lara lewington, what is the craziest thing you've ever bought on ebay? um, slippers? dogs — dog slippers! i wondered where that was going. ok, i did ask for crazy. well, look, do you remember the times when you bid on an item and you thought you were going to win the auction, and then in the dying few seconds, you were beaten by someone else? yes, they weren't real people, though, were they? no, they weren't. they were computer programmes designed to work really fast and beat you to the bid button, and i hated them. no—one did that to my dog slippers, though. can't imagine why. well, look, now, this idea is being used in new ways, and omar mehtab has been looking at the phenomenon of the scalpers. with the pandemic came lockdowns, and with the majority of the population stuck at home, we had nothing really to do...buy buy. and so online spending went up. we bought clothes, hobby kits, sourdough starters, fire pits, hot tubs, gym equipment,