Tuesday, November 10, 2009

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.

16 comments:

Slyde said...

ive become an ebay master.

i have the window open and ready to go with my max price that i want to pay. i wait till 5 seconds before the auction is about to end, then pull the trigger.

take that, ebayers!

Jay said...

I've never bought anything off Ebay. I don't think I'm patient enough for it. Also, I would be the one who got beat out by Slyde every single time. I'm sure of it.

Scott Oglesby said...

Wow Candy, you’re teaching your son to be quite the consummate businessman, that’s awesome! You’ve also just let me in on a possibly valuable piece of information. I wonder if I could buy a couple hundred of these things, hold them for a few more months and sell them on EBay for a nice profit. Unfortunately, I have no idea what in the hell they are, but I guess it’s worth checking out. I have to use my living abroad as leverage somehow. Even if it kills me….

LegalMist said...

Well done!

LegalMist said...

Interesting word ver: "conum"

(Con 'em?)

Soda and Candy said...

Nice work Candy! Impressive momming.

(Yes, I just made mom into a verb, what of it?)

Cora said...

*le sigh*

I love me some ebay.

I went through a similar thing with my daughter on ebay over the summer. She wanted a box of assorted Tim Burton Corpse Bride figures, which she won, just barely. The glee was contageous! Of course, now she's always on ebay in her computer class at school monitoring other Tim Burton items all the time, which makes my ebay Christmas shopping for her a tad precarious - she'll catch me bidding on something for her one day, I'm convinced. *snicker*

The Peach Tart said...

That is a great lesson and experience that will serve him well in life.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is a great lesson learned, and I'm very impressed with his resolve to get that board, spending time doing research and actively participating in it's ultimate acquisition. (At 13, has he given any indication that he'd like to work on Wall Street?)

Unknown said...

Bravo...to the both of you.

Chris said...

Those are the emery boards with wheels, right? Makes no sense to me.

BUT, the boy learned a lesson so that's always good. Now he'll need a helmet for his fingers.

Scope said...

And 20 minutes after he has it, he will learn another valuable life lesson. Fads come and go for a reason.

But if he's in the market for a pet rock, let me know. I can hook him up.

the walking man said...

So I found some hand boards not on ebay but I am still curious...what the hell do you do with them? Is there something other they are good for than rolling across the floor? Two words...Matchbox cars.

The Dental Maven said...

Now we need a follow-up post on news of the handboard and how long he thinks it's cool.

Mrs. Hall said...

Wow, you are indeed the coolest Mom in the world!

YOU GO!!

Mr. Big Bucks said...

I like your post. Very nice :)