Hi All!
Just wondering if any of you have interesting stories about selling things on eBay...finding by accident or coincidence you knew the buyer or seller or accidentally rebought something you sold or got rid of years earlier or suchlike.
I do! Just happened...
I had a spare 1983 Miyata 1000 frame I put up on eBay, and bit my nails 'cos it received no bids till the last 4 minutes or so. My minimum bid was met and I gave a sigh of relief when suddenly -- with 5 seconds left on the clock, a sniper-bidder swooped in. The autobids traded fast and furiously in the remaining seconds and the sniper-bidder won, paying 25% more than my opening amount. Yay!
He paid the next day and I shipped the frame off; it arrived last Thursday as scheduled. Today, I received an email from him that rocked me back on my heels (he's tickled with the frame, by the way).
First, a little backstory...
Years ago, I was very active in the Bridgestone community, and still have many of Grant Peterson's old BOB (Bridgestone Owner's Bunch) newsletters, thanks to former member and very talented sometime Rivendell artist Tim Mitoma. I also have a trove of the old, original Rivendell Readers from the days when Grant started his new business after leaving B'stone, and I even snagged a couple of the old instructional countertop displays he commissioned, intended to teach newbies how to properly secure a hub quick-release (hand-brazed, nickel-plated things of cro-moly beauty made by a Genuine Custom Framebuilder of Some Repute who also built all the early R'dells). After the paper version of the BOB died it moved online (iBOB), thanks to Piaw Na, a member in the San Francisco Bay area who lived
about 35 miles (remember this for later; there will be a test) from Tim. Sheldon Brown borrowed my summary of "What a BOB is". I wrote it as the welcome for new members and Sheldon posted it on his site under a different title, as he did several of my works in whole or part:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/whatthehellisabob.htmlBack to present day...
To maintain good netiquette, I'll paraphrase rather than reproduce the buyer's words:
When examining his new Miyata yesterday, a little light bulb went off and he dove deep into his box of bike literature and memorabilia. At the bottom was an envelope with photocopies of an old Fuji Cycles catalog and a magazine's bicycle road test of their America model. I used to love doodling in my little Macintosh SE, making 8-bit artwork in MacPaint. Sure enough, on the envelope was my self-portrait, bearded (had one for awhile back in the day) and riding my 1980 Centurion ProTour, complete with wool jersey and shorts and those Detto Pietro Article 74 cleated cycling shoes like Forum member Pete (Il Padrone) recognized from my gallery photos.
The envelope was postmarked October 28, 1997. This fellow's cousin in New York had contacted me via iBOB on his behalf and I mailed the stuff to him (cousin). He (buyer) was mad for a Fuji America, read the ink off the brochures, and finally found one a few years ago. I'm glad; it's always nice to see Bicycle Dreams fulfilled.
As mentioned, the buyer is tickled with the bike, and the purpose of his note was to thank me, for the help then and the frame now. Needless to say, I'm terrifically pleased and a little nonplussed -- what are the odds, fifteen years later, of this all coming 'round full-circle? I was in Oregon and an active list-member of a group based in the greater San Francisco area. This guy's cousin was in...New York, and he (buyer) lives in...San Francisco.
The kicker? The frame was sent to me by a fellow iBOB member years ago, when he was told by his wife to clear the old frame out of the garage and he couldn't bear to throw it away. He sent it to me as a surprise...the
same week I sent the eBay buyer's cousin the Fuji literature which he sent the buyer in San Francisco. The double-kicker? The original owner lived in New Jersey...
just exactly 35 miles from the final buyer's cousin in NYC.
Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
The frame is already being built-up as a first-class AroundTowner in its original green paint. Made me really glad I took the time to clean and wax and thoroughly polish it for the new owner before I sent it out. Obviously, the bike went to the "right" person; I'm as delighted by the outcome as he.
The lesson? Be nice to people! The online community is surprisingly small at times, and the bicycle subset even smaller, and you'll see the same people from time to time, or their relatives. Good begets good, and kindness never goes out of style. What comes around goes around, and the scales of karma balance out. No matter where you go, there you are. I'm out of platitudes, but would be pleased hear of any unusual eBay or other sales stories and coincidences you might have. Travel coincidences and chance meetings are always cool, too.
All the best,
Dan.
