Net Trade

Friday, March 10, 2000
- Zero @ 22:24 pm EST

Ladies and Gentlemen, many have been clamoring that Ebay is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And others are saying the complete opposite. It seems that there are only those that love it and those that hates it. Like it or not, the online trade is here to stay.

Online auctions allow you to sell to a greater audience, thereby making it much better than those mom and pop flea markets. Rare trinkets could sell up to fifty times the price you would usually fetch at a flea market. Creating more profit and even starting up some businesses, to people, online auctions are a godsend. But to every good there is an evil, and I have experienced an auctioneer's worse nightmare.

It all started on the aforementioned auction site, and I saw this awesome hand-painted statue. Waiting until the last five minutes, I started trying to bid it up. Eventually the price went past sixty dollars and I gave up. But it was not a waste of time, because bidding is half the fun. And I must say that it can get very addicting.

So another day, and another auction right? Wrong, as luck had it, the seller emailed me and said he would part with another statue for sixty dollars. Being the shrewd guy I was, I knew he was bluffing and said I could only afford forty dollars, including shipping and handling. After he accepted, I sent my money order to him and waited patiently for it.

About ten days pass and I request the status of my order. He states that he forgot about it and said he will send it the next day. Another ten or so days pass and I have to ask what has happened to my order once again. Just try and guess what he says this time. He says he has not received my order yet!

Instead of arguing with this idiot and take up another week of time, I walk to the local bank and check the records of the money order. It turns out that it was cashed in around he area of where he lives. After stating this, he claims that it might have slipped his mind [as you can see this is a senile person we are dealing with], and he will check to see if he has gotten the payment.

This time he claims that he sent the product a long time ago and the Postal Office lost it. But he was willing to be a nice guy and send another one to me free of charge! While a little suspicious, I was relieved that the whole ordeal was over.

Silly me to think that it would be that easy. After just four days, I get the package in the mail. But it is in an…envelope. I open it and what do I get? Four cheap Japanese Pokemon card. I paid forty bucks for four Pokemon cards. I was pissed now, and I wrote an email full of profanity to this person. Luckily I did not email that one, but emailed a more rationale one. I will save the other email for when he tries to pull another stunt.

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