Discloses the ways that eBay reproduces racism by allowing sellers' narratives that excuse and romanticize slavery and insult African Americans

In Buy It Now, Michele White examines eBay and its emphasis on community and social norms, revealing the cultural assumptions about gender, race, and sexuality that are reinforced throughout the site. She shows how instructional texts, rule systems, and advertisements "configure the user," allowing eBay to indicate how the site is supposed to function while also upholding particular values and practices. White details how eBay reinforces stereotypes about gender and sexuality, looking, for example, at descriptions included in wedding dress listings, and how eBay directs individuals to the "Adult Only" part of the website when they use the search terms "gay" and "lesbian." She discloses the ways that eBay promises a caring community but its "Black Americana" category reproduces racism by allowing sellers' narratives that excuse and romanticize slavery and insult African Americans. White also looks at how participants challenge eBay's categories, rules, and values, examining widely used strategies of resistance by sellers and buyers in the lesbian and gay interest listings. By analyzing the organizational and cultural logics present in eBay, White emphasizes how other Internet settings, including craigslist, are not as transparent, community-oriented, and empowering as they claim. She proposes methods for researching and reconceptualizing new media sites.

"“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.”" - 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.”" - 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. . . . .”" - 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.”" - New Media & Society