Thursday, July 19, 2007

A bit of funny profiteering on HP 7

Will Collier is one of the many folks who purchased Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on DeepDiscount.com. The retailer shipped its orders via UPS and estimated that from the time of shipping the orders would arrive on July 21. Many arrived early. Collier's edition is one of the many that did.

So instead of keeping the book, he decided to sell to someone who would want it more . . . at a hefty premium. Thinking that a kid wouldn't buy a book for $175, he set that reserve price on eBay. What followed shows the HP mania (The Monk and Monkette are a bit swept up ourselves, especially because Borders farked up Monkette's reservation), both among fans and publishers.

Click the link.

UPDATE: Always count on the lawyers to do something stupid. But in this case, it worked to Collier's benefit, as he notes. Rowling's literary agency sent an immediate letter to eBay threatening it over Collier's listing because the agency claimed copyright infringement. eBay pulled the listing, 17 hours after it ended and, because it pulled the listing, refunded the fees to Collier.

One problem: the book was legitimate.

First thing we do . . .

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