Entrepreneurs hope to cash in on Elian drama with items on online auction sites
By Michael Precker / The Dallas Morning News. 05/03/2000.
Need help to cope with Elián withdrawal? Can't get through the day without seeing those pictures of Elián playing in the back yard?
Maybe a little E-shopping will help. The "E," of course, stands for Elián González, whose name has spawned a whole new category in online auctions.
Although Elián items are sprinkled among many auction sites, the heaviest concentration is on eBay. A search using his name turned up 132 entries Tuesday.
As the debate continues over which economic system would be better for the 6-year-old Cuban boy, much of the merchandise may not reflect so well on American capitalism.
One entrepreneur, for example, claims to have collected Elián's freshly clipped hair from a trash bin outside his relatives' home in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. The seller wanted $50, then withdrew the item "do (sic) to all the hate mail."
But actual bidding on Tuesday topped $1,000 for a crayon picture of two stick figures and a shark, allegedly drawn by Elián during a psychiatric evaluation. If that's not dubious enough, the artwork also includes a childlike printing critical of Janet Reno.
The sale is over for splinters from Elián's raft, with "wgerola" sealing the deal at $25,100. There's no record of whether he or she actually paid.
Spokesman Kevin Pursglove says eBay monitors have removed a few items, such as unauthorized reproductions of photographs, but aren't policing Elián memorabilia any more than usual.
"As a general rule, we respond to the items that users call to our attention," he says. "You have to realize we have about 4.5 million auctions going on at one time."
You can shop with a little more certainty for more mundane memorabilia, such as "Free Elián" buttons, posters and T-shirts. There also are plenty of non-Elián items unabashedly trying to cash in on the controversy.
Thus a bottle of water from Little Havana is magically transformed into "Holy Water of Elián González." Another vendor is giving you until May 10 to snag "the collectible bear that Elián dreams of, but will never have when he goes back to Cuba."
A seller on eBay sought $50 for hair clippings said to be Elián González's and found in a trash bin outside his relatives' Miami home. The seller withdrew the item, citing hate mail.
2000 The Dallas Morning News |