A Tale of Two Sandals

   The internet can be the best of places, the worst of places, .. etc. etc. For every heartwarming story of friendship and generosity, there's a horror story about greed and depravity. This can be especially true of the buying and selling websites such as Amazon.com, eBay, or Craigslist. Often times in search of a good deal, there's a big chance of running into someone unscrupulous. So I'm very careful while shopping on the 'net.
   A few years back, I picked up a really nice pair of sandals for Tim at the local thrift market. They were the thickest soled sandals I had ever seen. Turns out they were especially designed to be exercise sandals. Expensive ones. But i didn't know that at the time.
   Tim loved them. Tim is especially fond of being able to wiggle his toes, so he adores wearing sandals. Even during the worst days of winter we were hard put to get him to wear "real" shoes. Most of the time he wanted to wear his sandals with socks. When it was feasible, we let him, but wearing them almost every day for three years, They started to show signs of wear.  Those specially designed thick springy soles started to come apart, and the leather and stitching began to fray.  Knowing how much he loved these sandals, I recklessly promised to get him another pair of the same kind.  Then I did some research on the brand.
   Everywhere I searched, they showed up no less than fifty dollars a pair, and even then, it seemed to only be women's sizes available. I was stunned. How was I going to explain this to Tim? He does not do well with disappointment, especially when it's about something he really treasures.  So I ventured into the online auction sites, looking for a deal. I have a fair amount of experience buying and selling on them, but I'm always leery of being taken for a ride.
   I have several friends who have horror stories about the problems they've had with proxy paying services, like ING Direct P2P, or Paypal. Especially ones that are directly associated with the auction website. I've heard a lot of stories of people retracting payments, or falsely claiming refunds.  I've never had any of these issues myself, but it's always best to be informed. At least with most of these services, there's an electronic record of transaction with details that can be referred to in case of fraud. However, Tim is only thirteen, and not responsible enough to use these himself. This was a problem, because he suddenly declared he wanted to buy them himself.
   I had purchased a money order from our local grocery, for another reason and didn't end up needing it. The grocery was being weird about returning it, even though it hadn't been filled out, or separated from the bottom portion.  So I had this money order I couldn't use, a fussy, autistic teen to placate, and a pair of incredibly expensive sandals to find. Why not just deposit it at the bank? Because I don't have one. We live pretty hand-to-mouth, and there have just been too many extra fees in my past experience. So a bank won't cash it, the place of purchase wouldn't refund it, and I'm the owner of a forty dollar piece of paper.

    Enter Peter. As a former VIP at the actual sandal company, he had previously bought a bunch of overstocks, and imperfectly made products, and squirreled them away. He was now selling them at amazingly low prices on a popular auction site. He had a good selling history, and no complaints lodged against him, so I shot him an email.  He was offering a pair in the perfect size, in fantastic condition, for half the price of anyone else. They were missing a decorative button and has a fingerprint-sized stain on the interior leather. Who cared?! Not Tim! Best of all, the auction was ending in less than 5 hours, and the price with shipping would be almost exactly that of my poor, unwanted money order.  He responded in record time, to let me know he would be willing to accept a money order, as long as I understood that he would have to wait for it to clear the bank, which would slow shipping.  I expressed my gratitude, told him a bit about Tim, and agreed that was fine. I bid on and won the auction. I exchanged a few more emails with Peter to get the addresses right, since we weren't using the standard check-out service of the site. Then we had a holiday weekend. No mail.
   First thing after the holiday, Tim handed me his saved allowance, and "helped" me fill out the money order, write a note, address the envelope, and then he put it in the mailbox.  He immediately began asking if his sandals would be here tomorrow. After a bit explaining, he understood that they would be coming later.
   "Two hours later," he asked after a while.
   "No sweetie, maybe a week, or ten days."
   "That's too long! I want it to be faster!"
   This conversation was repeated a few times that night.  Imagine my astonishment when a package was delivered the next day in the official brand-name box, with not only Tim's new sandals, but a couple of exclusive limited edition socks from the same company.
   Peter had sent me a note, saying he had been thinking about Tim, and decided to mail the sandals before I had even mailed his payment, and included the socks as extras because he thought Tim might get a kick out of them.  I admit, I cried a bit. Tim rejoiced.
   "Wow, my sandals came faster, Mom!"
  The kindness of a relative stranger, in a market that is prone to scammers, had made my day, if not week, and made Tim incredibly happy.

Tim wanted a picture taken immediately in his new sandals.
Despite the cold weather. At least he wore socks.

   So for all you tl;dr -ers. Someone was awesome on the Internet and made Tim happy. His name is Peter, and he has my gratitude. Thanks Peter, you're one in a thousand. :)