This practically unreadable letter says: "Dear Mary — Please make sure all the errands are done before you go on vacation, as I do not want to be bothered with insignificant things. Thank you. J.D. Salinger". If the letter does sell for the asking price of $50,000, that means the one sentence will have been written at $2,083/word. According to the Nevada-based company selling the item, the "rare handwritten letter" was to his maid, and written in 1989, which would have put him at about 70 years old at the time. more ›

How much would you pay for some clothes worn by Courtney Love herself? Some of her signature silk slips and babydoll dresses are now up on the auction block at eBay! It seems Courtney herself (or rather, her minions) have launched an account called Courtney Love Couture, with items ranging from shoes to dresses, and prices from $200 to $3,000. Some even contain authentic cigarette burns and mysterious white stains! more ›

Do you suffer from bad breath, low self-esteem, and unyielding, despondent loneliness? Do you long to be in the big game with the big players, way up high where it's always balmy, where no one snaps his fingers and says, "Hey, Shrimp, rack the balls!"? Well, sir/madam, pack your bags for Easy Street, because your ship has just come in: An area man has loosened his grip on a coveted 212 area code, and it could be yours on eBay today for just $1 million (or best offer)! more ›

The man with the Golden Voice, Ted Williams, got a second chance earlier this year when a video of him showcasing his radio voice went viral. At the time Williams was living on the side of a highway in Ohio, but he quickly ended up sitting on plush couches across from the likes of Matt Lauer on the Today show. Unfortunately, the change was fast and sent Williams running back to his old friends, drugs and alcohol. Dr. Phil eventually convinced him to enter rehab, but Williams quickly checked himself out. And now, he says he's started a new, sober chapter of his life. He wears glasses now, so he's definitely serious about it this time. more ›

A U.S. Postal Service employee who worked in the Corona, Queens facility was arrested for stealing department store coupons and selling them online. According to the Post, "Thomas Tang, 38, of Baldwin, Long Island, allegedly pilfered more than 7,000 coupons from JCPenney, Kohl's and Lowe's and sold them in batches on" eBay—he estimated he made about $35,000 between October 2009 and this month just on the JC Penney coupons. And what drove him to this desperate act? more ›

Going through Four Loko withdrawal? You may only be able to find the stuff in select East Village delis, but now eBay is offering the equivalent of a Four Loko nicotine patch to ease your shakes. Behold, the Four Loko cover sleeve! Just slip it on any 24 oz. canned beverage for that instant Four Loko look and feel. One seller advertises, "Piss your teachers off. Drink it at the skate park. Drink it at the mall. Show this off to people and become the popular funny person, or don't reveal the secret so everyone just thinks you're bad." more ›

Richard Sclafani, co-inventor of the numeral glasses seen everywhere on New Year's Eve, just contacted us to let us know he has put up a whole slew of vintage frames up for sale on eBay. Glow-in-the-Dark! Rare! Mint Condition! How much will this nostalgia-buy set you back? The auction is 2 days in with a starting bid of $500. more ›

Last week a newspaper box was up for sale on eBay, and with days left was already up to a four-figure bid. To recap: the box had been adorned by graffiti artist Cost for an art exhibit in November, and following the exhibit's opening it, and 11 other boxes, were put back on the street. Back on the sidewalks, the boxes dispensed the free show-listing publication Showpaper. more ›

In November "The Community Serviced" show opened in Williamsburg, with 12 Showpaper newspaper boxes adorned by 24 artists on display. After the opening, the boxes were places around the city, back to their old job of dispensing the bi-monthly publication which lists all-ages shows. Of course, they doubled as public art works... and magnets for budding entrepreneurs! The box pictured (by Cost) landed on the Lower East Side, where it resided for a few days before being stolen. It's now up on eBay—the seller claims to have purchased it—with a current bid of $1,025. Well, it does now double as a lighting fixture! more ›

Coney Island already has Michael Jackson’s Dragon Wagon Kiddie Coaster (albeit only temporarily), but now they want another piece of the King of Pop! Don't stop til you get enough, etc. ATZ reports there's an opportunity to snag a Neverland ride on a permanent basis, as the bumper cars designed for and by Michael Jackson are up on the auction block at eBay. The man behind the auction is carnival owner Earl “Butch” Butler, who brought the aforementioned Dragon Wagon to town. The bidding is currently at $46,100.00 (and has not met the reserve price), and the Coney folks are suggesting Mayor Bloomberg buy it as a gift for the City of New York. Should Coney Island consider a new design plan: Neverland II? more ›

