Sarah Palin’s toast

September 19, 2008

Sarah Palin toastA bit of silly for Friday afternoon: inevitably, the image of US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has appeared on a piece of toast, on eBay. The likeness is uncanny. Bidding currently stands at $12,100.00, with more than a day left to go. Another enterprising toast seller has Obama and McCain fighting on the flip-side of another crumby image of Mrs Palin. Astonishingly, this has yet to receive a bid.

Reuters reports that Palin merchandise is rife on eBay, with sellers offering everything from Palin Barbie dolls and action figures, to Palin thong underwear. Sarah Palin items on eBay.com outnumber those of her Democratic opponent Joe Biden almost six to one. But Barack Obama remains top of the eBay polls, with more than 4000 items listed, to John McCain’s 1600.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 7 Comments 

Lehman Bros. memorabilia sold off on eBay

September 17, 2008

Ex-employees of bankrupt Lehman Bros. are looking to liquidate a few assets of their own,
selling off branded memorabilia on eBay. eBay.com can offer a Lehman Bros. stress ball or golf club to fill your newly-extended leisure time, or a 150th anniversary paperweight, presumably made extra-rare by the fact there won’t be any produced for the 160th anniversary.

On eBay UK, a “Collectible Cigar Humidor” has bids up to £150, and you can pick up any number of cubes extolling the Lehman Bros. corporate virtues of “demonstrating smart risk management” and “maximizing shareholder value”.

I wonder if anyone would bid on my Halifax cheque book?

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | Comments Off 

Find your best match on eBay.com

July 28, 2008

I heard Stephen Fry tell this story, so it must be true: when Louis Daguerre invented photography, one of the first things he did to celebrate was to persuade a local barmaid to pose for some topless photos. The association between photography and naked ladies has been there from the beginning, so perhaps we can forgive eBay for making the connection too.

Doug’s been researching photography for sale on eBay. He says “the search results returned a variety of items for sale - mostly pictures of celebrities, nature, and vintage images. I was actually surprised at how few dirty pictures showed up in the search results,” and swears he never clicked on anything naughty. But the next time he went back to browse eBay, here’s what greeted him:

naked ladies in eBay/Photography

As Doug says, what’s his wife to think?

A search for photo prints doesn’t show up any great number of naked lady gallery pictures. Searching for “photograph”, in the other hand, turns up a fair few “fine art nudes” and some frankly pornographic ones (is anyone policing this?!). But there are plenty of other photographs on eBay.com too: why show Doug this particular selection? I can only assume that this is an unintended result of Best Match: eBay are perhaps suggesting the most clicked-on items within the categories you’ve been searching - so now we know what eBayers are looking at ;-)

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 5 Comments 

“I sold my life to a non-paying bidder”

July 25, 2008

The buyer of an Australian man’s entire life on eBay is an NPB, reports The Telegraph. Ian Usher put everything, from his house to his job, up for auction. Having been auction-wrecked the listing ended about AU$100k short of the price Mr Usher had hoped for.

Neither the high bidder nor the four or five highest underbidders have stumped up the cash to buy the life in Perth, Australia, though Mr Usher remains sanguine: “It is a bit of a shame, but never mind.” He is now selling his house through a conventional estate agent.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 4 Comments 

Saddam Hussein’s Rolls Royce for sale on eBay UK

July 23, 2008

Saddam\'s Rolls Royce CornicheThe Telegraph reports that Saddam Hussein’s Rolls Royce Corniche is up for sale on eBay UK Motors. According to the seller, the car comes with paperwork confirming its ownership by the former Iraqi President, and it will arrive in the UK from its current location in Baghdad in the next four weeks.

For the £185,000 price tag, you’ll get a brand new stereo “as the USA Army … stole the stereos from most cars” they found in the basement of Saddam’s former palace. Steven Brown, owner of the car dealership Autocontinental, told reporters that the car was bought at an Iraqi government auction by an Iraqi friend who’s resident in the UK, along with eleven other cars from Saddam’s collection, including “one Maybach new with solid 24 carat gold fittings specially made for him but not delivered … car was only ready for him two days before he left Baghdad in a hurry”.

And apparently, amongst interested buyers is an American colonel who wants to put SADDAM numberplates on the car. Talk about asking for trouble.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 1 Comment 

Arrested for trying to sell vote on eBay

July 4, 2008

A University of Minneapolis student has been charged with a felony after attempting to sell his presidential election vote on eBay. The 19 year old claimed it was all a joke, but a spokesman for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office told reporters “We take it very seriously. Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote. There are people that have died for this country for our right to vote.” If convicted, the teenager faces up to five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

The vote was listed with an opening bid of $10, but failed to attract even a single bidder. The listing has subsequently been pulled by eBay.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 10 Comments 

A life for sale, going cheap

June 29, 2008

The eBay auction for an Australian man’s entire life has ended with the high bid at just under AU$400k (approx. £192k), rather short of the AU$500k he’d hoped for. He says he hasn’t yet had a chance to make contact with the winning bidder; he’s been too busy with television interviews.

Truth be told, I’m not really surprised this has ended like this. It seems that someone has got a nice house in Perth for a bargain price, and a few cool toys thrown in for free. Lots on eBay are the lazy seller’s way of getting rid of a bunch of stuff quickly, but you’ll almost always realise more cash if you sell things seperately. Besides, even Ian Usher doesn’t want Ian Usher’s life, so why would any sane buyer want to buy it?

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 4 Comments 

Dr Pepper is eBay bridesmaid

June 27, 2008

When other little girls were dreaming of being teachers or singers, Kelly Grey only wanted to be a beautiful bride. But times are hard and when she and fiancé Karl Gau couldn’t afford their dream day, they turned to eBay for help. Kelly put the opportunity to be a bridesmaid - dress, shoes and being in the photos - up for auction. The winning bidder at $5,700 introduced himself as “Nick from New Jersey”, but turned out to be a representative of Dr Pepper Snapple. The soft drinks company has decided to give Kelly $10,000 towards her big day, though the 23 year old hairdresser still says she doesn’t want anything extravagant; she now thinks she’ll be able to afford a honeymoon. The company don’t know yet who they’ll be sending as a bridesmaid: they’re talking about holding a contest, or asking a celebrity.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | Comments Off 

All my life’s been auction-wrecked

June 26, 2008

The Australian man selling his entire life on eBay has cancelled millions of dollars’ worth of bids after being auction-wrecked.

44 year old Ian Usher is selling literally everything after a split with his wife. His house, car, job, motorcycle, jetski and ‘lifestyle’ are all up for sale; he will walk awaywith only the clothes he’s wearing, his wallet and passport, and intends to create a new life with the proceeds of his auction.

Usher’s auction was one of the best pre-publicised I’ve ever seen, so it’s unsurprising that bidding got off to a brisk start. It’s also perhaps inevitable that some less than genuine bidders took an interest in such a high-profile auction. Bids of up to AU$1.85million were cancelled, and the high bid is back down to just AU$390,500, which Usher told reporters is “not even 75% of the value of the house”.

There are three days left to go on the auction which now has pre-approved bidding only.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | 4 Comments