The Most Expensive Item Ever Sold On Ebay

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Have you ever participated in one of those online auctions for items sold on eBay? It is one of the more prominent successful dotcom companies, where people and businesses can buy and sell practically any item or service worldwide. The site has expanded so much that it now has localized operations in over 30 countries. Items and services can be purchased through an auction or through standard shopping procedure by using the Buy It Now! button. Payments can be made via money transfers.

While there have always been regular items up for sale, the site has also seen its share of weird and useless stuff, as well as rare and extremely expensive assets. Among the more prominent items that have listed include the following:

The Black Betsy

The Black Betsy is actually a piece of wood measuring 32 inches and weighing 48 ounces. What made this so special is that it is the bat used by Shoeless Joe Jackson when he played major league baseball back in the 1910s. Jackson was a baseball legend who never made it to the Hall of Fame because he got banned after being implicated in game fixing. He is still considered as one of the best hitters of the game, with even the great Babe Ruth saying that he patterned his swing after Jackson’s. The bat went for $577,610.

Enzo Ferrari

Mention the name Ferrari and you will immediately garner the attention of sports car lovers. All Ferraris are classics, but the Enzo is considered as one of its super cars. The car was sold for just above a million dollars.

Honus Wagner Baseball Card

This old card from the early 1900s was auctioned off on eBay and fetched around $1.2 million dollars, including the buyer’s fee. The T-206 card is rare, as there were only 200 produced by the American Tobacco Company, which discontinued the line after a dispute with Wagner himself. The card has gotten even more expensive now, and the former Pittsburg Pirate considered the greatest shortstop ever is the face of the most expensive sports card ever auctioned off in eBay.

Lunch with Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is considered as one of the most influential businessman in the world. He is also a noted philanthropist, being an active supporter of the Glide Memorial Church of San Francisco. To raise money for the organization that has been feeding hungry mouths for the past half century, Buffett auctions off power lunch meetings. A few years ago, somebody bid $2.6 million for a few hours with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO.

Gulfstream II Airplane

The Gulfstream II is a luxurious jet used as a private plane by the rich and famous. Tyler Jet, a vendor of business planes, listed it on eBay in 2001. A charter flight company based in Africa won the bidding after offering to purchase it for $4.9 million.

Gigayacht - The Most Expensive Item Sold on eBay

But the most expensive item ever sold on eBay is, by and far, the Gigayacht, an ultra luxury yacht created by Frank Mulder of Mulder Design. Consider the following features:

Master suite on the deck level
Two-person cabin for children
Panoramic windows
Sixteen oversized guest cabins
Salon
Cinema room
Fitness gym
Office space
Helicopter garage
Retractable elevator
Multi level VIP suites

The yacht measures 123.4 meters, with a cruising speed of 16 knots and maximum speed of 20 knots. It is made of steel and features Caterpillar engine.

The yacht itself can be bought from the manufacturers for $196.5 million. When it was first listed however, the yacht had yet to be made, and delivery was set for some future date. Only one person made a bid however, and it was for a mere $10. Mark Cook made the bid.

Not to be disheartened, the manufacturer then re-listed the item on eBay. It set a price on the Gigayacht for $168 million, though the bidding itself would only be for a 50 percent deposit for the sea vehicle. That means they were expecting a minimum bid of $84 million.

A Buy It Now price of $85 million was also set for those who wanted to forego the bidding process and just buy the Gigayacht outright. Surprisingly, an anonymous bidder was able to meet the price. The manufacturer then said that the finished value of the Gigayacht would be a minimum of $170 million.

Speculations arose as to who had purchased the most expensive item ever sold on eBay. Some point to Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire who made his wealth in the Russian oil industry and in the controversial debt-for-shares scheme that was popular in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Abramovich has since made a name for himself in the United Kingdom as the ambitious owner of Chelsea Football Club, an English Premier League team that is based in London. Since his purchase of the club, Abramovich has spared no expense in buying the best players regardless of the price, as well as signing up the most expensive managers of the game. He has achieved a high level of success as his team has gone on to win several domestic football league crowns and cup titles. A known collector of luxury yachts, he owns the 162.5-meter Eclipse, one of the largest privately-owned yachts in the world with two swimming pools and helipads, a cinema and a submarine; the 115-meter Motor Yacht Luna, considered as the world’s largest expedition yacht; and the Sussurro, a 50-meter yacht moored in the Caribbean.

Abramovich also used to own the Pelorus, a 115-meter yacht that was given to his ex-wife as part of their divorce settlement; the Le Grand Bleu, a 112-meter expedition yacht with a sports dock and swimming platform that was given to his friend Eugene Shvidler; and the Ecstasea, an 85-meter Feadship with high cruising speed that was sold to an unnamed buyer a few years ago.

The Gigayacht should be a great addition to Abramovich’s fleet.