Paging Bret Michaels! Anne Hathaway has put herself on the auction block at eBay, and the asking price is currently a measly $1,248.56. The listing says: "Treat your daughters or two special people in your life to an unforgettable afternoon or evening with film star and Academy Award nominee Anne Hathaway. This once-in-a-lifetime event includes tea with your family (you and two guests) at Sweetiepie, the West Village’s pretty-in-pink dessert eatery that’s perfect for kids of all ages, or cocktails with you and two friends with Anne at another mutually agreed-upon New York City location." There is a 0% chance Ms. Hathaway is ending up at a tea party. And while her ex probably can't afford it, maybe for an extra 500 bucks she'll dress like a boy. (P.S. Free shipping! And all proceeds go to the Public Theater.) more ›

The ongoing internet trail leading to Kari Ferrell photos and information has now led to a cached MySpace page, which she started under the name "Sylvester Stabone." As one might expect, it's jam packed with sexual innuendo, topless photos and other nonsense. But her past is coming back to haunt her in other ways as well—now firmly settled into Day Six of Griftergate, the fascination with Ferrell-penned notes has reached a new level: eBay! A matchbook from Greenpoint's Coco66 is being auctioned off, with a note reading: "The only meat in my mouth comes on a six foot stick," signed Ping Pong. With 5 days left, it's got 11 bids and is up to a recession-friendly $11.50. There's no way this is getting up to three-figures, but if it does, perhaps Ferrell can be pat on the back for bailing out one hipster at a time. more ›

Last night, the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's estate put the disgraced financier's Mets home opener tickets (well, the tickets are sort of the ones Madoff purchased) up for auction. However, the link from the Madoff Trustree website to the eBay auction is now invalid—the eBay page it brings up says, "This listing (170319289099) has been removed or is no longer available... If the listing was removed by eBay, consider it canceled." The listing was online last night (the bidding was at $1,700 around 11 p.m. for the pair of tickets in the Delta Club Gold section) and bidding was supposed to have ended tomorrow night. Mysterious! Update: The tickets are on eBay—the current bid is $1,500. more ›

From Scar Jo's snot to entrepreneurial virgins, eBay's got it all! So why not (formerly) valuable NYC apartments? Desperate brokers have now started using the auction website to let online shoppers in on an "amazing opportunity to own in Manhattan." Last year a studio apartment downtown went up on eBay with a price of $529,000, attracting zero interest. But this new offering has at least attracted one bid: $350,000 on an East Village two-bedroom that's priced at $425,000 on the broker's website. (Curbed cynically speculates that the lone eBay bid is merely a fake starter bid placed by the broker himself.) But a second eBay listing for an apartment in Hell's Kitchen, a one bedroom with an asking price of $325,000.00, has thus far received zero bids. With two days left on the auction, there's still plenty of time to jump on this "amazing opportunity" for ownership—or dare we say pwnership? [Via Curbed/Urban Digs.] more ›

Onion writer John Harris (pictured) is trying to sell an unspecified joke on eBay because he "can't find a contextual home" for it. The punchline is that bids have already soared to $365, despite his self-effacing sales pitch: "To be fair, it's less of a joke and more of a dated, Capote-esque cocktail party bon mot, but decidedly more feeble. The best one can reasonably expect from this item is a self-satisfied chuckle, such as can be observed issuing from someone wearing a turtleneck while reading the Harper's Index. If that didn't make you barf, please continue reading. The item in question will be clearly hand-printed on a 3x5 index card and mailed to the winning bidder upon receipt of payment. It has never been used, and the buyer assumes all responsibility for any consequences that might stem from sharing this joke, including the dissolution of friendships and romantic relationships due to loss of respect." [Via The Comic's Comic] more ›

JetBlue may be charging you for pillows and blankets, but it will be auctioning over 300 roundtrip tickets and some vacation packages this week. According to the AP, the opening bids start between 5 and 10 cents: "The flights are to more than 20 destinations, including four 'mystery' JetBlue Getaways Vacation packages to undisclosed locations." There are specific ranges of dates when people can travel and taxes and other fees are not included. A finance professor at Northeastern University, Henry Platt, thinks that the winning bids will probably end up being 85-90% of the flight or package's actual value. You can check out JetBlue's store on eBay here. more ›

