Late night eBay is full of risks and rewards. It’s like late night writing, except you can always edit in the clear light of day, while a forgotten eBay transgression arrives in a mysterious box at your door. You open it with a creeping sense of dread and then the nagging fear becomes real. It’s another canvas jacket. Put it with the others.

I took a break from late night adventures about ten years ago when an envelope arrived in the mail at my Manhattan apartment that contained a single ticket to a Tom Petty concert. In Philadelphia. I’m all for Tom Petty in any city, but after some forensic analysis I started to piece together that I decided it would be fun to see the man behind the Heartbreakers, and was so outraged by prices at the New York show that I got an eighth-row seat in Philadelphia. Yes, that meant that I had to take a train, get a hotel room and do it all on my own. I stayed at the Union Club and I’m quite certain no other concertgoers were in residence that night.

But now I’m back to a life of vice. I make bids occasionally, but what I really enjoy is searching for L.L. Bean tote bags hoping to find the most curious names on them. I imagine my least likely friend carrying a bag with “Debbie” or “Gramps” stitched onto it. You also come across well-worn bags in limited editions or discontinued colors. (There’s a brown one with green handles that I can never find in the right size at an earthbound price. If the seller is based in Japan then you know it will be very nice and very expensive.) I just found this indigo on indigo bag and—glory of glories—made one bid and got it. I don't go in for the eBay back and forth it gets too emotional. Do I need another canvas bag? You know I don't! But at this point my bag collection is more of an archive that welcomes deserving entrants and this needed to happen. I am content with the knowledge that it would cost about five times more if it was in a Tokyo vintage store, which is a good or bad sign depending on how you look at the world. 

When you’re on eBay late at night “do I need this?” is the last question on your mind. You’re a shark that has to move forward and if you have to eat a few tourists along the way that’s a small price to pay.