I Found 14 Of The Weirdest eBay Listings Ever, And Honestly, I'm Concerned
1.New Zealand
Sorry, Kiwis. In 2006, an Australian man got 22 bids on his unauthorized sale of New Zealand before the auction was shut down. The Brisbane prankster (or entrepreneur, depending on your point of view) started the bidding at one cent. The price ultimately reached $3,000 AUD ($2,271.90 USD), despite the fact that in addition to trying to sell it, he damned the country with faint praise, describing its weather as "very ordinary."
2.Iceland
New Zealand was a bargain compared to Iceland, which in 2008 was listed with a starting price of 99 pence. Eighty-four bids later, the price tag ballooned to 10 million pounds ($13,883,000 USD). The seller made sure to note that singer Björk was not included, and also pointed out that Iceland boasts "a habitable environment, Icelandic horses, and admittedly a somewhat sketchy financial situation." At the time, the nation was in the midst of a financial crisis.
3.Cereal That Sort of Resembled E.T.
In 2004, a Sydney-based graphic designer named Chris Doyle discovered a piece of Nutri-Grain cereal that kind of looked like E.T. Where other people would've seen breakfast, Doyle saw opportunity, and he sold his discovery on eBay for $1,035 AUD ($783.76 USD). This was despite the fact that, as the Daily Telegraph gently pointed out, "in the right light, [Nutri-Grains] all sort of look like E.T."
4.A Man's Middle Name
Utah resident Matthew Jean Rouse was given his middle name to honor a grandparent with whom he didn't get along, so in 2008 he sold the right to replace "Jean" with whichever moniker the purchaser saw fit. Rouse's brother bid $1,500 in the hopes of getting him to keep his name, but the auction was ultimately won by a web hosting service called LucaHost.com, which paid the $8,000 "Buy It Now" price, despite the fact that bidding had only reached $3,250. Though I couldn't track down any official reports about which name the company chose, allegedly the Utah courts refused to allow it, and Matthew Jean remained Matthew Jean.
5.The Power of Friendship
Four self-described Australian blokes listed a weekend's worth of friendship on eBay in 2006, promising to be the lucky purchaser's "best mate" for two days. Included in the offer was "some beers, some snags, some good conversation, and a hell of a lot of laughs." (Snags are sausages, for the uninitiated.) An eBay spokesperson said that the auction was "a bit out of the ordinary," but it was ultimately reinstated after briefly being taken down, since it wasn't actually breaking any of the site's rules. After the reinstatement, "bids started flooding in," and the blokes ultimately accepted an offer of $1,300 AUD ($984.44 USD).
6.A Holy Grilled Cheese
In 2004, Florida woman Diana Duyser put a grilled cheese sandwich that she'd taken a single bite from a decade earlier up for auction on eBay. The reason she took only one bite (and kept it for all those years) was that she believed the toasted bread bore the image of the Virgin Mary. It ultimately sold for $28,000 to a GoldenPalace.com, which sent representatives to Duyser to make the exchange in person, lest their purchase get lost in the mail. In an eerie twist, the sandwich didn't mold or decay over the course of its 10-year existence.
7.A Man's Life
FX / giphy.com
Following a divorce, Australian man Ian Usher wanted a fresh start, so he listed his entire life for sale on eBay. Included in the auction was his house in Perth and everything inside of it, his car and motorcycle, introductions to his friends, and a trial run at his job. He was hoping to earn around $340,000 AUD, or $257,468.40 USD. His boss at the carpet store where he worked supported the idea, calling it "really exciting." The winner of the auction "withdrew at the last minute," so Usher ultimately sold his home the old-fashioned way for $399,000.
8.Justin Timberlake's Breakfast
After hosting Justin Timberlake for a breakfast interview in 2000, a DJ at New York radio station Z-100 put the celebrity's leftovers up for auction. The two pieces of "singed French toast" were purchased by 19-year-old Kathy Summers for $1,035. Summers planned to "freeze-dry [Timberlake's toast], then seal it…then put it on my dresser."
9.Twigs
Babak Ganjei, an eBay seller based in London, managed to sell six twigs on the site for £62 ($86.22). He marketed the set to parents tired of their kids fighting over twigs (I'm not a parent so I can't speak to that, but I'd love to know if it's a real problem) and argued that they, "like the Spice Girls," each have their own unique and impossible-to-replace personality.
10.A New Species
Dr. Simon Coppard, a member of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature at the Natural History Museum in London, got to name a new species after noticing that some sea urchins for sale on eBay were very reasonably priced scientific discoveries. Dr. Coppard dubbed the urchins Coelopleurus exquisitus in honor of their "unusually bright" colors, and the listing stayed up, with a starting bid of $9.50.
11.An Among Us McNugget
In June 2021, an eBay user purchased a McNugget for $99,997. There may never be a convincing explanation as to why, but the nugget may have attracted interest due to its relation to two different pop culture phenomena: It resembled a character from Among Us, and its origin was a McDonald's BTS Meal. Originally listed for 99 cents, it netted an initial bid of $14,969 after two days of no activity. Almost 200 bids later, it reached its final jaw-dropping price. The seller promised the nugget would be delivered frozen and sealed to "ensure freshness."
12.Possibly The Only Baby T-Rex Fossil
Alan Detrich, a man with the enviable job title of "professional fossil hunter," discovered what may be the only fossil of a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex in existence, and in 2017 he lent it to the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. Then, without giving the museum (or the larger scientific community) a heads up, Detrich listed the fossil on eBay for a "Buy It Now" price of $2.95 million. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology criticized Detrich for "taking an important specimen outside the reach of scientific study," since it was potentially unique and key to settling some paleontological debates. The item is no longer listed on the site, though there are a surprising amount of other dinosaur bones, if that's your thing.
13.A Songwriting Credit on a Prince Song
The owner of the studio where Prince recorded his first songs as a solo artist put his co-writing credit for the musician's debut single "Soft and Wet" up for sale in 2018. Chris Moon listed the rights for a "Buy It Now" price of $490,000, though he was also accepting bids. Apparently, sales like this are "relatively common" within the music industry (since owning the rights to a song means you can get revenue from it), but this one was distinguished by the fact that "a very small percentage of Prince's songs have co-writing credits." Also, eBay isn't the usual venue. Moon pointed to his upcoming retirement as justification for the sale.
14.Elvis's Leftover Water
The "few tablespoons" of liquid were saved by Wade Jones, who was 13 when he witnessed his idol drink from a Styrofoam cup at a 1977 North Carolina concert. A guard gave him the cup as a souvenir, and Jones kept it frozen for many years before transporting the liquid to a "sealed vial." The water itself sold for $455 in 2004, though Jones refused to sell the cup, claiming that he would only be willing to exhibit the treasure for "a minimum of $300, plus travel expenses."
