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By Daniel Fierman
Daniel Fierman
Daniel Fierman is a staff writer for EW

Wanted: Buyers interested in a high-profile Star Wars Web address. Price: $10 million. Warning: Serious bidders only.

Sound ridiculous? Apparently not to patrons of eBay. On April 13, the domain name www.maytheforcebewithyou.com was ''sold'' on the online auction site for a whopping $10 million. There was only one hitch: The bid wasn't real.

Seller Scott Larson, 28, of domain-name merchants Tefabob Global Enterprises, who registered the name last year, put the site on sale April 6. ''[Bids] started at $5,000, climbed to about $100,000, and then the false bids started,'' says Larson. ''First $5 million, then $6.7 million, then up and up.'' But after the auction, when eBay billed for its $133,000 commission, he started to question the bid. Once it was confirmed as a fake, eBay declared the auction void. The $10 million prankster, who discontinued his or her e-mail address, is unknown.

eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove admits this kind of thing does happen. ''It's unfortunate,'' he says. ''But you could tell something was fishy — this would have been the highest sale ever.'' Though some eBay users didn't think twice. ''We wanted to use the site to promote our movie and individual projects,'' says artist Robert Telleria of Coral Springs, Fla., who claims that the $6.7 million bid he made was authentic. ''We thought we got outbid.''

Without bogus bids driving up the price, Larson believes he can still get around $100,000 for the site. Expensive? Sure, but a good domain name can ensure a high online profile. ''It's a big business,'' says Ron Rappaport of Net consultants Zona Research. ''There are people with lists of domain names and [high] dollar values.''


Posted Apr 30, 1999 | Published in issue #483 Apr 30, 1999 | Order Article Reprints