A Long Time Ago, in a Cyberspace Far, Far Away… Part 1

Back in the mid 1990’s, my IT business was accumulating surplus stuff that I didn’t have a use for. Plus, tech gear is like fresh fish … it never improves with age. As a proud member of CompuServe (remember CompuServe?) I happened one day upon their classified ad section. Wow, I thought to myself (which, by the way, is my favorite way to think) I finally found a way to unload all of my…uh…. experienced gear. I gleefully listed all of my ‘junque’ on the classified section with mixed results. (I recall waiting in a sleazy Parkway rest area in order to unload a surplus Electronic Cash Drawer to a guy who never did show). Well, it was a great concept, but their had to be a better way….

Well, a few years later, my travels in CyberSpace had expanded somewhat. I learned of a strange new world outside of Compuserve which I explored using a thing called NETSCAPE and my trusty $450 US Robotics HST modem. I used the Internet Yellow Pages as my guide and I discovered secret recipes for chocolate chip cookies and other forbidden knowledge. I also discovered a place called eBay.

eBay at the time was what I was looking for – an effective place where I could find new homes for my old, but still useful tech equipment. II signed up for an account, started listing my stuff, and the rest is history. As one of the lucky few with a digital camera (a Kodak DC-40 that cost $500. Was the size of the paperback edition of War & Peace, stored photos on a PC Card and transferred them to your PC with a Serial cable) I had soon sold old my stuff, and now, thoroughly hooked, I went looking for more stuff to sell.

Well, I had a buddy who collected stuff. Lots of stuff. More stuff then you could imagine. He had also collected a wife along the way who insisted that their home be dedicated to things like kids and little Tykes rather then copious amounts of other stuff. Well, he resigned, time to start thinning the herd – but where? Out to dinner with the wives one night, we had an epiphany – I could sell his stuff for him on eBay. And so I did.

Before we knew it, we were making money. Lots of money. The postman would drop off envelopes and more envelopes every day, chock full of checks and money orders. Pity my pal’s poor wife – it turned out that the more stuff I sold, the more he collected, so her little plan backfired. But as much as she disliked the stuff, she liked the extra income. And life was good.