May 23 2009
Minor on auction site bids on and wins a digger.
Minor on auction site bids on and wins a digger.
No, not a toy Tonka digger; a real life digger that is generally used to dig out holes in the ground for building foundations. Caterpillar is one such company that manufactures these diggers. Read on:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090522/ap_on_fe_st/as_odd_new_zealand_big_toy
Toddler buys earthmover in online auction
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A New Zealand mom made some online bids on toys before napping. Then her 3-year-old daughter took over and bought a bigger plaything than expected — a huge earth-moving digger for a cool $12,300.
Pipi Quinlan made the winning 20,000 New Zealand dollar ($12,300) bid on the Kobelco digger with a few mouse clicks at the auction site TradeMe while her parents slept, the Rodney Times newspaper reported in northern New Zealand.
“The first I knew about it was when I came down and opened up the computer,” said Pipi’s mother, Sarah Quinlan.
“I saw an e-mail from TradeMe saying I had won an auction and another e-mail from the seller saying something like `I think you’ll love this digger,’” she was quoted as saying in the paper.
Quinlan said she had made auction bids on several toy sets and assumed she had bought a toy digger.
“It wasn’t until I went back and reread the e-mails that I saw $20,000 — and got the shock of my life.”
She immediately called the auction site and the seller to explain what happened.
TradeMe reimbursed the seller’s costs for the auction and the digger was relisted.
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I can’t say I feel sorry for the parents since their sleep time was obviously more important than keeping an eye on their toddler while the toddler played on the computer. Were these parents naive enough to think a three year old doesn’t know how to place bids on an auction site? *chuckle* Well I’m sure the seller had as good a laugh over the incident, too. Oh, it is a bit of a hassle to relist an item from a non-paying bidder - I am an ebay seller myself so I’ve been there and done that - but at least the seller gets relisting and final auction value fees reimbursed. Although I hope the seller of the digger eventually sells it for a profit. And that Sarah Quinlan doesn’t allow her very young daughter access to ebay anymore. Doesn’t she know that one has to be at least eighteen years old to do business on that auction site? Duh. No, in her case, a moo.
