The article on CNN.com detailing a New Jersey DJ putting up his famous 867-5309 phone number and DJ business for sale on eBay said the owner hopes to make $40,000 to spend on a Caribbean vacation.
Current bid: $434,544.44.
Starting at $100 for pre-approved bidders, initial bids for Spencer Potter’s (Jenny’s) number were modest, topping out at $5,000 February 1. After national news coverage on Feb 2, though, bids raised rapidly, usually in whole dollar increments until someone placed a bid $434,444.44—perhaps all the money this particular bidder could scrape out of an account. Unfortunately if that’s the case, they were topped by $100 less than an hour later.
The funniest part of the CNN article was the half-scene* where a girl named Jenny, who had given out the famous number to throw off unwanted guys at bars**, called it to see if anybody actually answered. Potter then asked her out.*** The story doesn’t end disappointingly in a wedding, though. Here’s how he summed her up:
“I figured if she was having to give out a bum number that often then she was probably pretty cute,” he said. “We ended up meeting for drinks. We dated for awhile and it was actually a great friendship.”
Translation: I didn’t get very far. (See footnote ***)
Technically, you can’t sell a number on eBay because a phone company owns it. But a number can be transferred with the sale of a business. Just goes to show you what a little national publicity can do for the value of your product, too.
*Sorry for the literary vocab.
**Who possibly doesn’t know that’s a bum number? I bet foreign guys even know it.
***Bad move. Fake numbers=dishonest gal who doesn’t mind playing with men’s emotions. Probably scams for drinks, too.
