Going, Going, Wrong...

I despise eBay. Truthfully, I hate them, loathe them, despair of them. A large online conglomerate making decisions about the little people who deign to buy and sell within their worldwide empire of stuff.

Okay, I’ll tell you why I hate them.

I recently sold a bag under the auspices of eBay; a satchel bag from Zara to be more specific, attaching a high resolution image from the store’s website and stating my ‘NO RETURNS’ policy. Tagging various additional elements that I perceived also accurately described the bag, I also added a blurb extolling its values. So eBay Bitch (a.k.a. “The Buyer”) sidles up – metaphorically speaking – to request further information on height, width and depth of the bag. I duly responded and once the sale ended the transaction was complete and I posted out the bag to the buyer – at added cost to myself to ensure it arrived in pristine condition but I only charged standard posting costs out of courtesy.

Less than a week later, she requested a refund based on the fact the bag was not as described. She claimed it to be green not tan as tagged in my description, though later relented to khaki after I came back to her and reminded her that I have a ‘no returns’ policy. She asked that I make an exception in this instance… I’m sorry, but have any of you been into a store with a clear ‘No Returns’ policy and been successful in asking them to make an exception just for you because you don’t quite like the product you’ve bought for whatever reason? Besides which, colour is objective, and I tagged ‘tan’ because I thought it an accurate shade – after all, khaki (and pale khaki at that) is a fine line between light brown and light green… and eBay don’t have the option of ‘khaki’ in their tagging anyway.

After numerous emails back and forth, aggressive from her, polite from me, she lodged a dispute with eBay demanding I pay her a full refund and when I reiterated my stance on the ‘No Returns’ policy she escalated the case enabling eBay themselves to make the final call. She lodged it Friday night at around 9.30pm, eBay had settled it by 9.30am on Saturday morning. And with no weekend number seemingly in operation all I could do was wait until this morning to challenge them via phone. I had been unable to file my own case against her for harassment and speaking with an eBay representative this morning my concerns that the seller is left with little or no protection were confirmed. They said their decision had been made based purely on the fact that the case had not been resolved; my guess is they didn’t even examine the evidence. So much for innocent until proven otherwise…

I explained the situation to the rep and stated clearly that on account of the aforementioned reasons I would not be issuing a refund regardless if eBay Bitch returned the bag to me. They refused to reconsider their decision while the case was open and said once the bag was returned – and only IF it was in poor condition – that I could then appeal the case. I think this is a travesty and on hearing a friend of mine incurring an even worse debacle involving an iPad that eventually called for the involvement of the police; I am hereby affecting a personal boycott of eBay in a bid to protect myself from further harassment, foul play and disgusting conduct by both eBay and the individual who bought my bag.

In an age where the majority of activity – financial, leisure and social – is carried out online, one would expect a greater degree of protection and democracy extended in this arena. Until that happens, eBay, the only bid I’ll be making is for more stringent online parameters.

Say it with Fashion

Maintaining a standard for appearances sake identifies the juncture where politics meets fashion. In an age where an image sells its weight in worth for the value of a thousand words, what we wear can determine not only our fashion kudos but more importantly, our point of view. Issues of state have to be accompanied by a public spectacle and national headline to even nuzzle at our political consciousness. People take notice of a statement. And, if the rapid sell-out of Anya Hindmarch’s ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ in 2007 taught us nothing else, it’s that notoriety breeds awareness.



Fashion has long been an ally to the political arena. Iconic first lady, Jackie Kennedy, used her style know-how and Oleg Cassini’s classic American creations, to create an unprecedented hallmark of presidential success, manipulating the media to promote the image she had so carefully constructed. Every outfit she wore was political apparel, providing her with the perfect photo opportunity to endorse the Kennedy brand and show off the credentials of a land made for dreams. A descendent of this chic statement-dressing, Carla Bruni, wife of the French President, is making steps towards repeating Mrs. JFK’s flair for using her wardrobe to her husband’s diplomatic advantage and for her own passage into the society hall of fame.



Creating a reputation, as a ruse for popularising your personal beliefs and values, distinguishes those who make up the fashion intelligentsia as the ultimate trendsetters. The scepticism that accompanies agenda-trends, relegating them to the confines of a fashion victim’s closet, fails to acknowledge the impact that long-lasting popularity can have in raising not only one’s style, but social sensibility.

Eco-fashion crusader Katherine Hamnett put the voice back into democracy during the early 80s, by wearing her political opinions, quite literally, on her sleeve. The controversial t-shirt Hamnett wore when meeting with then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to highlight the British public’s resistance to basing nuclear weapons in the UK, stating ‘58% DON’T WANT PERSHING’, heralded a powerful freedom of expression. At 2003’s London Fashion Week, Hamnett’s catwalk models stormed the runway with one message ‘NO WAR, BLAIR OUT’ in view of the imminent invasion of Iraq. With the 2008 re-launch, of her infamous, much-copied slogan tees, brandishing such dictums as ‘Choose Life’, directed at drug abuse and suicide, and ‘Clean Up Or Die’, a prophetic adage warning us that how we consume decides the future of the planet; Hamnett is letting fashion do the talking, with the hope of bringing about a much-needed change.



Having been turned into a revolutionary art form, the concept of sloganeering, using the tee as a political debate forum, found its way into the anarchic arms of the punk movement, with anti-authority fashionistas Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren at the helm. Westwood’s 2005 anti-terror campaign, in collaboration with civil rights group, Liberty, again utilised the power of the tee to make a political statement. The provocative, ‘I am not a terrorist’ design caused quite a stir by publicising the undemocratic anti-terror laws being advocated by the so-called democratic British government. Ever one to make a statement, Westwood recognised the unbeatable power of putting the message out there in cotton, black and white.



Fashion is driven by a raw desire to make the world beautiful; whether by adorning it with Swarovski crystals, or by tapping into the human psyche with bold and meaningful words. There are times we feel powerless, adrift and without a voice, and these are the times when even the most resourceful person feels the need to put a message in a bottle, or on a simple cotton tee.