Item Not As Described: A website that explores the differences between items for sale on craigslist and the photos provided. ( via Miko via metachat )
posted by The Whelk on Jun 23, 2009 - 27 comments

Well, I'll tell you, Yanni would sound great on this system at The Great Theater in Ephesus, Turkey. A log cabin in the Bluegrass mountains would be another perfect setting for this system. Wow - the possibilities are endless.
posted by squalor on Mar 20, 2009 - 60 comments

Want to live in a cave? Here's your chance.
posted by slogger on Feb 17, 2009 - 43 comments

"It's like I used to enjoy firecrackers, but now it takes dynamite to get me high." Brit Eaton takes Outside magazine on a safari for vintage clothing in the wild west. (via)
posted by 1f2frfbf on Jan 21, 2009 - 19 comments

The New Creation was born in 1970 when Chris Towers, an unknown guitarist from Vancouver, decided to form a Christian rock group with his mother Lorna as lead singer and their neighbor Janet Tiessen on drums. Scared by reports of the hippie excesses of the Manson/Altamont era, Lorna Towers wrote doom-laden, apocalyptic lyrics for the New Creation's aptly titled album, Troubled. The band was unpolished, yet somehow captured a unique lo-fi sound comparable to a hybrid of the Velvet Underground and the Shaggs. The group might be totally forgotten today, if an aging hippie record dealer named Ty Scammel hadn't rescued a copy from a $1 bargain bin, leading to the album's rediscovery by collectors of Christian rock and outsider music. [more inside]
posted by jonp72 on Jan 16, 2009 - 23 comments

On December 17's Tonight Show With Jay Leno, featured guest Scarlett Johansson claimed she had caught a cold from Samuel L. Jackson; she said she felt that her germs were valuable, coming from Jackson, and maybe she could sell them on eBay. Jay Leno handed her a tissue, she blew her nose. The used tissue was sealed in a plastic bag, which was signed by Johansson. Proceeds go to charity. [more inside]
posted by Restless Day on Dec 18, 2008 - 58 comments

Make this Christmas special. Spend it in Ralphie's house! Bunny suit and Lifebuoy soap included. For an extra fee, the owner will convince you to lick a metal pole and then shoot your eye out. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Nov 17, 2008 - 41 comments

"What would you say if I told you that I filled my entire living room with completely original works of art for less than $300?" Andrea Dickson from Wise Bread has found an unlikely -- though, the more you think about it, almost obvious -- place to find original art from new artists: Ebay. If you can filter through the crapload of "artistic nudes", there are plenty of gems, and usually at buyers' market prices. And, as Andrea's mother mused, when it comes to decorating the house, it beats buying mass-produced art from Costco, which is about as original as a Big Mac.
posted by chakalakasp on Oct 1, 2008 - 35 comments

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain may be computer illiterate, but his campaign does think highly of eBay. Sen. McCain and Governor Palin have each suggested eBay as a fix for the economy, tool for government reform, and strategy for homeland security. Perhaps it's because former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, in spite of disagreeing with parts of his technology platform, is co-chair of McCain's campaign?
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Oct 1, 2008 - 24 comments

An online auction site called Swoopo, once called TeleBid, has hit upon an ingenious way to make money. They are an auction site not entirely unlike Ebay - but using a different auction scheme. Where EBay uses a slightly modified Vickrey auction system, Swoopo uses an auction system based on the "Dollar Auction" game - with interesting results. [more inside]
posted by Zarkonnen on Oct 1, 2008 - 31 comments

Bill Cosby auctions off ic/ronic sweaters from Cosby Show for charity. This article has a nice description of the auction, the charity, and also mentions that there's a National Cosby Sweater Day!
posted by ericbop on May 31, 2008 - 14 comments

If Wile E. Coyote entered the Tour de France, this would be his ride. Brought to you by some guy who always wanted to be a human missile. No word if he's going to move from eBay to Acme one day. (The bike running briefly at ear-shredding volume. The slightly more elegant European version. And, of course, Jeremy Clarkson on a jet-powered bike with a pretty basket in front.)
posted by maudlin on May 28, 2008 - 25 comments

