So, have I ever mentioned that I’m haunted? I don’t mean in the teen angst emotional depressed sort of way, but in supernatural sense. Yep, I have my own personal ghost or spirit or poltergeist or something quite insubstantial. I know this because he let’s himself be known and because I conjured him. That’s right, I guess I ask for it and his name is George.

So, how did I evoke such a spirit? Well it all happened about 12 years ago when my daughter was being particularly unruly. She said something to the effect she would be better off if she has a brother. I jokingly told her she had a brother George, but he acted up too and now we only have her, implying a Cosby witticism, “We brought you into this world, and we can take you out … and make another one just like you.” The quieted her quickly as she though about it then called the bluff. But that was the start of George.

In the next few days we had all sorts of weird things happen around the house, lights turning on and off, televisions would turn off at interesting moments, things would be moved around the kitchen, and personal items (wallets, watches) would not be where you usually set them. All in all it was a weird couple of days and that is when we decided we had a ghost. It was nothing malicious, more like playful happenings.

Now some would say it is a poltergeist, but there has never been any sound related to this “entity”, so no, it’s not that. Besides, while I do have a daughter, she was neither angry nor a teen when this developed. Furthermore, this entity has attached to me. It has moved from an apartment in Canyon Country to a house in Castaic, to a house in Northridge and finally to my current apartment.

Over the years I have become accustom to the strange little things that just occur, but this was new to Nancy. She moved in and brought a computer that was perfectly fine. But wouldn’t you know, a few months later George figured out how to turn off her monitor and I suggested she tell George to leave it alone. That worked and eventually it just because a habit to get the monitor to work.

I know, I know, you all say that it was just part of the process of warming up the monitor and that happens once in a while. Well, that may be true, but how do you explain it also happen after the monitor has been on all night? The fact of the matter is the switching off of the monitor happen only when she is on the computer and then only when it seems to bug her most. Then if she sternly addresses George it stops. Also, we replaced the flat screen monitor with a large regular monitor and now the same thing is happening with this monitor. When we hooked up the new monitor there was a gap of a few months when nothing happened to the monitor, so saying it’s the monitor or even the computer does not scan.

Here is another example. When we got a cat all the activity ceased. The cat would approach something, meow at it and then move along. Now, after the having the cat around for half a year, the “happenings” are starting again. The monitor is acting up once in a while, the amplifier pops and crackles and the TV even turns off at moment of the most interest.

Further proof of the “George” haunting me: Yesterday we went to the doctor and the radio in the car would cut in and out. In fact it would in some cases cut in and out on command. It finally stopped but it was weird. You are going to ask, how hot it was… well it was 115 outside and who knows how hot inside so I guess the over heating sensor in the stereo could have kicked in. But in and out and in and out again? Unlikely. Also, later when we went about out business it was hotter inside and out and there was no issue. It was George again. (BTW, this had never happened to Nancy before.)

So as we prepare to move we keep in mind out extra roomie and pack the electronics carefully. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for George to let himself be known at the new place. (The new place is just 2 years old and we are the second tenants in the unit so there should not be any electrical issues.)

We shall see, oh yes, we shall see.

“Dan just won this Ford Mustang for $735.42, and you too can get deals like these, on Beezid” or something like that, so says Beezid’s ad. With a claim like that I had to check it out.

So, how could Beezid offer such high ticket items for so little money? I thought at first they got their inventory as seconds, refurbs, ding or dent, clearance, product discontinued stock and so on so. After looking at their inventory there was not a word about any of this (although the one computer they were auctioning was using older technology but it was still a good computer) so I am assuming it is all new in the box, as it were. I guess I need to dig deeper…

It seemed to me that selling products at 90% below retail would cut margin to 0 and in fact the cost would be more than what is paid for the item. No one is in business to loose money; there must be a trick to it, that’s when I noticed the “Bid Packs” they were auctioning. “Bid Packs”? Yeah “Bid Packs”.

This isn’t eBay, this is Beezid and every time you hit the bid button you have to pay for a bid. What you do is spend a few hundred dollars on “Bid Packs” or you can bid for “Bid Packs”. Then you take your bids and bid on items you want. But don’t think you are going to wait until the last second then bid and think you are going to win… when you hit the bid button you add an additional 10, 20 or 30 seconds to the clock. “Huh” I hear you say? Yeah, you can’t snipe the low price at the last second, the additional seconds give some other would be sniper the chance to snipe at your bid… and on and on… This of course encourages more bids and really, what is Beezid selling? Yeah, bids.

So, let’s look at that Ford Mustang deal Dan won:

Price of the Mustang: About $34,000
Price Dan paid to Beezid: About $750
Number of Bids: about 75,000 (in penny increments remember)

How did Dan do:
New Mustang for $34,000 (about)
His cost: $750.00 (about)
Number of Bids by Dan: Unknown but at least one, probably many more.
Net for Dan: $34,000 - $750 – (bids) = +$33,249 (about)

How did Beezid do:
New Mustang (at cost): maybe $23,000
Income on bids: about $56,000 = (75,000 * $.75)
Net Profit: $33,000 (Cha Ching)

This is all ballpark numbers, but I would be willing to say it is pretty close for government work. This is basically a high tech raffle, everyone pays money for their tickets (bids) and one lucky winner takes they prize. But then again, everyone else is SOL, you know, “Sorry, Outta Luck”. Of course for the charity holding the raffle they get a nice donation when it is all over and someone walks away happy but we don’t care it is all for a good cause. Here it is all for Beezid’s profit margin.

In an auction like the one for the Mustang it is very likely that some people spent thousands in bids and walked away empty handed. Of course the people bidding at the start were looking at a pie-in-the-sky price for it the win, hoping against hope that everyone sort of fell asleep and their bid would be the last. There were 75,000 bids on that car, it was a lottery when all was said and done.

Now I am scratching my head because I thought that when eBay first came online they also had a pay for bids system and that was their hook on making money. Further I thought there was like a law suit against them and the pay per bid system went away because it was illegal. In any case it seems to me that Beezid is a more expensive site than you will ever get back unless you get lucky. They can spice it up all they want, but it is going to get expensive real fast.

Another thing… they limit the number of auctions thereby enticing more people to bid on the few items available. While this still means you may pick up a $1200 TV for $400 they are making more bids and paying for less items. Also, the more people who start buying in the higher the prices will get and Beezid is going to make out like a bandit. In fact, bandit may be the exact word for it since I am pretty sure this is all illegal.

Good idea, I for one will not be lining Beezid’s pockets.