Family eBay Tales

While folding laundry recently, I was thinking how we are an eBay family. Some background on how it's part of the fabric of our lives here...

Around here, you have to be careful to log yourself out of eBay if you plan to walk away from the computer. You never know when someone's going to sit down at the computer & put something on your watch list, or worse yet, bid on something for you. Since there are 2 adults and 1 toddler in our house, and the toddler hasn't learned to operate the mouse yet, you can imagine who the two practical jokers are... The more mature of the practical jokers just puts things on HIS watch list... the other one has actually BID on and WON an item on HER eBay account. Yes, I am the proud owner of some glow-in-the-dark prophylactics.

My husband sold 3 old cars on eBay; they had been rotting in his mother's yard sitting around becoming collectibles. There are plenty of stories around the sale of the cars, but my hubby would really need to be in the blogger's seat to do them justice. I will say though, that when he couldn't get the doors of the most important of the cars open, it was me who crawled in through the trunk - through cobwebs, assorted droppings and grunge, to open the doors from the inside. It had been a special car -- I believe it was a Cobra; my hubby still carries a picture of it in his wallet. (??!!)

Anyway, I got thinking about how eBay is just part of our lives the other day, while folding underwear. You see, when I get to the bottom of the barrel in the underwear drawer, I sometimes wear old maternity underwear. Which always reminds me of a classic eBay purchase I made.... 

A few years ago, my sister was expecting her second child; when asked what she'd like for Christmas, her answer was simply: turtlenecks and maternity underwear. OK, simple enough. Boring, but practical and simple enough, right? I was in a real eBaying phase at the time, so I searched for maternity underwear on eBay (new in package, of course). I happened upon some new-in-box maternity underwear. Sweet.

I bid... I won. Sweeter.

Til the package arrived. Not so sweet afterall.

Sure enough, they were new in the box, but the box and the underwear wreaked of smoke. BLECH! But still, they were perfectly good underwear. I washed them a few times to get the smell of smoke out of them. Practically good as new. Yeah, lesson learned about the importance of buying from a smoke-free home. Though I don't really recommend buying underwear on eBay...   I did give my sister the underwear and did end up telling her the story behind them (heh,  so to speak). She was mortified. But she wore them.

When it came my turn to need maternity underwear, she happily passed all of hers on to me, including the eBay undies. Must be a sister thing -- I can't imagine taking hand-me-down underwear from anyone else. I will never hear the end of the history of that gift though.

Just goes to show you, you can put anything up for sale on eBay, and some fool will buy it.

Comments

[MommaK]

Great story Marie!

You know, I really need to get on the ebay selling bandwagon. I am a buyer tried & true, but I have yet to sell anything. I have tons of stuff lying around here just screaming to be sold. Is it really that easy??

[vw bug]

Only sold one item on ebay. Need to get rid of some other stuff I guess. And to my surprise, I have the only ebay account. So when my Hubby wants something, it goes through me. Sigh.

[Tammy]

LOL...great post!

My sister is an E-bay-oholic. I myself have never figured it out. The only good thing about being an E-bay dummy is the fact that when I get those "your e-bay account is suspended" scam emails, I just delete them...cuz I don't have an e-bay account!

[Boudicca]

ROFLMAO! That is frickin' hysterical! I'm still laughing! I know I'm going to end up telling this story to people I know. The glow in the dark prophylactics... crack me up.

[Bluegrass Mama]

Better he should have a picture of the Cobra in his wallet than of old girlfriends. Or no pictures at all, and just the glow-in-the-dark goodies.

[Marie]

MommaK,
It is pretty easy and fun to be the seller. And you're at an advantage as an experienced buyer -- you know what the good sellers do. And you have a digital camera, right? Pictures are key. You're set!

VW,
Dang. It is great fun putting things on your spouse's watch list.

Tammy,
It is highly addictive and fun. And it's a real kick being the seller when you watch them duke it out for some little doodad that's just sitting in your house collecting dust. I once sold a butter dish that I paid $3 for... for $18. It's a beautiful thing!

Bou,
I wasn't too happy when I learned I was the winner of that auction. I immediately wrote to the seller & asked him not to leave me feedback... his username was CondomHead or some such thing. I didn't want his name showing up in my feedback list! Needless to say, he was used to that request...

BGM,
True, true. What was odd was that for a long time he had only the picture of the car in his wallet... and none of me, his beloved wife! I now keep his wallet stocked with photos of his wife and son.

[Katie]

That's the best eBay story I've heard in a long time!

[Mommak]

Marie-
I'm going to try it. Thanks for the info ;-)