Ebay 101

My boy, Frack is a "bee in his bonnet" kind of guy. Which means that when he gets something in his head, there's no getting it out. Most days it annoys the shit out of me, because he will nag and pout and finagle and manipulate to try to get what he is after until he either gets it, or exhausts himself and everyone else in the process.

Sunday was no exception. Frack decides (after about 2000 youtube views) that he wants this "thing" called a handboard. A Teck Deck Handboard to be more specific, and for those of you NOT in the know when it comes to 13 year-old boys, read: ridiculous toy.

It's a skateboard for your HAND. Yes, for your hand, and my boy is now all properly obsessed and has to have one.

Last week Frack asks me to take him to Toys R Us to purchase one, to which I explain that I cannot, because I am at work. He then goes to My Guy and gets the same response. He then calls his Grandfather, who enthusiastically agrees to take him, thrilled at the prospect of spending some quality time with the boy. But what they find out is not at all thrilling. Long story short, Teck Deck Handboards are no longer being made or for sale in the US.

This only makes Frack's "bonnet bee" a huge hornet.

Being the spawn of my loins, Frack does not take no for an answer. He hits the internets which inevitably leads him to Ebay. His first search produces LOTS of handboards for sale, by collectors at redonk prices. When the handboards were available, they sold for about $10 to $20 bucks, retail. $79.99 was the cheapest he found on ebay, and Frack saw no issue with this, as it seemed to him he had solved his problem. But I, not going to school to major in lunch, had a life lesson ready and waiting for my boy.

"Not a chance, pal."

I gotta give it to him. He was pissed, but he sat on it all weekend. Frack being Frack, he forged ahead and did his due diligence. When he came to me on Sunday night, with a $20.00 bill in one hand and his computer in the other, open to an ebay auction he had found for a handboard going for $5 bucks, what could I say? Since had shown some moxie, some responsibility, and some patience, I decided to let him go with this.

We placed the next highest bid at $5.50 and plotted our course of action. $15.00 would be his max bid, saving the remaining $5.00 for shipping costs. Frack then waited. He enthusiastically monitored the situation on his own, continuously refreshing the auction page, placing a winning bid every now and again. He even got into a mini-bidding war with some guy, "a_**" but staying within his budget, and winning the auction in the end for $10.50.

In the end, I think Frack learned a few valuable life lesson in his crash course with Ebay 101.

• $20 bucks in the hand does not make anything a certainty.


• In life, we try to live within the boundaries we set.


• Patience really is a virtue.


• Due diligence is key to any decision making process.

AND...that he has just about the coolest mom on the planet.

Today, anyway.