The NY Times has an article about a growing number of people who hold onto Metrocards as collectible "miniature works of art." The swipe card-collecting community has formed its own Yahoo! group (60 deep!) and hunts down cards on eBay. A card with an "NYPD" stamp went for $520 and even an expired student Metrocard sold for $20. The city has fueled the industry since Metrocards debuted in 1994, issuing a steady stream of special edition and limited run cards. Harvey Spiller, one of the collectors the Times talked to said, “What is most unique about the cards is that they form a diary of sorts that tells a history of New York City.” Spiller also collects neckties, yellow pencils, and chewing gum from foreign countries. more ›

The Montauk Monster has parlayed his bloated, dead body into a goldmine! At least, those he left behind have. This week, for the serious collectors out there, two pieces of merch have been introduced: the I "Montauk Monster" New York t-shirt, and the Montauk Monster latex replica. The latex version (on sale at eBay!) is based off the more rotted carcass, most likely because if it were based off earlier photos it would look like a dead dog, which it is, and that's just not fun! What's next for the Montauk Monster? Girls Gone Wild says they'll be selling a video of she/he from Spring Break, but the monster claims to have never signed a release form. more ›

Given that NYC is currently embarking on an ambitious public toilet plan, this news from the Pacific Northwest is appropriate: After spending millions on installing self-cleaning, unisex high-tech public toilets in 2004, Seattle officials have decided to auction them off on eBay. Apparently the toilets attracted crime ("drug users and prostitutes") and became an embarrassing topic. There are no bids on the toilets so far, but if you have $89,000 and the right plumbing set up, you could snatch one up! more ›

As the big Bon Jovi concert approaches tickets to the free show are going for as much as $1500/pair, The NY Post reports. The show is going down this Saturday on the Great Lawn in Central Park, and an additional lot of tickets will be released at the Javits Center this Friday (more details at MLB.com). Hardcore fans of Jon Bon who don't get their hands on the freebies will have to lay down some serious cash via online outlets like eBay and Craigslist.

An eBay search at midday yesterday found 267 listings for the sold-out concert, with prices ranging from 99 cents to $1,500 a pair from one especially audacious seller identified as "agttickets."

This is way better than the Tony Soprano wardrobe auction, now you can be the proud owner of an authentic Cosby sweater! Just in time for Father's Day, too. USA Today reports:

Cosby's daughter, Evin, said her mother and father were cleaning out a closet recently when they came across a batch of the sweaters her dad wore when he played Huxtable on NBC's The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992. more ›

Just how much are Sex and the City fans willing to pay for The Ultimate movie-going experience? The NY Post reports that one woman laid down $19,000 for a seat at tonight's premiere, only to find out she'd been scammed. more ›

The late artist Jim Flora, perhaps best recognized for his album cover art in the 1940s and '50s, was also known for his commercial art, illustrations, paintings, woodcuts and prints. The above is "a limited-edition, archival-quality fine art print of a 1954 Jim Flora hand-tinted woodcut entitled Manhattan." There were 5 of these prints selling on eBay (only 25 were made), but they sold out quick! Here's the seller's description of the coveted work:

The cityscape depicts New York in its 1950s glory, including a number of gotham landmarks such as the Empire State Building, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty, famous theaters and legendary musical bistros, Washington Square arch, subways, taxis, horse-drawn carriages and tourists.

On Friday, Gawker speculated that The Brooklyn Paper was in trouble after a tipster told them freelancers haven't been paid since last summer (a late freelancing check...unprecedented!) and perhaps more relevant, if true, that editor Gersh Kuntzman told staffers the "independent, family owned, locally-run" since 1978 paper is "undergoing some turmoil." We asked Kuntzman about the rumor, and here's what he had to say:

"The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just won 'Newspaper of the Year' from a major national trade group, is certainly not going out of business. Brooklyn needs us too much right now, what with local papers being snapped up by billionaire moguls who have no interest in local news except maximizing classified ad sales. Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn? His reporters don't know the territory, either."

Demonstrating just how valuable free parking in New York City is, a rash of smash and grab thefts has struck areas in Washington Heights and the Bronx, where firefighters have had their car windows broken and parking placards stolen. Most of the thefts have occurred right outside of firehouses, usually when members are called out to a fire, according to the New York Post. more ›