When You Just Have to Have it...
"Mommy,"
My daughter said handing me the envelope, "I asked
Santa if he would fix Snow White for me for Christmas."
It was
mid-November and the month before my daughter's Snow White doll
was victim to a horrible accident and had broken her leg.
I knew this was one of my daughter's favorite toys. It
was last year's model and no matter where I looked I
could not find that specific doll, she had been replaced with a
new model.
Now my
daughter's sweet blue eyes were looking at me and I knew I had
to do something to help Santa out of this jam.
So, I powered up the computer and did a search on eBay.
From the
home page I chose "Buy" and searched for Snow White.
You won't believe how many listings it brought back!
So I refined my search to include the type of doll I was
looking for. Still
a lot to choose from. I
added the word "New" and chose only dolls that were
close to where we live. After
all Santa's sleigh would be taking off soon.
I found
several that fit the bill.
I clicked on the compare button and found two that I
liked. I clicked on
the ?Watch This Item? button.
After a day or two I saw that one was getting a lot of
bids, but the one that ended a day later had almost none.
So I waited. The
day that the second doll's auction was ending I put in my bid.
I entered the maximum amount that I would pay and with my
fingers crossed I placed my bid. For the next several hours I
waited, hoping that a last minute bidder, or "sniper"
wouldn't pass my maximum. As
the minutes ticked by I kept refreshing my screen and watching,
until the message came up, "Congratulations, you have won
this item".
Santa's
reputation was saved! Actually mine was too and it didn't cost
me as much as I was worried I would have to pay.
Although I did have my limits and I knew if the bidding
went too high I would have a lot of explaining to do to a four
year old who knew Santa wouldn't let her down.
Because I
needed it right away I paid by PayPal (an online payment system
affiliated with eBay), and sent a message to the seller.
She was very nice and sent the doll right away.
She even e-mailed me back to make sure I got it in plenty
of time for the big day.
My daughter was thrilled on Christmas morning
and couldn't wait to call and tell her Grandma how Santa had
fixed her doll better than new.
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