With the passing of a celebrity comes a window of time where products from the celebrity have a sudden price spike on Ebay. It's a small window, but it is there. The higher the level of celebrity, the higher the spike. Back when Heath Ledger died, I sold a Rolling Stone mag with him on it for $12, now, you could pick that same mag up for $1 or less. Is this exploiting the dead? Yes, unfortunately, but it's a good way, in a bad economy, to make a little extra cash. Do I feel good about doing it? No. I just keep telling myself it's a way to get the fans of the celebrity the product they want, in their time of grief.
Ugh...I know, it's awful. Anyway...
Michael Jackson is HUGE internationally, and his fame in the States has gone up with his passing. I checked my collection and quickly found 2 lp's from the King of Pop, Thriller and Bad, SEALED! I had already let 3 days pass, so the window was nearly shut on my making top dollar. I had to act fast.
I listed the pair of lp's together for $350 or best offer, hoping to maybe get in the $200 range for them that same day. Within the hour, I had my first interest. A gentleman from the UK wanted to know what my low number was. Since the auction had just began, I told him $300...I must have scared him off, as he never responded. Oh, well, I was confident there would be more offers.
But there wasn't. Not that day anyway. The next day, I finally received an offer...$150. I was excited about the offer, as I knew I only spent $10 or less for both of these records when I bought them, but I knew the records should be getting more, as research showed Thriller itself was selling, on average, for $120 - $150. Bad was in the $50 - $80 range. Why was I not getting more offers??
I had to make a decision.
1. Take the $150 and be satisfied.
2. Counter-offer a higher amount, hoping they would accept or re-counter.
I decided to be greedy and counter. I asked for $250 with a promise to throw in some Jackson 5 and MJ extras. My hope was they would come back with $200, and I would accept that.
The hours past...then days...before I knew it, the auction had ended and I heard nothing back from the $150 ebay offerer. I had just let $150 slip through my fingertips, and I was not happy. But, what could I say? I was unsuccessful in exploiting a dead celebrity. Wow, now I felt really bad that I was so shallow in my thinking.
I decided to re-list the records, and take whatever the best offer was the second time around. I listed for $250 or best offer. I quickly received an email from the $150 ebay offerer. He was asking to see more pictures...and then he wanted to know if they were re-sealed...then he wanted to know the bar code number...
In the meantime, I received an offer of $179.99 from a new bidder. Surprisingly, the $150 offerer never made an offer this time around. With 10 minutes remaining before the 179.99 offer expired (I almost let that slip through my fingers, too!! Fortunately, I was lucky enough to log onto Ebay at the right time to notice I only had 10 minutes left!!) I decided to accept the 179.99 and call it a day.
So, $150 slipped through my fingers, but I was fortunate enough to still cash in with $180. I'm not good at math, but that has to be at least a 350% increase over my original $10 investment. Right? Whatever, I said I'm not good at math!!
I hope you all don't think less of me now for making some cash...at least I only sold records, and nothing TMZ worthy!!
