Ebay was only two many years old when I discovered it.

A buddy I worked with was also beginning to market on Ebay at about the same time, and we exchanged suggestions and experiences constantly. Because we had been already working collectively on our Ebay ventures, we decided to mix our sources into one company and grow it while we had been still both working our regular career. We discovered our area of interest selling technical books and manuals as our small company started to grow and prosper. Our co-employees at the company we worked at during the day arrived to think about us the “Ebay Specialists”. We had been answering concerns about on-line auctions on a daily foundation, but one coworker had the same comment each and every day.

“Hey, show me how to make simple cash on Ebay!” he would inquire. It grew to become a standing joke in between My companion and I that usually arrived up about two or three in the early morning during a marathon packing or e-mail answering session. 1 of us would appear at the other and mutter in a disgusted tone “Yea, Simple cash on Ebay..”

In January of 2002, we had more product sales, and more auctions running than ever before prior to. We had been looking at one hundred to a hundred and fifty auctions a day closing, and experiencing a market-through price of close to 75%. Our shelves had been piled higher with books and manuals, the shipping area was nicely stocked with supplies, and we had been prepared for long hrs of satisfying our orders.

Then, as if fate stepped in to see just what we had been made of, a massive ice storm hit our part of Oklahoma taking out big sections the electrical grid. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that on-line companies can do without numerous things, but electrical energy is NOT on that checklist! On the third day of the blackout, we had been in a position to discover from the radio (battery driven) that it was not just our area, but more than Half the state of Oklahoma. Even worse yet, the harm was so extensive it was going to be at least TWO WEEKS prior to energy was restored! A quick calculation and we nearly panicked. We would have more than two THOUSAND AUCTIONS End, and no way to get in touch with the bidders! If we didn’t keep up with the product sales, payments, and shipping on a daily foundation, we had been in deep trouble… We couldn’t imagine what a mess it would be in TWO WEEKS!

The fourth day into the blackout, I made an executive decision. I grabbed the company checkbook, and headed for our closest Lowe’s Home Enhancement middle (about 70 miles away..). The small roadtrip turned into really the journey. Unusual factor about a huge blackout is gasoline stations can’t pump gasoline without electrical energy, and you are burning gasoline while you are driving about looking for a gasoline station that was open for business. I was running on luck and fumes prior to I lastly discovered a station and stuffed up. With a full tank of gasoline, I made it to Lowe’s and purchased a generator. We assembled the generator in record time, place oil in the engine and then recognized… Uh Oh, we require gasoline for the generator. No local gasoline stations had been open for business, and we didn’t want to risk another road trip. Utilizing an old trick I hadn’t used because I was expanding up on a farm, we had been in a position to get sufficient gasoline out of my pickup truck to fuel up the generator.

The small generator fired up on the initial pull, and with the assist of a couple of extension cords and energy strips, we had a computer network up and running at My partners house. It was then we made another fascinating discovery. Cable web connections do not work without electrical energy. I had a DSL web connection at my house, so off we go with a partially charged battery in my laptop to check my web connection. Success! DSL works off the telephone line energy so it was still functional. We made a quick drive back to My partners house to tear down the computer network and load the generator, then back to my house to set it all up once more. At 4:30 the subsequent early morning We had the network on-line and a couple of lamps for light. We had been self-contained, and open for business. Now we could get to work, and so we did, for the subsequent directly 48 hrs. We had a pickup truck load of packages prepared for the publish office when it hit us, “Is the publish office open?”. A quick telephone ( by the way, cell phones and cordless phones are ineffective during a blackout. The easiest plug-it-in-the-wall phones work great.) discovered us with another problem. Our local publish office was closed (no electrical energy there either.) They did inform us the regional USPS hub had energy, and was open 24/seven. The bad news is, the regional hub was 75 miles away in Oklahoma City!

Meanwhile, back at the fuel problem… We had been relieved to discover that two local gasoline stations had rented generators and had been open for business. We gassed up and headed for Oklahoma City. With the load of packages on the way to clients and most of the other urgent duties finished, we took a a lot required break. We shut down the network and use the generator to energy an electrical griddle and make a scorching meal. The small generator would not energy both at the same time without throwing it’s breaker.

For the subsequent two weeks, that poor small generator ran constantly keeping the computers running and the shipments going out, the concerns answered, and our clients pleased. Every other day I would make the a hundred and fifty mile round trip to the USPS hub in Oklahoma City, stopping on the way back to fill the gasoline containers for the generator, and fuel up the truck for the subsequent trip.

1 evening we took a brief break, and stepped outdoors for a breath of fresh air. We noticed some thing different…. THE Road LIGHTS Had been ON! I ran inside and attempted the lights… Electricity!

I went subsequent doorway and asked my neighbor how long the energy had been back on. “Oh, about four or 5 hrs..”. We had been so wrapped up working in our self-contained office, we hadn’t recognized the energy had arrive back on! With our ordeal behind us, we couldn’t resist the temptation to elebrate with a cold beer and a toast…

“Here is to “simple cash” on Ebay!”

KL Bohn is an Industrial Engineer with a passion for technology and particularly Ebay.

Ebay was only two many years old when I discovered it really by accident. seven 1/two many years, and more than 85,000 transactions later on I’m still hooked on Ebay as a seller, buyer, and shareholder.