Oh, America: BP Tar Balls for sale on eBay
Post by Jesse Russell on 6/7/2010 4:30pm
Part of me was hoping that when I went on eBay to test my thesis that someone must be trying to profit off of this disaster that search wouldn't bear any fruit. I searched for "gulf" and "oil" and only found a bunch of memorabilia from the Gulf Oil Company. It was a good sign, but it turns out I was simply searching for the wrong term. Before closing out eBay I tried what I expected to be less likely to return a result "tar ball." Sure enough, some enterprising soul is selling "BP Oil Spill Tar Balls first to hit Pensacola Beach, FL. They implore: "Buy a piece of history in the making!" Exclamation point, indeed. As of this posting the "tar balls" have received two bids for a sum of $3.25. The auctioneer is charging $10 for shipping and ignoring the fact that these balls of oil likely fall under "hazardous material" and are illegal to ship via postal service.
Oh America, even in the face of environmental destruction your entrepreneurial spirit can not be stifled. And while "tar balls" aren't personally the collector item for me, if you can get your hands on one of those oil soaked brown pelicans that just recently fell off of the endangered species list we can talk.
Jesse Russell
Co-Editor
Jesse was born and raised in Connecticut, began blogging in 1997, and moved to Madison in 2003. In 2005, he co-founded dane101 along with Kristian Knutson and Shane Wealti. In addition to helping nearly a dozen contributors run this website he's helped launch various events in the city including What's Your Damage?!, the MadPubQuiz of Awesomeness, the Fire Ball Masquerade, Dane101's Freakin' Halloweekend, and more.
Ridiculous
Submitted by Katie (not verified) on Tue, 2010-06-08 09:21.
At least the listing has finally been removed.
Tar Balls on eBay
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2010-06-08 16:43.
Please remember that eBay provides a service. Pierre Omidyar founded eBay on a simple idea: People are basically good. This fundamental belief created a completely new kind of marketplace, forever transforming e-commerce. Today our values continue to guide how we do business and connect buyers and sellers around the world.
Equally understood is that some people will try to capitalize on disasters in order for self gain and enrichment. Fortunately, eBay monitors for inappropriate content and behavior and shuts those people down!
Dude you live in the far
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2010-07-02 16:37.
Dude you live in the far North where I can understand your mis-understanding of the financial impact the oil is having on us down here. But it is sure ignorance not to try and make money where we can so we can feed our families and not rely on YOUR HELP to save us. Cause where are YOU!!! Buy our tar balls!!!
I don't know how old you are,
Submitted by Thomas McCaffrey (not verified) on Wed, 2010-07-07 18:57.
I don't know how old you are, but in the 80's when Mt St. Helens erupted people were selling ash. It was sent out in small vials all over the country and probably the world.
I personally don't see anything wrong with people selling tar balls. I don't think its any worse than the media making money off of the tragedy.
If you want to criticize someone for profiting off of the disaster; try checking out what the contracting companies that are working the cleanup are charging BP and what they are paying the locals to do the same work. You'll see that BP is paying 10 times the actual cost. And guess who gets to pay for that. YOU AND ME because BP will just pass the cost along to us.
So if you think that some guy making 10 bucks on e-bay is a problem, you might want to re-think things
Tar balls for sale!
Submitted by Ethan (not verified) on Mon, 2010-07-19 11:42.
I thought my idea was original.
http://troutfischin.blogspot.com/
DITTO, CAPITILIZE YOUR
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2010-08-19 04:09.
DITTO, CAPITILIZE YOUR LOSSES..!
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