The sun rose on Monday with the promise of a new beginning, but for Ryan Keller, it wasn't just another school day. This was the day Reclaim Digital would go live. This was the day his second chance at building something real, something that could grow into an empire, would begin.
He barely tasted breakfast. His mind was already racing with inventory counts, listing optimizations, packaging logistics, and social media strategy. Dylan would be bringing the final edited product photos to school, and Ryan had packed his tablet with presentation mockups, keyword data, and forum drafts.
It was all happening today.
---
8:03 a.m.
Ryan slipped into homeroom ten minutes early, a rare feat for someone who used to skate in just as the bell rang. He needed those ten minutes to double-check their store dashboard, confirm that PayPal was synced, and skim through their five most competitive eBay sellers. He was already taking notes when Dylan walked in, laptop bag slung over one shoulder and a grin stretching ear to ear.
"Got everything," Dylan said, sliding into the seat beside him. "Photos, intros, timestamps. Even mocked up a fake review for our dummy listings."
Ryan raised an eyebrow. "We can't fake reviews."
"No, no. Not to post—just for format reference. It'll help us get the tone right."
Ryan smiled. "You really are a genius."
"Yeah, well, don't tell my chem teacher. He thinks I'm barely literate."
---
10:15 a.m.
Second period gave them their first real break, and they huddled at the back of the library during study hall.
"Okay," Ryan said, pulling up the admin panel on his laptop. "Let's run through the final checklist."
Dylan clicked through his files. "Images are compressed and cropped to eBay's ideal aspect ratio. Every item has a hero shot, a detail zoom, a condition indicator, and a packaging preview."
"Descriptions?"
"Each with keywords, item specifics, condition disclaimers, and embedded timestamp codes. I even hyperlinked the authenticity videos to our Google Drive."
"Policies?"
"Thirty-day return window, prepaid return label, and message-response templates in the drafts folder."
Ryan nodded. "Then at 3:45, we go live."
Dylan leaned back, arms behind his head. "Feels kind of unreal, doesn't it?"
Ryan didn't respond immediately. He was thinking about the last time he launched something. About the investors he failed. The team he let down. The debts. The shame.
This time would be different.
"No," he said finally. "This time it feels exactly right."
---
12:02 p.m.
Lunchtime became their command center. They took the far corner of the cafeteria and turned it into an unofficial war room. Dylan laid out printed thumbnails on the table while Ryan reviewed bullet-point notes from his tablet.
"Do we start with all ten listings? Or stagger?"
"Launch all ten," Dylan said. "Algorithms like inventory density. Then we queue five more for tomorrow and the next day."
Ryan hesitated. "Maybe we should hold the Game Boy bundle until we have the cross-promotion script ready."
"Or we do a soft test today and re-promote it later. We need buyer behavior data."
Ryan relented. "Okay. Full launch it is."
"Also," Dylan added, tapping his pen against the table, "I posted our teaser banner to four forums and added a countdown to the subreddit. We already got three comments."
"That was fast."
"Gamers are like wolves. They smell a deal from miles away."
---
3:45 p.m.
The final bell rang. Students surged from classrooms like a tidal wave, but Ryan and Dylan didn't join them. They beelined to the nearest bench outside the school's side exit and fired up the laptop.
"Ready?" Ryan asked.
Dylan cracked his knuckles. "Born."
Ryan hit the Publish button.
The listings went live.
Reclaim Digital was officially open for business.
---
The first twenty minutes passed in silence.
Then the metrics started to move.
One view. Then five. Then twelve.
A watcher.
Two watchers.
A buyer message.
"Do you ship internationally?"
Ryan typed a professional response within two minutes. Dylan was already logging stats in their Google Sheet.
Another message.
"Can I bundle the SNES controller with the sealed game?"
Ryan negotiated a discount. Dylan updated the listings. The flow was smooth, efficient, satisfying.
By 5:12 p.m., they had their first confirmed sale.
Pokemon Blue – Game Boy – Boxed – Verified Authentic.
Sold for $78.99.
"We're live," Dylan whispered.
"We're building," Ryan corrected.
---
6:30 p.m.
Back at Ryan's house, the room had transformed into a mini warehouse. The bed was covered in bubble wrap, tape, and packing slips. The closet doors were open, revealing neatly stacked shoe boxes filled with cartridge lots and controller bundles.
They filmed themselves packing the first order: branded tissue paper, a thank-you note, and a printed receipt.
"Future buyers need to see this," Dylan said. "This is what separates us."
Ryan nodded. "Customer care. Clarity. Confidence."
---
8:00 p.m.
Their post on the retro subreddit hit the front page.
The comments were enthusiastic:
> "Finally, a shop that actually tests their hardware."
> "That packaging is clean."
> "I'd pay extra for that kind of trust."
Ryan grinned.
By the end of the night, they had:
3 confirmed sales
6 active watchers
2 inbound messages about bulk deals
1 request for international shipping
---
10:45 p.m.
Ryan opened a new document and began drafting the next steps:
Build out a customer email list
Order 100 branded thank-you cards
Invest in custom labels
Research Shopify storefront migration
Dylan sent a last text before crashing:
> [DYLAN]: If we get two more orders tomorrow, we upgrade to Phase 2.
> [RYAN]: Phase 2 = media channel.
> [DYLAN]: Video breakdowns. Reviews. Live demos. Tutorials. Build the trust. Lock the traffic.
> [RYAN]: I'm in.
He stared at the screen for a long moment before finally closing the lid.
Reclaim Digital was more than a name.
It was a mission.
And it had just begun.
---------------------------------------------------------