It has been an exciting and eventful year at eBay, and here at eBay Stories as well. After being in business for over a year and a half, we have seen numerous remarkable listings come and go, memorialized here on this blog. We revamped the weekly search trends feature, keeping an eye on what our shoppers look for every week and giving you a chance to marvel over the many high value items available and sold on eBay. Most importantly, we told you about all the cool product features we launched on eBay, such as the new Toy Finder and the revamped eBay Sporting Goods section. There are a lot of new features being tested right now, and we can’t wait to tell you about all the great stuff we launched this Fall. Stay tuned in the next few months for a weekly product feature highlight.
We tried a few new things last year, highlighting some of our incredible community members in our seller stories series. Most of these stories were part of the eBay Thanks You campaign and featured some of our members’ experiences (told in their own words) using eBay (take a look at an example here). Their posts demonstrate what makes eBay such a unique place, and highlights our thriving community of sellers. We couldn’t do it without you!
Without further ado, here are the top five eBay Stories posts about remarkable listings on the site that inspired our readers in 2012:
#5 – The Terminator’s sunglasses
He’s back, and he is still wearing shades. The iconic Gargoyle sunglasses worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original Terminator movie captured the imagination of our readers and shoppers as well. As the seller explained in the listing, Arnold wore two pairs of sunglasses in the film, one of which actually wound up on an animatronic puppet of the actor. These were darkened in the film’s motel/mirror scene to conceal the robotic endoeye. In the original eBay Story post about this remarkable item, we appreciated one of our reader’s comments: “Pretty cool. I have a t2 head, and glasses would look nice on it.”
#4 – Twinkies: dead before the Zombie apocalypse
It was hardly more than a month ago that Hostess made its fateful decision to close the business, and the frantic run on Twinkies began. This post attracted readers aghast at the perhaps speculative price of $8,000 for a single Twinkie. Twinkies were not the only type of snack cake to enter the fray of eBay auctions—there were also listings for less iconic products, including Hostess Cupcakes and Suzy Qs.
#3 – Rock the vote with these Cabbage Patch dolls
Sometimes a remarkable listing and the response it elicits are a matter of impeccable timing. Such was the case for these Cabbage Patch dolls sporting the visages of presidential and vice presidential candidates, and a bonus doll in the image of First Lady Michelle Obama. This eBay Story broke on November 5 and racked up likes, shares, and comments from our readers. Perhaps an updated version of this line of dolls should be made and auctioned on eBay every four years.
#2 – A 1968 Shelby Cobra Mustang GT500
Classic cars always excite our readers’ interest. We assume many of you are actual or would-be collectors of these beauties. This eBay Story stood out from the rest, however, because it was what the original post described as the “classic garage find to end all garage finds.” The car’s first owner, a woman named Kay, spent the year 1968 acquiring this Shelby Mustang GT500 Convertible, bringing it with her on a move to Florida. In 1981, she garaged the car and there it sat until it was unearthed for the eBay auction.
#1 – Find unclaimed property on eBay
If Kay’s 1968 wheels sounded a bit like a finding a buried treasure, this number one eBay Stories post represents an unqualified jackpot. As many of you know by now, the State of Massachusetts clears out its unclaimed property after a certain amount of time has passed. This means that the contents of many dusty safe deposit boxes get emptied out and placed up for bidding. This series of auctions sparked many readers’ interest, as they immediately recognized the value of collectible coins, jewelry made of precious metals, and gemstones, among other treasures. People were mystified and fascinated by the idea of such valuable objects being hidden from sight and ultimately forgotten, but others recounted tales of incredible finds at home and in safe deposit boxes. Some of your tales have the makings of future remarkable listings, should the objects in question wind up on eBay!
We look forward to sharing more great finds and telling you more about eBay’s innovative product features in 2013.
Have a safe and happy New Year wherever you are, and thanks for taking the time to detour from shopping or selling on eBay to read this blog.
Cheers!
Joe MacFarland
