I just made a man happy!

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Now don’t go jumping to conclusions! For a long time I’ve been trying to sell odds and ends on eBay, but with variable success. After doing quite well at first, about 10 years ago, things really ground to a halt and I think I’ve sold one item in the past year. Still it was worth a try – I listed an electric fire that belonged to my parents. It was pretty old but it worked. I didn’t really care about the money, I just didn’t want to throw away something that worked, and we don’t need it. I also offered the same item on Freegle but didn’t get any takers. The listing was for local collection but I did add a note saying if anyone really wanted it I would look into sending it somehow. It’s been on there for months just getting relisted over and over… Eventually someone messaged me and asked if I would consider sending it via courier. I said I would look into it, but I confess I wasn’t that keen, I didn’t have suitable packing materials and I was afraid it would get broken in transit anyway. After about a week I managed to measure and weigh the heater and worked out an approximate cost. The man said yes he still wanted it. I still didn’t have any box big enough to pack it in though. Finally the day came for the fortnightly recycling collection and I managed to find a couple of big boxes that local people had left out for collection. Then a few days later I got some sticky tape and an assistant and together we managed to cut the boxes to fit well enough to wrap it securely and fasten it all up with tape. I thought by now the potential buyer would probably have got get fed up with waiting but he was still there, asking me how I was getting on. Another day or two later I finally managed to get a chance to take it to the local drop-off point. I wasn’t feeling too optimistic. But yesterday the man got in touch again to say the heater had arrived, all in one piece and all working ok. Apparently he had been trying to get one of these heaters for ages. He said he is of the old school and prefers the older tech, so he was very pleased with it and said he was over the moon! I will only get a few pounds for my trouble but glad it has gone to a good home and made someone happy All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2025.