The story goes like this: In the early 80's Madonna sat in with Was (Not Was) to record backing vocals (to Ozzy Osbourne's main vox) for their track Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed). Everything was peachy until Madonna's record label, Sire, refused to grant ZE Records permission to publish her recording. So other voices sang of things that cannot be done. Fast-forward ten years and the hits collection Hello Dad, I'm In Jail included the track and, again, the Madonna vocal was not released for use. (This time Kim Basinger's new backing track got the spot.) The new Basinger-backed single peaked at #4 on the UK charts and featured a b-side remix by producer Steve 'Silk' Hurley. However, a glorious blunder resulted in a recall of the single: ZE had sent Hurley Madonna's background vocals. The mistake wasn't caught until after pressing and lo! a very few copies of the record made it out into the world. And so, music fans, for a cool G you can lay hands on your own copy of Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed), featuring the b-side dub, the rarest of Madonna recordings. [Mouse over links for descriptions.]
posted by carsonb on May 12, 2008 - 49 comments

It's Now Completely Impossible To Sell a Laptop on eBay. See also: A Few Thoughts About eBay's Decline
posted by chuckdarwin on May 9, 2008 - 158 comments

You missed your chance to bid on the very last Sky Commuter Prototype in existence. The auction ended in January, but the eBay auction page is still up, with plenty of photos and info. (Final price: $131,700.)
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Apr 12, 2008 - 8 comments

Inflation in Zimbabwe recently reached 160,000%. Get in on the ground floor now by purchasing a $50,000,000 bill (currently selling for 20,000x its value). Dare to become a millionaire!
posted by splatta on Apr 7, 2008 - 93 comments

Ian Usher's divorce prompted a decision to sell his entire life to the highest bidder. You can buy his life for A$230,000: clothes, home, vehicles - even his job & friends.
posted by batmonkey on Mar 17, 2008 - 18 comments

You talked to her father, prepared a YouTube worthy proposal, gathered all your courage.... and she said no. How will your life go on? And what are you going to do with the ring? Enter I Do... Now I Don't, an auction site that caters to broken-hearted lovers such as you. Started by a fellow who has been there. Buy if you dare. Via
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Feb 26, 2008 - 19 comments

The International Crusade For Holy Relics has been fighting (pdf) to have things like the nails used to attach J.C. to the cross removed from Ebay.
posted by gman on Feb 21, 2008 - 42 comments

Just ended on eBay: Auction for the Wycliffite New Testament ca. 1400. Closing bid; US $399,100.00. The seller supposedly is The Bible Museum, Inc. (according to The Little professor). More about Wycliffite editions and some choice bookbinding samples at Bridwell Library [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Feb 2, 2008 - 15 comments

If you're looking for a good prank this holiday season, why not have someone living in Europe send cryptic, bizarre postcards to your friends. Bidding has commenced.
posted by zardoz on Dec 18, 2007 - 29 comments

You can own your very own AOL 1.0 floppy disk for the low price of $4,995.00. Think this is absurd? Well, it's been done before.
posted by MaryDellamorte on Dec 16, 2007 - 45 comments

Juststolen.net "was created by police officers to provide the best possible asset tracking and property recovery services in the world. JustStolen.net is an innovative tool designed to easily register assets in order to facilitate their recovery if they are lost or stolen. JustStolen.net joins forces with online auctions to help identify stolen property."
posted by tristeza on Dec 6, 2007 - 7 comments

Invest wisely. End poverty.
posted by gman on Oct 25, 2007 - 30 comments

The Facebook Apps Top 30. Opening their source code to application developers, facebook won a strategic gamble. Now, these developers are making their own deals. The I am Hungry application went for just over $20,000, or around 13 cents for data of every user who signed up. But don't worry, you have a chance to bid for yourself.
posted by parmanparman on Oct 9, 2007 - 36 comments

eSellout.com : Freaky Things for Sale on eBay. From Your business on my chest, A very normal 1998 red VW Beetle with a long story, A potato that looks like the cartoon character Arthur, A mohawk toupee, Someone selling his dreams, but not in the way you might think, A very unique tomato and many, many more.
posted by psmealey on Sep 8, 2007 - 11 comments

Man buys Allsop, relists it as Allsopp - proving that on eBay, presentation is everything. via b3ta
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Aug 31, 2007 - 38 comments

