interaction, which raises the growth of new places for communities, and a third place that was formed naturally. Kebayoran Lama Utara, which located close to a train station, is not spared by this phenomenon. The place becomes unique by flea markets that sprawls among the hub, forming an image for the site, which unfortunately placed where it should not be. It becomes an irony, where a distinctive feature of a place is so potential to be developed, but also becomes the ‘parasite’ of the area itself. Especially with the fact that the site is located in the negative point of the city, but with a lot of human activities. Loka Loak Kebayoran Lama, with urban retrofitting method, aims to develop the area, both within the site, as well as the surrounding and the communities in one system, to fulfill the functions both socially and economically, but also environmentally sustainable. The project also inspired and maximized the surrounding situation, with the use of an abandoned shophouse as a base structure, and the approaches to the urban patterns. Project is designed to be context to the surroundings, but also dynamic. So, the existence of the project doesn’t become the ‘alien’ of the area, but the catalyst, and improves the image of the region. Activities on the project are maximized to be enjoyed by four main groups which are; the merchants, vendees, the locals, and the commuters. Commercial area to gather the buying and selling activities, combined with the education and entertainment programs, which also linked to the supporting functions for the transit activities. These programs make the project can be a place with diverse activities, and also a new public space at a negative point in an active urban area. Keywords: flea market; loka-loak Kebayoran Lama; third place; transit hub; urban retrofitting AbstrakKeberadaan suatu pusat transit sebagai tempat perpindahan memunculkan titik-titik baru berkumpulnya masyarakat, yang secara tidak langsung dan spontan menjadi third place baru. Kebayoran Lama Utara, yang terletak erat dengan stasiun kereta api tidak luput oleh fenomena tersebut. Tempat penjualan barang loak yang unik dan membentuk citra menjadi marak di sekitar tapak, yang sayangnya tidak di tempat yang seharusnya. Sehingga ironi, dimana sebuah potensi yang dapat mengembangkan, menjadi sesuatu yang tidak seharusnya. Terlebih tapak merupakan titik negatif yang kurang efektif, namun ramai oleh aktivitas masyarakat. Loka Loak Kebayoran Lama, dengan metode urban retrofitting, bertujuan untuk mengembangkan area tersebut, baik di dalam tapak, lingkungan sekitar, serta masyarakatnya dalam satu sistem memenuhi fungsi baik sosial, ekonomi, maupun lingkungan berkelanjutan. Proyek terinspirasi dan memaksimalkan situasi sekitar, dengan pemanfaatan struktur ruko terbengkalai, serta pendekatan urban pattern sekitar. Bentukan konteks dan teratur, namun dinamis. Sehingga keberadaan proyek dapat menjadi katalis, serta meningkatkan citra kawasan. Kegiatan dimaksimalkan untuk empat kelompok utama yaitu; pedagang, pembeli, warga, dan komuter. Kesimpulan perancangan, adalah Loka Loak Kebayoran Lama, dengan area pasar loak sebagai titik kegiatan jual beli, berpadu dengan fungsi edukasi serta entertainment, yang bertautan dengan fungsi pendukung kegiatan transit. Aktivitas tidak hanya sebatas jual beli, namun juga edukasi dan hiburan. Proyek dapat menjadi tempat kegiatan yang beragam, dan ruang publik baru di titik negatif dalam kawasan urban yang aktif.

Brick-and-Platform: Listing Labor in the Digital Vintage Economy

Vintage goods are valued for their nostalgic association with pre-digital modes of production, but their contemporary trafficking is increasingly organized by processes of platformization. The central component of what we call “listing labor in the digital vintage economy” is the online display of collectible merchandise, but listing labor also entails promoting sellers’ brands on social media and using sales platforms and other logistical media to manage inventory, process transactions, and handle shipments. Listing labor is performed by branded merchants and their employees alongside independent entrepreneurs. The digital vintage economy connects brick-and-mortar shops and resale supply chains organized around flea markets, thrift shops and charity bins, estate sales, and consigners, to online clearinghouses like eBay and Craigslist, and to social media and payment apps. In this article, we argue that listing labor in the digital vintage economy further develops the concept of “platform labor.” We focus on vintage clothes and vinyl records, dominated by women and men, respectively, to help us analyze divisions of listing labor organized by gender, race, age, and class. We draw upon 20 semi-structured interviews with shop owners and employees and on participant observation in independently owned clothing boutiques and record stores in several US cities. The digital vintage economy provides another angle for understanding how identity-based distinctions affect the opportunities associated with platform labor, and our account of listing labor highlights the need for studies of platformization that analyze its effects on specific local economies as well as on job markets and commercial sectors.

Feira das pulgas na contemporaneidade: cartografia nas cidades de Buenos Aires, Montevidéu e Curitiba | Flea markets in contemporary: cartography in the cities of Buenos Aires, Montevidéu and Curitiba

As feiras na contemporaneidade transcorrem cami­nhos múltiplos e mutáveis através da reunião de cores, sabores, cheiros e sociabilidades. As feiras das pulgas, que serão abordadas neste artigo, com­põem este cenário, posto que promovem a troca de culturas, memórias, histórias. Com o intuito de mapear a inserção das feiras das pulgas no espaço público, visando descobrir como elas modificam e/ ou interferem no espaço da cidade e no cotidiano das pessoas, a presente pesquisa desenvolve-se através do processo de cartografia/corpografia, A partir das viagens para as feiras de San Telmo (Buenos Aires), Tristan Narvaja (Montevidéu) e Feira do Largo da Ordem (Curitiba), foi possível estabe­lecer encontros potentes entre o corpo que pes­quisa e outros corpos que constituem a cidade. A cartografia das feiras das pulgas, junto às teorias do urbanismo contemporâneo e da filosofia da dife­rença, resultou nos agenciamentos de hospitalidade + hostilidade e estrutura + ruptura. Não capturadas pelos poderes hegemônicos, as feiras das pulgas resistem, tornam a cidade mais humana, viva e sen­sível. Como resultado, notou-se que mapear essas intensidades a partir de uma experiência corpográ­fica permitiu explorar essa essência em constante movimento.

Memory, writing and narration: The flea markets of memory in Dubravka Ugrešić’s The Museum of Unconditional Surrender

The narrative of Dubravka Ugrešić’s novel The Museum of Unconditional Surrender (1997) revolves around three core motifs: the problem of memory and remembering, the experience of temporality, and the notion of exile, developed in relation to the dichotomy of fact versus fiction. While most theoretical approaches to the novel focus on the motif of exile in the context of dominant ideological patterns of the new national states formed after the breakup of Yugoslavia, this paper represents a shift in interpretative focus to the problem of memory and the experience of temporality in the perspective of the dynamics of history and fiction.