For anyone who didn't get enough of Hurricane Frances as it blew through Florida, remnants of the storm are for sale. More than 200 items were listed on eBay's Internet auction site Tuesday, after the eye of the Category 2 storm came ashore.
The starting bid for Tupperware filled with wind was a penny. Photos showed Broward County residents running around with the containers "catching" the wind. Someone had already bid $10 for one of the four containers.
By Tuesday, the wind auctions were gone, and no one seemed to want the "authentic shingle blown off my Englewood, Florida, home during Hurricane Frances."
Somebody had bid $6.99 for beach sand a Broward County surfer had collected. Three Frances survivors had bid 15 cents each to have a woman pray for them.
A request by a Longwood resident for someone to help get a large oak tree off of the seller's home and car garnered two bids by Tuesday morning.
"Winning bidder will receive branches, leaves, sticks, stumps, whatever you would like!" ... What a conversation piece! ... You can own a part of meteoroligical (sic) history!"
But one-cent vials of rain that fell in Orlando as the storm passed over had no bids.
Carol Baroudi, industry analyst and author of The Internet For Dummies, said "I think these are all tongue in cheek. I don't think anyone's serious about these things."
Indeed, of the 200 items, a quarter were T-shirts or "iron-on" transfers with the "I survived Hurricane Frances" theme.
"I think it's trying to find a sense of humor, which is a good thing," Baroudi said.
Ebay has canceled auctions that coincide with tragedies, such as items billed as debris from the space shuttle Columbia or pieces of the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Ebay officials did not return a phone call seeking comment about the Frances auctions.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-09-07-frances-ebay_x.htm
The starting bid for Tupperware filled with wind was a penny. Photos showed Broward County residents running around with the containers "catching" the wind. Someone had already bid $10 for one of the four containers.
By Tuesday, the wind auctions were gone, and no one seemed to want the "authentic shingle blown off my Englewood, Florida, home during Hurricane Frances."
Somebody had bid $6.99 for beach sand a Broward County surfer had collected. Three Frances survivors had bid 15 cents each to have a woman pray for them.
A request by a Longwood resident for someone to help get a large oak tree off of the seller's home and car garnered two bids by Tuesday morning.
"Winning bidder will receive branches, leaves, sticks, stumps, whatever you would like!" ... What a conversation piece! ... You can own a part of meteoroligical (sic) history!"
But one-cent vials of rain that fell in Orlando as the storm passed over had no bids.
Carol Baroudi, industry analyst and author of The Internet For Dummies, said "I think these are all tongue in cheek. I don't think anyone's serious about these things."
Indeed, of the 200 items, a quarter were T-shirts or "iron-on" transfers with the "I survived Hurricane Frances" theme.
"I think it's trying to find a sense of humor, which is a good thing," Baroudi said.
Ebay has canceled auctions that coincide with tragedies, such as items billed as debris from the space shuttle Columbia or pieces of the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Ebay officials did not return a phone call seeking comment about the Frances auctions.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-09-07-frances-ebay_x.htm