Haggis-Come-Lately

I am about to make my very first purchase ever on EBay. Yup. I've never ever used the site for anything in all the years it has been in existence. Something about buying something sight unseen from "ValleyDad" instead of Lands End just kind of weirded me out; like, who are these people? What will they do with my info? I think I equated it with the time I sold my washer and dryer back in the day to a guy from Virginia through the classifieds. I had my friend Mark come over so I wouldn't be alone while "Potential Buyer#2" came into my house. It worked out fine, but the whole process of dealing with individual strangers weirded me out. So when EBay exploded into the cultural juggernaut that it now is, I respectfully declined any part of it.

Fast forward and now I want to buy something that I can't seem to get anywhere else. EBay is littered with ValleyDads and NCGirls who have it and want to sell it, and d*mn it, I think I'm gonna do it. I'm still skittish, but I'm going ahead with it regardless, recognizing that I still have much to learn about the entire EBay subculture.

I was looking at one seller's ratings, and every time someone gave him a bad rating like, "Took forever to get here. Bad EBayer;" he'd counter with "Called buyer 4 times, no response. Bad EBayer. NO RESPECT." I've been laughing hysterically as I read the comments, picturing Ali G or some hip hop star saying, "That's some bad EBaying, yo. No Respeck!"

People obviously take it all very seriously, so I'm just going to have to get used to it if I want my Shaun Cassidy limited edition Hardy Boys lunchbox circa 1981, aren't I?

Respeck!