The Web is an amazing place for ordinary people to buy and sell goods. You might remember my review of CLIP, the add-on that integrates images into your search results on Craigslist. Before sites like eBay and CLIP, treasure hunting used to be the stuff of tag sales and your local Salvation Army or Goodwill. Nowadays finding a complete collection of Fiestaware in peacock (or sunflower) can happen from the comfort of your own home, with just a little patience and focus. The focus part is where the eBay Sidebar Add-on comes in.

Immediately after you install the add-on, you’ll see the eBay Sidebar in its “open” state.  For future visits, click the eBay icon in your toolbar and find “open eBay sidebar” in the drop-down menu that appears. You’ll see other choices there too:

The eBay sidebar definitely encourages your competitive side, tracking active items from your account. You customize alerts and stay on top of bids, and you’ll also get a note when a listing you’re bidding on is ending:

eBay Sidebar has a tab for “Ended” items, plus quick links to the eBay home, “buy”, “sell”, and so on. You can search eBay from the sidebar and see the results in a web page that opens automatically.

Buyer or seller, casual or obsessed, if you use eBay, the Sidebar will make things even easier. Have fun!

Post from Elise Allen, who will some day find time to finish her essay: "Garage Sale Economics," but for now she shops on eBay. See all posts by Elise Allen.