I’ve been selling some stuff on eBay, most notably my old 17″ MacBook Pro. I needed a new computer but I didn’t want to pay anything out of pocket. Pre-tax, my new MacBook Pro 15″ cost $1,699.00. I was hoping the stuff I sold on eBay would at least amount to that price. With two auctions left, I’m just $47.00 short of my goal. With any luck, I’ll end up a bit over $1,700.00 in sales. That means I really only had to pay the 7% Rhode Island sales tax for my new Mac. Not bad.

I’m again under warranty, and I’ll get the AppleCare plan at the end of the year, giving me an additional two years of coverage.

Update (06.25.09): This MacBook Pro will be traveling to Afghanistan. A serviceman purchased it and is taking it with him when he is deployed next week. Let’s hope it tracks Bin Laden and “fires” the drone that takes the bastard out.

Update (06.25.09): The final sales figure was $1,676.08. Just shy of my $1,699.00 goal. But I’ll take it.

Update (06.24.09): With one last item selling, total sales are up to $1,673.02.

eBay could as easily have been named eBuy, cause that’s just what I did for six years– buying over 1,000 items. Sadly, I don’t buy on eBay as much as I did, so in essence this is like a farewell letter.

How I Got Started

Back in February 1998, eBay was new to me. I don’t quite remember how I stumbled upon it, but once I was there I quickly became quite the fan. I mean, I saw toys that I remember destroying when I was a kid. Hundreds, thousands of dollars worth of toys I destroyed went flashing across my mind. Could this be true? Could I get a second chance at childhood and savor all those childhood memories again? The short answer was yes.

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After purchasing The Velvet Underground & Nico on eBay, I decided to add another “white” album to my famed, framed collection. This time around, it’s Love’s “Forever Changes” (1967). With another in my sites, you may see part III in the very near future.

Judged by music critics as one of the best albums of the sixties; Rolling Stone calls it “one of the most distinctive masterpieces in that era of masterpieces.”

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Normally I don’t buy LPs (long-play vinyl records for you kiddies), but I did pick one up on eBay a couple days ago. I paid $321.89. That price is certainly not just for the music, although it does have some good tunes, but for the artwork contained on the album.

The album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, was released in March 1967 on Verve records. Rumor says it took more than ten years for this album to sell into the six figures in total units. To say it wasn’t the success sought is an understatement. But decades later, many people look back and see an influential project in experimental rock and punk.

The Velvet Underground was little known during its lifetime; now, more than thirty years after the band collapsed, it has a world-wide following, but the band’s music still tends to divide listeners. You either get it or you don’t. For those who DO get it, this recording, with its Andy Warhol-designed “Peel Slowly and See” cover, is a must-have.

– Gary F. Taylor, Amazon.com review

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