Thumper
10-13-2014, 07:46 PM
I told the story here a few years ago about locating a childhood (best) friend living within minutes of me. I moved here in '89 and he moved here in '98 ... neither of us have ever lived here before. All these years we've been "neighbors" and actually shop at the same stores. He has been driving past my house regularly for over 16 years! We lost track of each other when we were 15 years old and hadn't seen each other for over 45 years. We both agree, if we'd been standing in line next to each other at the grocery store, we'd have never recognized each other. Oddly enough I stumbled upon his profile on a dang site much like Good Hunting ... only it was a group of people who are into growing Bonsai trees of all things!
To make a long story short ... well, not TOO short (I have a reputation to uphold) ... we've reestablished our friendship over the past couple years and it's like we were never apart. He retired a few months back and has been very interested in getting into eBay for a little extra cash and to help him keep busy. We're now a "team" and hit the estate sales together every week. He's doing VERY well at it right off the bat and he loves it, so we have a lot of fun!
Anyway, he's got a few healthy sales under his belt and since he's kind of lost interest in his Bonsai hobby, he's decided to sell off his plants. He figured he'd start off with a mediocre specimen just to get his feet wet and see how much interest there is. Dang! He listed a little Water Oak that he dug up out in the woods around his house and threw it up as an auction. He's starting at $300 with a Buy-It-Now of $400. In it's first 24-hours he received over 100 hits and his listing is on 19 watch lists already! He's saving the good one's for later. Crap, he has a bazillion various Bonsai's around the house and may be sitting on a virtual gold mine! He said all his trees were dug up locally and there is a ton of work (years) involved, but it's time to move on.
Here's his first auction ... a nice little Water Oak. (and before youse dufes make the smart-assed "golfball tree" remark ... it's just for size reference) ;)
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/TqYAAOSwY45UOuZC/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/x2cAAOSw8cNUOuYt/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/7P8AAOSwdsFUPAXP/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/he0AAOSwcu5UPAX4/$_57.JPG
To make a long story short ... well, not TOO short (I have a reputation to uphold) ... we've reestablished our friendship over the past couple years and it's like we were never apart. He retired a few months back and has been very interested in getting into eBay for a little extra cash and to help him keep busy. We're now a "team" and hit the estate sales together every week. He's doing VERY well at it right off the bat and he loves it, so we have a lot of fun!
Anyway, he's got a few healthy sales under his belt and since he's kind of lost interest in his Bonsai hobby, he's decided to sell off his plants. He figured he'd start off with a mediocre specimen just to get his feet wet and see how much interest there is. Dang! He listed a little Water Oak that he dug up out in the woods around his house and threw it up as an auction. He's starting at $300 with a Buy-It-Now of $400. In it's first 24-hours he received over 100 hits and his listing is on 19 watch lists already! He's saving the good one's for later. Crap, he has a bazillion various Bonsai's around the house and may be sitting on a virtual gold mine! He said all his trees were dug up locally and there is a ton of work (years) involved, but it's time to move on.
Here's his first auction ... a nice little Water Oak. (and before youse dufes make the smart-assed "golfball tree" remark ... it's just for size reference) ;)
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/TqYAAOSwY45UOuZC/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/x2cAAOSw8cNUOuYt/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/7P8AAOSwdsFUPAXP/$_57.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/he0AAOSwcu5UPAX4/$_57.JPG