Wednesday 7 November 2012

Remote Control BOLO

Remote controls - do they control your life or just the TV/Video/DVD player.   

Answer :  All of the above.


If you are an anti-socialite like me, your idea of a good night out,  is sitting at home in front of the TV with lots of remotes laid out on the armrest of your chair - and lots of TV shows lined up to look at.

Back in a previous life, I had Pay TV.   The main one here is Foxtel.    The unit has its own special remote.   Once that remote gets knackered, you have to fork out $69.95 for a special new Foxtel remote at a bricks & mortar electronics store.

That is what happened to my old remote.  I never dreamed of buying a new one.    The only one I had was destructo-delecto.

This was the culprit:


This is Horris, or has I call her, Horris the Horror.    Now look at the size of that beak !!!

Nothing is more delicious to a parrot than something that can be destroyed.  The bigger mess it makes the better.




And nothing was more delicious than those little rubber buttons on the remote control.   I don't know how long the remote was used with only a nubbin of rubber for the Power button.     With a parrot you can't say "spit it out", or wait around inspecting their poopies for the missing rubber piece to appear.  

It had been well chewed and turned to rubber dust.   She ate so much rubber off our 4 remotes, that I wouldn't have been surprised if she started bouncing off the walls.   Having said that, I think the + on the Volume Button is still inside her because she is getting louder every day.

Of course the same thing can occur with other animals - such as dogs that love to chew - or male humans that need something gnaw on when the winning team (kicking a ball endlessly backwards and forwards around a grassy field) is not wearing the right colours on their jumper.


Given that I now know that the price of a new remote was $69.95, I would have thought twice before buying a new one, and providing my parrot with some more rubber in her diet.   I would never have even thought about looking on eBay for a replacement.  On there they are a *lot* cheaper than $69.95.    Those who are willing to wait for a sale can get up to $35 for a brand new one.


This I found out, after research,  when my younger brother.  He mentioned that he had a few Foxtel remotes lying around, from a job where he picked up Foxtel units from people who could not long afford Pay TV.   

Could I see if they would sell and we could go halves?  Surely!

I was surprised when I saw they were selling - even skanky ones.  I was handed about 8 remotes - ranging in condition from As New to Good (ie. slightly nibbled on).     I was taking a chance with these, as I had no way to test them to see if they were working.


I put up the two As New ones .  The first one sold within an hour.  The other not long after.













The others in Very Good Condition all sold within one day of listing.











Yesterday I put up a older-style, slightly skanky one that was a bit nibbled, just for a hoot. It sold within 15 minutes.













Total in Sales So Far:   Just over $100 - less about $8 pimping costs from eBay.   That's nearly $45 each.  Not too shabby for something that costed nothing in the first place.   These things were a VERY quick turnover.

I priced mine to sell quickly.    There was lots of competition with other remotes - new and used.  I could hold out for more, but eBay is my only income and I need the money NOW.

I've still got a few left to list, but unfortunately my brother's stock-pile has gone.   I weep to think of all the remotes that he had returned and not stock-piled.   Oh well, at least it's a BOLO for my next Op Shopping visits.

I'm sure you have your own Pay TV remotes in your own area, that could also be good sellers if you can get your hot little hands on them.


I told my brother to visit all his millions of friends and "accidentally" purloin their Foxtel remotes.



He laughed.



I think he thought I was joking.   :-0





1 comment:

  1. Hi DJ. I forgot to mention that they are $69.95 in the shops but much cheaper on eBay. People were selling brand new ones at only $10 more than my used ones, I wanted to price them to sell quickly. I have bills to pay!

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