Customer Reviews

Found on eBay: 100 Genuinely Bizarre Items from the World's Online Yard Sale

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Wow, what a great book with no *real* substantive value except the pricelessness of being able to elicit the human emotion of uncontrollable laughter!

If you've ever heard the saying about how real life can be so much more bizarre than the fantasy of fiction--this books drives that point home for the "real life" lived by a fantastical beast we call the Internet. More specifically, the beast known as eBay which is one of the most universally recognized icons of what means to be online. In this little book, Marc Hartzman and Liz Steger successfully illustrate the bizarreness of eBay's most obscure, but real, auctions. You will be amazed at what they found people trying to sell at (what truly is) "the biggest garage sale on earth."

I shared this book with a few people I work with who regularly buy/sell items on eBay; however, I also shared it with probably three times as many people I work with who have never been to the eBay website *ever*, let alone become part of the madness. The reactions from eBayers and non-eBayers were substantially the same in everyone, somewhere between stifled chuckles and full-blown laughter. From the stuff dead frog posed at a tiny piano to the last pickle in the jar to the siamese m&m candies to bull scrotum bags (not to mention the auction for nothing to the one for a human soul of someone named Michael), each person who has flipped through my copy of this book has found something, or more accurately, several things, that shocked and amused them. I can't tell you how often I hear, "What the [*heck*] is. . . " and "Oh, now, THAT, that is too gross . . . "

Even if you have never been on eBay, this book will leave you in stitches!! And, of course, when you go have the stitches removed, be sure to ask the doctor to save them--after all, they may be worth money, but you will never know for sure until you have given them a whirl in an auction on eBay!! (Ok, yes, I am just kidding....really!)

Nope, that colon's mine. And thanks to the reviewer for noting that it's "squeaky clean". Some time ago, I pondered whether you could actually sell EVERYTHING on eBay. As a test, I listed a photo taken during a recent colonoscopy. Sadly, it didn't sell. But in "Found on eBay", you can take a gander at it, as well as a picture of me {right next to it}, if you're interested in the outside as well as the inside.

Marc Hartzman's "Found on eBay" is the result of his dogged determination to find out whether anything and everything can be found on the famous, successful auction site. Not surprisingly, the answer is a resounding "YES!". Sometimes the "yes" is a pleasant one; sometimes it's strange, hilarious, gruesome and even icky.

As a regular eBay buyer and seller, even I was amazed by some of the things Marc came across -- how did I miss them?? {Helpful hint: search around in the "Totally Bizarre" section of eBay for the truly unique "treasures".)

In addition to the listings, in "Found" you'll see crystal clear photos to capture the glory that is each zany item, as well as bid info and emails to sellers.

"Found on eBay" is great not just for its own humor, but it would make a wonderful gift for those people who are hard to buy for. If they grouse about their present, whip out the book and say, "Well, look what I COULD have gotten you!", while pointing out a treasure such as the bull scrotum purse.

Knowing the success of eBay and the millions of items listed each day, no doubt there is enough fodder for Marc to produce an encyclopedic series of these books. I'll be looking forward to them.

Have you been searching forever for necktie made from duct tape? How about a 1963 J.F. Kennedy Garden Gnome? Author Marc Hartzman discovered these and 99 other items -- all actual listings found on eBay -- and compiled them into this humorous short book. Some interesting, some disgusting, but all totally bizarre.

The book includes a picture, item description from the auction, starting price, and the sale value (if the item sold). For a few items, Hartzman emailed a question or two and included the responses. And, almost anything you can imagine is listed here. One of my favorites is the last listing, for "Nothing! Absolutely Nothing!" which someone bought for $1.03.

They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and this book does a fine job showing that and how much eBay is becoming part of the American culture. This is a must for anyone who has bought or sold on eBay or who simply has a hankering for the bizarre and unusual. A funny little gem of a book.

I heard about this book in a newspaper review and it mentioned he lived in hoboken, NJ. I live maybe 20 minutes from Hoboken and am always interested in anything strnage, weird or unusual, and I even run a website about my findings. I called 411, got his number, and asked if he'd be willing to show me his stuff. I purchased the book before going of course.

The book is small, but packed with tons of items, most of them bizarre, and most of the backstories are downright hilarious. I was extremely impressed that Marc could take such a simple idea and craft it into a book that was worth reading. Ok, so it's not a Tom Clancy novel, but it doesn't aspire to be. Marc's book simply lays out the facts for you to absorb. Of course he does editorialize (it wouldn't be his book if he didn't give his opinions) and we are better off for it. Of course he leaves the ultimate question up to you to decide: are these people just nuts or what?

