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Phantom markets

A woman's effort to assuage her 6-year-old son's fears of his grandfather's ghost by selling it on eBay has drawn more than 34 bids with a top offer of $78 [TC: the price is now up to 15K, as of Sunday morning].

Mary Anderson said she placed her father's "ghost" on the online auction site after her son, Collin, said he was afraid the ghost would return someday. Anderson said Collin has avoided going anywhere in the house alone since his grandfather died last year...

Anderson also put her father's metal walking cane up for auction so she would have something to actually send the winning bidder. The proceeds from the auction will go to buy Collin a special present, she said.

Here is the full story.  Here is the auction.  Here is an elastic supply of copycats.

Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 5, 2004 at 08:03 AM in Economics | Permalink

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» GHOSTS from PRESTOPUNDIT -- A Good Blog at a Great Price. Guaranteed.
FOR SALE.... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 9:54:49 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:05:34 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:06:04 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:07:22 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:08:01 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:08:43 AM

» eBay and Saturday's Protest from jackphelps.net
Most of the time I think eBay is just fine, but occasionally something crops up that makes me doubt its future as a legitimate service, and indeed the future of ALL such services. First covered, I gather, by CNN, a... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:11:05 AM

» Markets in Manipulation from Unbeknownst to Me
Over at the ever-interesting Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen notes the widely-reported story of a woman who put her father's ghost on eBay. This sparked the realization in me that market behavior can explain children's bad behavoir. Here's the woman's... [Read More]

Tracked on Dec 5, 2004 11:28:42 AM