It started with Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron putting his Twitter account up for auction on eBay. He had 1,500 followers then and at last check he’s at 1,757.
The auction was bid up to over $1200 before he ended the auction (about as many followers as our own Andy Beal has). eBay called him to ask him to delete the auction, but later said it wasn’t against their terms of service. Didn’t matter anyway – he deleted the auction before it ended.
Baron twittered:
Yesterday, one of the most unexpected events that ever happened to me in the online space, lead me to delete the auction suddenly.
He didn’t say why. Twitter can get you out of jail, get you new business, and perhaps, get you some quick money. It could also make you some new enemies – which they don’t track. But I think this publicity stunt only works once (here’s a copycat auction that’s currently going for a cent).
Another auction in the tech world is a tour of the Googleplex that right now is almost up to $300. This time it’s for a good cause: helping smart high school students. The nonprofit Foundation for the Future, is running the auction and they raise money for “real-time needs” of Menlo-Atherton High School students (in California).
If you win, you pick a date a weekday and you get 2.5 hours and lunch in the Google cafeteria. The auction could be marketed much better (maybe ask Baron to twitter about it).
How about inviting the search team to join the winner for lunch? This could be a regular event – auctions for lunch with Google employees – for charity.
Seen any other good geek auctions on eBay?