Now.... as for my visit with Marc. I stopped at his Hoboken apartment and it was crammed full of knicknacks and pop cultures items like Todd McFarlane figures. He then brought out perhaps 15 or 20 items, and he gave me a lot of backstory, more then he put in the book. So the fact is, it's not jsut a great book, but he's a genuinely nice guy too!

EBay fans and those only mildy acquainted with the "online yard sale" will all find Marc Hartzman's book hilarious. I wouldn't have believed that half this stuff existed (let alone being offered for sale) unless I had seen the accompanying photos, which really added to my enjoyment of the book. I don't know why someone would turn a frog carcass into a coin purse or a piece of duct tape into a neck tie, but I guess if someone else is going to buy it, you might as well. Hartzman's book reveals all this wacky stuff which can apparently be "Found on EBay" and it made me want to log on and see what else is out there. His sarcastic queries to the sellers and their unscripted responses provided some hilarious (and frightening) insight into what people will make, buy and sell. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next installment!

This phenomenon of a book is for those of us who have grown weary of the typical coffee table books that contain poignant photos or whimsical instructions for (someone else's)life. I'm not interested in what I should sweat. I'm VERY INTERESTED in the freak side of human nature. I think Hartzman has proven to us that one person's trash really is another person's treasure. Personally, I would throw out one lonely boot but now I know I can go on eBay and sell it. There are things in this book that I had no idea existed (racoon winkies)...other items I wish I hadn't known existed (pics of Aunt Mildred's squeaky clean colon). This guy obviously has a great sense of humor for what's really intriguing in life and that's ...

"Found on eBay" by Marc Hartzman is a compilation of a variety of very odd things for sale on the iconic web site. I have used eBay extensively in the past, but I suppose I have never perused its full spectrum of merchandise. Thanks to this slim book you can do so without ever even going online.

The items in the book range from merely strange, a "Vintage Tooth Shade Matcher" (no sale,) to the absolutely otherworldly "19th-Century Enema Machine," which in an even scarier turn of events had 25 bids and sold for $134.50. Other items ranged from kind of creepy ("Antique Doll Graveyard,") to extremely disturbing ("Human Femur Bone" and "Mummified Possum," which sold for $103.50 after 14 bids were placed.) There is even a set of pictures of someone's colonoscopy under the headline "My Colon." This made me shudder. I was astonished at some of the final prices for things like the "Old Stuffed Toad Playing a Piano" which netted 14 bids and $47.00, not to mention a "1970s Liquid Paper Wetnap" which netted an astounding $9.95.

Other features that were especially peculiar were a "Fish Carved From Fungus," "One Used Size-9 Work Boot," and a "Hornet's Nest," which received five bids and sold for $2.25 even though the ad clearly stated "Hornets Not Included!"

This is an amusing diversion, and while it probably took minimal effort to write, I can't imagine how many tedious hours of exploring eBay it took to find such items as the "1963 J. F. Kennedy Garden Gnome," which was originally issued as part of a set of garden gnomes also containing other 1960s world leaders Khrushchev, Adenauer, and de Gaulle. Hartzman makes some commentaries and asks some modestly humorous questions about these items, but the listings themselves are the clear stars of the show.

Last year in Feburary, Marc approached me by email asking if he could feature my ebay item (earthquake dirt from seattle quake in 2001, found on page 49 in the book). I accepted his offer. I thought it would be a simple little book made by a new author, but boy....WAS I MISTAKEN. When I got the book from him in may, i was surprised at the quality and content of it. some of his emails were absolutely hilarious. The items that he choose to be in his book were unique and clever. Overall, this book is execellent and I would highly recommend that any person reading this should buy it. Its only about 15 bux with shipping, less than a meal in a good restaurant. Enjoy!

This book is jam-packed with some of the wildest, funniest and sometimes stupidest stuff I've ever seen on Ebay. It's amazing what people will buy and sell online. The correspondence between Mr. Hartzman and the sellers is hysterical, too. Replete with plenty of cool pics of the items so you can see exactly what's up for auction. Don't read on a full bladder.

For anyone who surfs the ebay website either shopping or just looking, this is a great book to see some of the more bizzare items for sale that we may have missed. This book proves that you truly can sell anything on ebay. One guy even sold nothing, yes...nothing, and got a few bids. He did thow in shipping though :) A very funny book, cover to cover.