The 'Cousins'

Part Twenty-Nine: Squeaks and More Squeaks!

Timeline: Late Evening Thursday, 19th April 2007. Forces for good and bad are marshalling.

 

Greg’s discovery of Honora’s night life style had taken the gloss off the evening for him.  Jess noticed that Greg had become quiet and withdrawn after they left the Padilla home, but did not let that diminish his own excitement. He skipped past Greg into the chalet once it was unlocked patting the aircon unit affectionately on his way past and quipped, 'you’re the first of many.’  Greg found the boy’s high spirits infectious, evaporating his own gloomy frame of mind. ‘Yes. Let’s do it,’ he spoke quietly to himself as he sat Jess down at the computer and showed him how to connect his system to the Internet and E-bay through the satellite server. He gave the boy a notebook to write down the passwords and got him working on a search for more aircon units.

After twenty minutes he said to Jess, ‘Now you do it on your own, without me here to help you.’

‘What am I looking for? Anything in particular?’ Jess listened concentrating hard. ‘You’re looking for aircon units and anything we can trade at a profit without going too far from Bamptonville. Once you find something that looks good you can look for product information and read reviews posted on the forums and message boards. You’ll need to find out about models, prices and any defects and good points about them - just enough to be confident enough to believe in your product when you come to sell it on.’

Jess moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue while he nodded his acknowledgement without taking his eyes off the screen. Greg put his hand on the boy’s shoulder as he went on; ‘You’ll also get an idea of what’s selling in town by keeping your eyes and ears open, listening to people talking about what they want and looking to see what’s selling in the shops as you walk around town. Make sure you note the prices they are charging at Mafferty’s and MacKendrick’s. Pick something out you fancy and come back here and open the internet browser on the screen.’

Greg paused. Jess looked up at him, and asked, ‘Then what do I have to do?’

‘You go to Ebay and other online auction and recycling sites to find the thing you’re looking for. That’s whatever it is you have decided could sell well around here. Note the prices and descriptions. Make sure you have the right models. Make a list in your notebook. If you’re not sure about the product, check out the information and reviews like I said. Make sure you get to know the market price for new and used models depending on their condition. Check back at the auction site and note the price they are asking or you can bid for. If you think you can make a decent profit click on "watch this item." Got that?’’

‘Yeah, I think so. Once I find an item that I think will go for a profit. I pull up the information and if it’s still a go I make a bid and click on "watch this item." 

‘ No!’  Greg yelled in horror. ‘You don’t make a bid. Not yet. You note when the auction ends and click on ‘watch the item’ to warn you when the deal will end. You make your bid in the last 5 seconds to make sure you place the lowest bid to win the auction as it closes and rob any other bidders of a last chance to outbid you. Have a small range of higher offbeat bids ready in case somebody does pip you to the deal.’

‘Offbeat bids,’ Jess screwed up his nose in confusion.

‘That’s right; don’t ever bid even money like whole tens or fives. If you want to bid $80, bid $82 it will beat anybody bidding a straight $80 and the clever punters who bid $81 for the same reason you are bidding $82- to seal the deal at the lowest price to them when the auction times out.  Have a few deals running, but keep track of them. You won’t win every time and you’ll come up against sellers that post reserves.’