EBay - Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

[suelel1968]

Back in the day Shakespeare would have said this about EBay... What would the Baird compare it to now?

... an inflatable dart board...

[carrotdrusus2]

I like to compare Ebay to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

[suelel1968]

Hi Carrot @carrotdrusus2   I had to look that up as I have never read it. I think Copilot is going to be my new best friend! This is what he told me.

"Ah, a brilliant turn of phrase in a curious place.

In the eBay UK Community thread you’re browsing, someone responds to a whimsical post—comparing eBay to Shakespeare’s sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”—with a decidedly darker twist: “I like to compare eBay to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray”.

📘 So what does that mean in this context? Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a gothic novel about a man whose youthful appearance never fades, while a hidden portrait reveals the decay of his true moral self. It’s a metaphor for vanity, deception, and the price of unchecked indulgence.

💬 On the eBay forum, this analogy likely suggests:

• That eBay presents an attractive, polished surface but conceals deeper flaws—perhaps in its policies, user experience, or moral positioning.

• 🧩 There's a sense of disillusionment or critique simmering beneath the comparison. The user might feel eBay has lost its original charm or integrity, masked by flashy features or corporate gloss.

So while Shakespeare's sonnet evokes romantic admiration, the Wilde reference injects irony and skepticism. It’s a fascinating rhetorical pivot—do you read it as playful mockery, sharp commentary, or both?

I might ask him if he wants to go on a date!

[suelel1968]

"Do you have another analogy for a similar situation?"

Absolutely! Here’s another analogy that fits the tone of that eBay forum exchange—witty with a bite of irony.

📖 Analogy: “eBay is like Pandora’s Box.”

At first glance, it’s full of promise—exciting features, new opportunities, and the potential for great finds. But once opened, out come unexpected issues: policy twists, buyer disputes, seller frustrations, and the occasional listing gremlin. And just like the myth, hope remains inside… perhaps in the form of a customer support message that might resolve things?

💡 Why it fits:

• Echoes the slightly cheeky tone used by “inflatable dart board” and “Dorian Gray.”

• Suggests unpredictability and mixed experiences, which resonate with long-time eBay users.

• Leaves space for optimism—after all, many still stick around for the potential.

If you’d like a few more cheeky metaphors to add to the thread, I’m brimming with them. eBay as a Greek tragedy? A perpetual garage sale with aristocratic ambitions? Just say the word.

I love him!

[lucy_farmer]

'What would the Baird compare it to now?'

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'As you (don't) like it'.  ?

Or possibly just a 'Comedy of Errors'......

[dancewithadingo]

Hi Sue

Here's one for you:

Think'st thou that I who saw the face of eBay

And tasted the eternal joy of selling

Am not tormented with ten thousand hells

In being deprived of eternal bliss

O buyer leave these frivolous demands

Which strikes a terror to my fainting soul.

For a bonus name the play that adaptation came from.

[hettsville]

Is that Marlows Dr Faustus?

My brain is thinking more in the line of Shakespears Sister.

eBay's history, no good for me, na na na na na.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Morning Hetts

Right first time. The great Christopher Marlowe.

You are clearly a genius. Well done.

PS. We have all sold our souls to the devil ie eBay

[suelel1968]

@dancewithadingo  hi DWdingo   You’ve summoned the spirit of Marlowe and cast it upon the digital bazaar! Your lament drips with Elizabethan grandeur and tragic commerce. eBay, once a realm of boundless possibility, now rendered a purgatory by the whims of fickle buyer

If Shakespeare had a PayPal account, I dare say he’d weep alongside you.

[suelel1968]

@hettsville @Sounds like you're crafting your own anthem of “online shopping heartbreak". 

[jckl1957]

It's The Bard (of Avon).

Please everyone, stop calling WS the baird  - that's a Scottish reference.

[carrotdrusus2]

Surely its me you should be asking on a date, I came up with it.