After 53 bids, the Pokemon cards went for $142.51. (see also)
posted by Robert Angelo on Aug 22, 2007 - 25 comments

The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer.
posted by chunking express on Jun 19, 2007 - 74 comments

Don Lancaster: energy and small business Lancaster wrote in 'Nuts and Volts', wrote 'The Incredible Secret Money Machine', and has a website that ranges from small business to hydrogen economy to ebay to magic sinewaves. This is the link to his current blog, but take a look at his archived works. His writings on avoiding filing for patents are particularly thought-provoking and perhaps inspirational.
posted by dragonsi55 on Apr 14, 2007 - 7 comments

Google [sic] chairman pwned [sic] on business card.
Also, save $$money$$ with typos!!
posted by Terminal Verbosity on Feb 27, 2007 - 61 comments

Charity-by-Numbers. Re-Paint-By-Number. Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles is holding an exhibition & charity auction for The Alliance for Childrens Rights. The show features old paint-by-numbers art work that has been altered by many contemporary artists. You can find Before and After images of all the artwork in their ebay listings as well as many on the gallery's site. (Sorry, no direct link to the embedded feature.) Many larger views are on the Juxtapoz blog. Some are subtle, while others bury the original almost entirely.
posted by JBennett on Feb 14, 2007 - 1 comment

Top 'BRANDS' 2006, 2005, 2004 - Current List and Achive Overview on How survey was done.... What BRANDS have the most recognition and are the most popular with Americans? Here are the results of the current annual survey and achives from the past two years "With the multitude of brand choices available to consumers, this survey is an important indicator of consumer activity and its correlation to social behavior .... Companies that can provide a clear and consistent brand to consumers, as well as harmonize with social changes will find themselves in a promising position, as illustrated by top-ranking brands..."
posted by Bodyguard on Jan 8, 2007 - 16 comments

The Decline of the PS3 Grey Market: Purchases by eBay arbitrageurs were one of the primary drivers of the Playstation 3 release date frenzy. Predictably, the bubble has now burst.
posted by Horace Rumpole on Dec 30, 2006 - 74 comments

Weird political junk on eBay. Traffic lights from Dealey Plaza, President Garfield's funeral shroud, Yitzhak Rabin's Scandalous Greek Vase. And here is the boat which Brezhnev gave Nixon (after Nixon gave him a Cadillac). No bids yet at $1m.
posted by tombola on Dec 20, 2006 - 8 comments

What you have purchased for less than the price of a cup of coffee is arguably one of the most important "lost" music recordings out there. Record collector Warren Hill paid 75 cents at a yard sale in Chelsea, New York for an acetate in a plain cardboard sleeve. After some research, Hill's friends confirmed that the acetate disc, recorded by sound engineer Norman Dolph (who also wrote Reunion's "Life Is A Rock But The Radio Rolled Me"), was the third recording ever made by the Velvet Underground and the first album they ever did. A demo rejected by Columbia Records, the acetate is now up for auction on EBay, where the high bid is $124,640.50 and climbing, already breaking records as the most expensive LP ever sold at auction. (Bonus: see a post from a teenage eyewitness to the VU's 1966 session that produced this acetate.)
posted by jonp72 on Dec 5, 2006 - 32 comments

Bag Of Prayer Letters Plucked From N.J. Surf. One man wrote from prison, saying he was innocent and wanted to be back home with his family. A woman wrote that her boyfriend was now closing the door to her daughter's bedroom each night when it used to stay open, and wondered why. One unwed mother wrote that her baby was due in four weeks, and asked God to make the father fall in love with her and marry her so the child would have a father. The minister died two years ago at 79. How the letters, some dating to 1973, wound up bobbing in the surf is a mystery.
posted by 445supermag on Nov 3, 2006 - 27 comments

Man turns $1 bill into over $11 via Ebay. No it's not old, it's just a used 2003-series bill that's not even in very good condition. It does has an interesting serial number, though. As does this other $1 bill also on Ebay with a current bid of $11. Of course if your dollar bills don't have particularly rare serial numbers it doesn't mean you can't Ebay your way to profit.
posted by clevershark on Oct 29, 2006 - 31 comments

