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Before bemoaning the atomization of American society by eBay and the Internet at large, the worrywarts should talk to Mary Ellen and Don Millbranth. Last year they were strangers, both widowed. Don, 66, a retired engineer, in Wanatah, Ind., decided to sell a paperback book about miniature cabinets, his new hobby, on eBay. Mary Ellen, 61, bought it for $7.10 (including shipping). One thing led to another, as tends to happen on the Internet. After a particularly passionate weekend of e-mail (more than 200 in 48 hours, by Mary Ellen's count), they decided to meet in Mary Ellen's hometown of Huntsville, Ala. It was, needless to say, Valentine's Day. They were married three months later. Ever alert to a public relations coup, the corporate honchos at eBay flew the happy couple to California for a honeymoon. "I never felt such a part of something," says Mary Ellen.
The Millbranths may be an extreme example of eBay's social benefits. A few marriages for every 8 million customers don't exactly qualify eBay as a lonely hearts club. But those few underscore what pessimists miss--in many important respects, the eBay phenomenon is a sign of a fundamentally healthy society. The sociologist James Coleman coined the term "social capital" to describe the shared values and habits that allow individuals to cooperate for a common purpose. Without it, societies collapse.
Given the anonymity of the Internet, eBay places its customers in a risky arrangement, something akin to asking strangers to meet in a dark alley to exchange goods. Trust is the essential element of social capital, and eBay cannot operate without the assumption that your buyer or seller is basically a decent sort. Fraud on eBay is remarkably rare: eBay's figures show fewer than 1% of transactions have involved fraud. Even accounting for underreporting, this suggests that eBayers are trustworthy. Chris Spencer, a show-business manager in Southern California who lists as many as 3,000 items monthly, says eBay confirms for him the essential goodness of human nature. "The average person is honest and decent," he says. "That's what eBay is about--honesty. I have cashed thousands of checks and have had just one bounce."
There's another bit of American folk wisdom that eBay also incorporates: trust everyone, but cut the cards. eBay offers free insurance in case a transaction goes awry, as well as escrow accounts that for a small fee hold the money until a deal is completed. More important, eBay's ingenious feedback system encourages buyers and sellers to post evaluations of one another. In the real world, the reputation of a seller--whether a used-car dealer or a plumber--can be hard to measure. In the virtual world, all reputations are transparent.