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It's early 2000 in Minneapolis

Deborah pots putters around her home feeling agitated because there's so much clutter

She decides to get a head start on spring cleaning. She scans the living room and her eyes land on the old trombone

It's case still sports the name her son gave it back in middle school. Bessie

Deborah chuckles she thinks back on him tooting away at it upstairs after dinners

He hasn't played it in years and he's at college now. He won't even miss it

She sits at her computer and pulls up eBay. She's not a heavy user, but has been enjoying making a buck or two off some old

Chachkes and it's been fun to see this new strange digital community take shape

She lists it with an initial asking price of $60 modest she thinks

Over the next few days a couple of bids come in the price rises to $75 so far so good

But then Deborah gets a curious email from an unusual email address

charity robot at paypal.com

It's a bot writing to Debbie

It tells her that it's bidding on items for charity and would like to buy her item. This is new

If you're okay doing business with a computer instead of a human reply to this email. I will automatically place a bid

There's a catch though

Deborah has to accept payment through something called paypal

She's seen other users on the site mentioned paypal, but she doesn't know exactly what it is

Still sounds like a good deal. I mean if she signs up she gets $10

It says she'll likely get a higher bid on Bessie and with paypal

She'll be paid right away and she won't have to worry about being swindled by some bad check

...