Before leaving work yesterday, I received two e-mails regarding supposed bids we had placed through our eBay account. The first e-mail stated that we had lost the Star Wars light saber auction, but suggested other items similar in nature which could be bid on now. I just assumed my wife was bidding on the item for my eight year old son, who happened to be home from school yesterday because he was sick. The second e-mail stated that our bid for a Star Wars book had been confirmed, but that we may want to increase our maximum bid in order to assure success. When I arrived home I asked my wife if she had been bidding on Star Wars memorabilia for Ty today, but when she gave me a confused look I knew something was fishy. Ty happened to be sitting nearby during my inquiry and he suddenly looked away. Without notice, tears started flowing when he realized he had done something wrong. I don’t think he fully understood what he was doing, but he had been smart enough to enter a maximum bid. Later he told us that he just read and followed the directions – stupid school teachers teaching my kids to read and follow directions! Since the bid was only $5.95, I wasn’t overly concerned about the item but thought we should contact the seller and see if he/she might be understanding enough to retract the bid.
A few hours later we received this response: “I am sorry but since there is less than 12 hours left on the auction there is no way to retract the bid. Sorry but the deal would be binding. I could offer advice but not my job. I will send and invoice to you when the auction goes off. PS we have a password so our kids cannot even get on without our knowledge have you ever considered one? Thought it might help to suggest in the meantime. I feel for you but it is not my fault. Thanks for understanding.”
No. Thank you for the lecture! I guess Leah and I won’t get our hopes up for winning a “Parent of the Year” award.
Note to Self: Please remove automatic logins from computer.
