AC Dickson: eBay Power Seller

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The Virgin Mary Burn
by acdickson

By now we've all heard about it. The eBay auction everyone is talking about. The Virgin Mary's image in the burn of a ten year old grilled cheese sandwich — only a few bits missing. I would have weighed in sooner, but realize that this is prime time for eBay sellers, I've been busy. If ever there was a time to take your eBay selling to the next level, it's now. The holidays, yes, but let's not forget January, when people buy themselves what they really wanted for Christmas. I'm up to my ears in posting would be could be gifts. But back to the sandwich.

The Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Auction

Here's what I've deduced. A few weeks ago Diana Duyser, eBay user name dltdesigns2002 (must be logged in to see info), posted for sale on eBay a divine grilled cheese sandwich that she's been keeping in a Tupperware container on her night stand for 10 years. Very quickly, eBay pulled the auction citing a policy of not allowing 'joke' auctions. Diana shot back that this was no joke sale, it was dead serious. She was of course not concerned with the thousands of dollars the auction had climbed to, but with "sharing this with the world." eBay, knowing America is no longer a place where religious wingnuts can be ignored (after all, our leader is one), quickly reinstated the auction.

Diana, instant karma got you. I can only imagine how excited you were when your burnt toast reached the eBay price ceiling of 99 million dollars*. I hope you didn't mentally spend that money, because the eBay community was having a joke on you. There is a feature by which you can bid, then retract your bid. So, as Mikey keenly observed, the bidding for the burn mark has steadily decreased over the last few days. It is, at the time of this writing, back down to 7 grand. 4 more than the minimum bid of 3 grand, but close to 99 million shy of the once high bid. If you want to see the play by play, click on bid history. Also notice that now bidders must be pre-approved, the days of wanton bidding is over.

Where's the moral to this story? A good story wins out. Maybe you've got the next auction of the moment on your nightstand or in a playful part of your brain. Diana Duyser is having her 15 minutes, perhaps you're next. Beyond the fame, I would be shocked if Diana's jewelry designing business doesn't move some product because of this whole affair. Maybe she'll get to host a talk show or something on a channel between 25 and 35. Am I condoning Diana? No. Props to her, if anything AC is a little jealous. Has AC garnered wealth, fame, and a hang with an NBA star from his eBay exploits? Yes times 3. But has he made every paper of record the world over? Not yet. Diana, whatever your intentions, kudos. The whole point of eBay is to allow individuals to compete with multi-national corporations, be it through high quality, well described auctions or brilliant coups of the imagination. Mission accomplished, but let's dig deeper. Who else might profit from the exposure of this auction? What if you can't figure out the next headline grabbing auction. How else to cash in?

If the auction is theater, and Diana the star, who is the supporting cast? The bidders of course. While the names of all bidders are now private, during the first million hits of the auction, they were public. So, the person who held the high bid of 99 million for two days probably had their user name viewed by 300,000 people. When you hear about an auction like this you check it out, then you look for the high bid, then your eyes dart over to see who bid it up that high. The user name in question was boring, I can't even remember it. But considering you don't even need to enter a credit card to get a user name, it was a pretty easy stunt to pull with little consequence. Can you imagine the advertising value of being that high bidder for two days? What if your user name was interesting? georgebushisevil perhaps. Or maybe you're apolitical. Imagine if you bid it up with a user name that was your website? A conservative estimate would put 100,000 people checking out your site out of mere curiosity. Just a what if to ponder for next time, urbanhonking.com.

*The record for an eBay auction to date is 4 million for a jet fighter plane.

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