WWW.JUDYINC.COM/RACHELMATTHEWS

I shop… a lot! I shop for work and, as a result, my once enjoyable, personal and recreational shopping time has been forever tarnished. After working on a number of commercial jobs that require heaps of shopping be hauled to and from stores, the LAST place I want to be during my down time is in a store.

Here is the problem catch, I am a fashion stylist – I like pretty things (especially shoes), but I find myself with a shopping predicament. I must have the new metallic silver cropped jacket, skinny pant, over-sized bag and wedge heels. But I cannot, no, will not, drag my sorry self around a plethora of boutiques or, worse, haul myself off to a local mall (read, penitentiary) to get them. Until a few days ago, I thought I might have to fling myself off the roof of the Eaton Centre. I need therapy, but not the traditional retail kind.

But then there was light! An answer to my inner shoppers dismay…ebay!!!! That’s right ebay. We’re talking 83,000 dresses, 47,000 pairs of shoes, 48,000 types of jeans. Staggering! Overwhelming? Nope, what do I care, I can browse those 48,000 pairs of jeans if i really want to, but since I can narrow my search to suit EXACTLY what I want AND do it all wearing my pj’s (yes, even stylists wear pj’s), AND have a latte in my non-bidding hand, hey, why would I? I may have reached utopia, shopping utopia.

I plugged in some information about myself, (the hardest part was an original username, I settled on ‘I like pretty shoes’), and I joined the ranks of millions of cyber shoppers. The most thrilling part of the adventure in signing up on ebay? I got a rush, yep, a rush!!! The kind I used to get before I became a pro shopper, the kind I used to get when I’d see the ‘Sale’ signs pop up at Holts. It’s the thrill of a whole new world opening up, a world of shopping without parking fees, line-ups and lethargic teens at the cash register, a world of hot deals and must-haves. Wow! I’m back!