eBay Auctions
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Sometimes the sham auctions were just silly, such as a 1999 sale of 'Ghost Poop,' but at other times the hoaxes, while still being silly, seemed to transcend the medium in which they were created and become bizarre forms of interactive pop-culture performance art in which audiences expressed their appreciation for witty or unusual hoax items by bidding them up to ridiculously high amounts (the bids themselves being hoaxes, of course).
For instance, in June 1999 $2 million worth of "pure, uncut cocaine" was put up for sale. In September 1999 bidding on a human kidney reached $5.7 million before eBay halted the auction, followed a few weeks later by a million-dollar auction for an unborn child, which was also halted. Other notorious items put up for sale included London's Millennium Dome and a man's soul.
The most famous fake bid (up until 2000) was a January 2000 offer to pay $10 million for the domain name 'Year2000.com.'
During the new millennium the hoaxing on eBay has only intensified, for which reason I devote an entire category on my weblog to eBay alone. Notorious eBay hoaxes in recent years have included:
- A ghost in a jar
- The state of West Virginia
- Paris Hilton's pubic hair
- The liver of George Best
- Britney Spears' used chewing gum
- An invitation to someone else's wedding
- A ten-year-old grilled cheese sandwich bearing the likeness of the Virgin Mary
- And, of course, the entire internet itself
References/Further Reading:
- "eBay Removes Baby Sale Offers," AP Online (September 7, 1999)
- "Kidney draws $5.7 million bid on eBay," Los Angeles Times (September 3, 1999)
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