damaged goods

Ever since I got Chiquita a George Gina & Lucy bag as a graduation present, I'd been pining after one for myself, but what with October having been a rather costly month and a wedding in Manchester on the horizon later this month, I told myself to economise (buying shoes instead, ahem). Well, anyway. Having recently discovered Ebay as yet another way of keeping myself entertained during office hours, I was determined to make a bargain there and buy a second handbag, so to speak. For weeks, I'd been poised to grab one only to realise that for some obscure reason they sell for almost the original retail price. The weekend before last I not only sold a MANGO leather jacket (hardly worn) for a staggering € 46 but made the highest bid on a GGL bag which for € 40.50 became mine. Oh, the joy and anticipation! This Monday, the parcel from Salzburg finally landed on my desk. I opened it, read the nice postcard by its sender with a 50 cent coin sellotaped on it as a refund for a too high postage quote. She'd even put some mini Haribo bags in the box. Very thoughtful. My ecstasy was cut short when I noticed that the left seam was gaping (already mended on the photo below). Had I missed something in the small print? No, it said "as good as new". Feeling somewhat verarscht , I wrote a cynical e-mail to the seller, telling her that my idea of "as good as new" did not stretch to undone seams. She was very contrite indeed and offered to take it back or to partially refund the amount paid. I did a good job mending it and did actually believe her that she put it into the washing machine (it does smell of detergent) and the tumble drier must have damaged it without her noticing. Being a nice person, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. I remembered Novala saying that Ebay spelt trouble, but then again I never had a problem selling any of my stuff and getting the money so I'll call it a small glitch. It is a nice bag, isn't it? It's considerably bigger than I thought it would be, though, more of a weekend-bag or, as we say in German, BUKO which is short for for Beischlaf-Utensilien-Koffer (literally cohabitation utensil suitcase)...