867-5309/Jenny Soars While Illinois Rock Sinks on EBay

July 31, 2009 - PRLog -- Two interesting collector’s items listed on EBay this past week, a phone number and a rock.  The phone number, 867-5309 was already at $3,800 on Thursday night while the Illinois shaped rock languished at 99 cents.  The reasons for the difference in bidding results may be a teachable moment for sellers on EBay with high-end collector items they wish to sell.

867-5309/Jenny was a song performed by Tommy Tutone that hit the number one spot on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in 1982.  An unforeseen outcome was the onslaught of nuisance calls to anyone with that phone number where the caller would ask for Jenny.   To millions of baby boomers, the phone number still rings a bell.

While the rock has an almost uncanny resemblance to Illinois, its current bid price of under one dollar is a far cry from the $1,300 sales price that an Illinois shaped cornflake sold for on EBay in 2008.  Given that the rock has a far closer resemblance to the shape of Illinois and is far more durable than the cornflake, one has to wonder what really drives the auction prices on EBay these days.

Neither item is something that even EBay aficionados would have on their watch lists, so what gives one item on EBay a competitive advantage in attracting bidders over another?  With millions of items up for sale on EBay at any given moment, is it pure chance, or is it that some items pick up media coverage and soar while others don’t?  Both items are novel collector items and great conversation pieces, and both even offer astute collectors or investors the opportunity for a quick flip with a resale.  In this particular case, the only discernable difference was that the Associated Press distributed a press release for the catchy phone number but not for the Illinois shaped rock.

Only time will give EBay sellers the answer on whether they can still get top dollar without a media blitz.  The Illinois rock auction ends on Sunday night August 2 and 867-5309/Jenny will end on Friday August 7.