From the Reverse Engineering department:

In my stack of snail mail today, I received a paper catalog from Ebay.com. Does this strike anyone else as odd? The slim mailing is set up much like any department store's catalog would be with pictures and short descriptions as well as an additional line informing me as to what words I should search for on the website to arrive at listings for these items. Each listed price is prefaced by the word "From," letting me know that this is the minimum I can find each item sold for, but not necessarily making it apparent that I might not find this item at a price anywhere near what they list.

Has Ebay done this kind of mailing before? What is the purpose of such mailings. Should I expect a phone call from my grandmother asking me what "the ebay" is? Has anyone out there ever been swayed by a website's paper mailing before? Call me crazy, but this kind of marketing for an online company seems like a monumental waste of resources (financial and natural). Thoughts?