eBayin’ in Hong Kong
Let me preface this by saying, I am not a morning person. Period.
Let me also say that I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in I can’t tell you how long. (I’m not blaming anyone, it’s just a fact.)
So this morning when Matthew comes running into my room, I’m startled from a deep sleep (and a pretty nice dream too.)
“Mom! Mom! There’s Pokemon toys on eBay. The auction ends in 2 minutes and it’s only a penny! Can I get it, please? I’ll give you the money for it! Please?”
It’s 6:30 in the morning. I heard “Fire! Come quick! You must give your username and password to extinguish so that you can go back to bed for 30 more minutes.”
I shuffle into the office. He pulls the seat out for me to sit down. He points to the computer. “Hurry, Mom! There’s not much time left.” Suddenly, I feel like I am stepping into a life saving operation.
I see Pokemon toys. They look harmless. I see $.01, I see “auction ends in 2 minutes, 19 seconds” and see the place bid button. I clicked on it.
I entered my username and password. I bid $.15…you know, just in case a sniper came in behind me at the last minute. (Even half asleep that auction demon comes out in me!) We’re the high bidder. I shuffle back to the bedroom and fall in the bed, glancing briefly at my clock to see that I still have 25 minutes of sleep.
Two minutes later, Matthew comes running in, “We won, We won!!” Great! We’re now the proud owners of more Pokemon toys.
He lays 15 cents on my dresser. I look over and politely tell him that there will be shipping costs and he’s looking at a minum of $6. He pulls $6 out of his wallet and places it begrudgingly. Poor kid really thought it was only going to cost him 15 cents. I tell him that I will pay for it when I open my email and if I owe him change, I will give it to him then.
I get the kids to school. I come home. I open my email. There is the invoice. I’m ready to pay for his big purchase and then I see the total on the invoice… $20.12
That’s not a typo. Twenty dollars and twelve cents…Seller dude is in Hong Kong and the shipping is $9.98. What’s worse, he’s requiring to pay $9.99 for insurance. Yes, I have to insure something that I paid 15 cents for.
$20.12 later, I have a brand new set of Pokemon figurines on the way.
How many of you can say that?
As a side note, and this isn’t funny, it just shows you how good of a kid I have.
When I picked him up from school, I explained to him what happened and that we needed to be a little more careful next time we made a purchase on eBay. When I told him it was $20.12 he was crushed. It was all the money he had. I told him that this time, I would pay for it because it was partly my fault. He just said, “Well, that’s my lesson for today. I’ll give you $10, Mom. That’s half and that’s fair.”
How could I possibly take the kid’s money?