Where can you find Saddam Hussein? Try eBay
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
Nobody can find Saddam. But he's all over eBay.
By Friday evening, 3,358 items popped up on a ``Saddam'' search of the online auctioneer. They ranged from the usual T-shirts, buttons and coffee mugs to the only-in-cyberspace variety.
Got $750, and you can claim the rights to Web site domain name ``damnsaddam.com.''
For a cool $1,800, be the first on your block with a lithograph of Saddam Hussein believed to be drawn and autographed by the late Jerry Garcia. Yes, the Grateful Dead's Garcia.
Or if you can top a bid of $426, a silver fork purportedly from a Saddam palace is yours. Vouching for its authenticity, the seller writes ``that it slipped in my pocket on my last visit in Baghdad.''
When it comes to commercializing current events, eBay beats everyone on the Web, attracting hawkers, hypsters and hoaxers to create frenzied bidding on items both real and imagined.
One listing offered the head of the giant Saddam statue that was toppled in a Baghdad public square, with a note that any prospective buyer must accept a few scratches. That was a Chicago-area man's attempt at humor. Not to be outdone, a group of office workers in Arkansas auctioned a chance to ``ride the head of Saddam Hussein through Baghdad!''
Not a fan of hoaxes, eBay pulled both listings down. The San Jose auction firm also yanked a listing that touted Saddam's presidential yacht, complete with a photo of a sleek ship. Saddam's yacht, in fact, is now only a burning hulk in the wake of the war.
Maybe it's hard to fathom, but Grateful Dead historian said the Garcia litho appeared legit: Back during the 1991 gulf war, ``Jerry watched TV and Jerry doodled,'' said Dennis McNally. Posted since Thursday, Jerry's rendition of Saddam, with a slightly psychedelic twist, had no bidders by late Friday.
Toilet paper stamped with Saddam's face, however, was moving fast.
EBay's popularity among the masses plus the media's fascination with bizarre bidding stories have helped make the auction platform into something of a political platform during eventful times in history.
``EBay is a wonderful place to get a lot of attention,'' said Tom Lease, a war supporter who set a minimum $750 bid a week ago for his damnsaddam.com domain name. No takers so far, but Lease is not disappointed. He's got the press coverage he had hoped for, with traffic to his political site growing to 100 hits an hour Friday.
The most popular Iraq-related listing on eBay is for ``Saddam dinars,'' a now virtually worthless currency used in Iraq. One brand new 5-dinar bank note, remarkably, had a $41 bid.
``Currency with Saddam's picture will never be produced again. Hurry before they are gone,'' urged the listing.
Some potential buyers said they wanted to have something to show their kids.
But cashing in on Iraq has left a bad taste in other quarters.
Lease says he was sabotaged by a mysterious bidder, who, using the eBay identity ``dontmakemoneyfromwar,'' appeared to have met Leaf's $750 reserve price but turns out not to have a working e-mail.
The bidder, according to eBay's public records, only started using that identity on March 28. And the only bids are for top-dollar items connected to Saddam, including the $426 fork and an autographed photo of Saddam Hussein kneeling on a prayer rug. Bidding has gone from $200 to $3,050 in a few days on the photo.
EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove was not familiar with the mysterious bidder but said bidding on items and then refusing to pay violates eBay policies.
By Friday night, another eBay user,
roundsie90@msn.com, had become the top bidder on about 120 Saddam-related auctions, raising suspicions among eBay sellers about that user's motives.
Roundsie90@msn.com could not be reached for a response.
Authenticity likely will become a bigger issue in coming days, acknowledged Pursglove. He suspects real items from the fallen empire of Saddam will find their way onto eBay.
The owner of the Saddam autographed photo says he hopes the bids are legitimate, even if he admits he has no proof that the signature is in fact Saddam's on the item, which he says he bought after the first Gulf War from a dealer.
``How do you know? Have you ever seen his signature?'' he asked.