Websites that changed the world? This Observer piece lists fifteen websites that aught to be considered the best of the web. It's a bold claim and although the potted histories are excellent, I'm wondering the extent to which it mostly includes website that have broken the public recognition barrier in the uk rather than changing the world. How many are simply pioneers in their field? Where for example is flickr?
posted by feelinglistless on Aug 13, 2006 - 69 comments

Looking for the Loch Ness monster, a new husband, Uranium, or bed sores? eBay can help (or so their adwords think).
posted by mattbucher on Aug 2, 2006 - 14 comments

What is the value of your vinyl record? An archive of the marketplace of wax.
posted by The Jesse Helms on Jul 26, 2006 - 33 comments

Crazy Eddie. His prices were in-sane! After a failed attempt to revive the home electronic brand known for wacky commercials, the name is being auctioned off on eBay.
posted by Yakuman on Jul 4, 2006 - 27 comments

What began as a simple eBay Motors auction... "Again no swaps. What is it with people, when I say no swaps please don't take it as a challange. I have been offfered a caravan, 12 cars, 1 lorry, to have my garden landscaped, some rare fish, and I'm sorry but the very kind gent (Donald) who offered me a weekend with his wife (and him it would appear) I have a special message for you. The pictures you sent me of your wife did not, in all honesty help. Some of them looked more like a traffic accident than something that I might remotely find alluring. I am sure that if you set up your own website (assuming that it's not illegal) there will be plenty of sad sacks (many from ebay land going by this experience) who will indulge your (and your wifes) desires."
posted by daHIFI on Jun 7, 2006 - 34 comments

If you are going to sell a broken laptop on ebay, make sure you wipe the harddisk first (some photos NSFW)
posted by bluefin on May 26, 2006 - 88 comments

Wal-Mart fails in South Korea. As a student of business and a resident of Asia, I am fascinated by the examples of "foreign" businesses who either succeed or fail in Asian markets. Recently, Vodafone failed in Japan but in a strange twist has signed a J-V with Softbank to keep their presence in Japan. eBay failed in Japan as did Memoirs of a Geisha. I'd love to have a discussion on the successes AND failures of non-Asian businesses in Asian markets and what, if any, lessons can be taken away for those of us who are in Asian markets or wish to enter Asian markets. (Yes, I realize that "Asia" is too broad of a region but I don't want to limit the discussion to just one nation.)
posted by gen on May 24, 2006 - 43 comments

Injunctions in patent cases not automatic. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision (16 page pdf) on Monday in the dispute between eBay and MercExchange. The Court ruled in favor of eBay finding that the lower Appeals Court erred as a matter of law in creating a general rule that “courts will issue permanent injunctions against patent infringement absent exceptional circumstances.” In the concurring opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Scalia and Ginsberg, Roberts citing Court precedent noted that: “[d]iscretion is not whim, and limiting discretion according to legal standards helps promote the basic principle of justice that like cases should be decided alike.”
posted by three blind mice on May 17, 2006 - 25 comments

The seller called 'em polkadots. "When I got the dress, my eyes about popped out of my head. These were NOT creamy white polkadots. My mind raced. This was a novelty print, yes, but not of balloons or cheerfully wriggling tadpoles. There's no way…could it be!? Could the 1950's designer Mark-Robbins been so devious as to devise a blue dress covered—literally covered—in…"
posted by Mo Nickels on Mar 11, 2006 - 16 comments

eBay hilarity: "THIS VEHICLE HAS COME TO US VIA AN INSURANCE COMPANY, IT HAS TRAVELLED 32,000 MILES AND IS ONE NOT VERY HAPPY OWNER FROM NEW. MUST TELL STORY:" (via)
posted by NekulturnY on Feb 18, 2006 - 40 comments

Holy Mother Of God appears to ebayer and commands her to put her up for sale on eBay for $900 -- Buy it Now -- no reserve price. Ed, a bidder whose 24-year-old daughter suffers from chronic endometriosis hopes to acquire the statue for her. Let's hope he gets there before Golden Palace Casino (sorry, no links for that one) snipes it.
posted by VMC on Feb 1, 2006 - 45 comments

Pretzel architecture, a Virgin Mary funyun, and $609.00.
posted by leapingsheep on Dec 10, 2005 - 11 comments