The Most Memorable Sales on EBay

With the recent sale of a vintage Velvet Underground acetate for a whooping US$155,401 declared bogus, another landmark chapter in the cyber auctioning powerhouse eBay's sales history is up for grabs. While the headline grabbing affair of the Underground acetate-reportedly only one of two in existence-proved to be a dose of false excitement, eBay has, over the years, redefined the auctioning business and taken it mainstream, and along the way, has gained a reputation for closing some of the most ridiculous amounts for some of the strangest items ever sold in online auctions. Here are a few of the most memorable sales on eBay's roster.

The Virgin Mary Toast

Bought by the internet casino firm goldenpalace.com for a hole-in-the-ceiling $28,000, this decade-old piece of toast had the supposed image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on it. It was sold by a Mrs. Duyser, who said she first noticed the image of a lady imprinted on a burnt piece of toast back in 1994. She's claimed that it's brought her luck-in the enviable form of $70,000 in winnings at a local Florida casino. All she's done so far? Stored it in a plastic container, the toast kept remarkably well but even before the sale, Mrs. Duyser cautioned that it was "not intended for consumption". Talk about luck!

Dorito Chip (The Pope's Hat)

A piece of Dorito chip that looked like the pope's hat sold for $1209. Together with this, the online casino goldenvillage.com has been garnering some odd publicity by their "supernatural" eBay purchases, including a piece of chicken breast resembling the late Pope John Paul II for $232.50 and the Holy Pretzel that was said to resemble the Virgin Mary cradling the infant Jesus for an obscene $10,600. The showstopper acquisition of the internet gambling house is a $65,000 'ghost cane', a metal walking cane that Mary Anderson of Indiana put up on sale, hoping to ease her 6-year old son's apprehensions that his grandfather's ghost was haunting their home.

Selling Your Soul On Ebay

You wouldn't believe your eyes. 22-year old atheist Hemant Mehta sold his soul on eBay for a disappointing $504. The terms set stated that for every $10 bid to win, Mehta would attend an hour's service at any house of worship of the winner's liking. He said he'd stay open to the possibility of conversion. You'd be relieved to find that the winning bidder was evangelical Jim Henderson, and another soul has been purchased using the tools of modern marketing and commerce.

Bridgeville, Sold!

The tiny San Francisco area county was the talk of the town when an unknown developer snagged it in an eBay auction for $1.8M. While the deal was never closed and the winning bidder backed out, the news set a frenzy of real estate postings on eBay. Succeeding postings of the town, that dates back to the early 1900s and comes with its own functional post office, cemetery, a riverbank, and some houses and townsfolk, have been unsuccessful. It was finally bought in 2004 by businessman Bruce Krall for $700,000, who relisted the town on eBay in 2006.

Ad Space on Your Head

Andrew Fischer of Omaha, Nebraska was not kidding when he auctioned off his head on eBay. The winner would be entitled to have a non-permanent tattoo on Fischer's forehead for 30 days as an advertisement campaign. By the time the auction ended, Fischer received a bid of $37,375 which he says will be used to pay for college. The winning bidder was SnoreStop, one of the leading sellers of anti-snoring medications in the United States. Of the affair, Fischer announced that "I am proud to be aligned with a product that has proven so helpful to so many people, though I doubt I'll be getting much sleep over the next four weeks!"

Virginity, To the Highest Bidder
English university student Rose Reid posted her virginity on eBay and within three days was flooded with more than 400 offers and a bid of £10,000. Asked about the novelty of her idea, Reid explained "It started as a joke, and ended up as 'why not?' I am devoting too much time to paid employment and not enough to studying. I am not achieving as much as I could. I'll leave university £15,000 in debt. That's why I am taking this drastic action." eBay eventually withdrew her listing, though Rosie carried on the auction through her own website, closing a final deal with a 44-year old engineer for £8,400.
Celebrity Memorabilia

While Justin Timberlake's half-eaten toast doesn't even come close to the Virgin Mary toast, it still sniffed up an insane $3,100 on eBay. The online auction house has been host to some of the most remarkable celebrity memorabilia exchanges in town. Pieces of gum said to have been spit out by pop star Britney Spears often make appearances on the site, turning one celebrity's trash into a gold mine of cash. Bryan Adams' socks, said to have been left in a taxi in Wales, was bought by a diehard fan for more than $1,000. There are also the occasional locks of hair, complete with certificates of authenticity, whether they're from Lindsay Lohan or celebrity royalty like John Lennon. Gold diggers and opportunists often prowl eBay, preying on unsuspecting and often hardcore fans with memorabilia-often nothing more than junk-that allegedly came from celebrities. A word of caution: don't put your head in your hands. A lot of the listings may be bogus, and at this day and age, it's a wonder why we would really shell out so much money to be closer to the stars by owning a piece of their...junk.

We're relatively young into the information age, and as it is, there's plenty of history to be made and written for commerce on the World Wide Web. As eBay expands and leaves its footprint onto the online auctioning industry in many, many more places around the world, there's plenty more room to expect unusual, and creative, sellers come out of their shells. It's all part and parcel of the information age's ode to consumer empowerment.