Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Museum exhibit items offered for sale on eBay

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published June 6, 2005

When the Florida International Museum had some old artifacts to unload, the staff turned to America's online garage sale: eBay.

Next month, the museum is moving from what had been the old Maas Brothers department store in downtown St. Petersburg into smaller space. That means cleaning out items left from previous exhibits.

Some material is being saved for a public auction Wednesday. But executive director Kathy Oathout decided to sell 10 pieces of movie memorabilia displayed in the museum's Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit through an eBay dropoff store called iSold it.

Items from the 2000 movie Thirteen Days included a pair of eyeglasses worn by the actor playing Robert F. Kennedy, three period wristwatches and a replica Naval Air Force ring. The movie studio declined to take back the stuff after the exhibit closed in 2003, Oathout said.

Buyers bid a total of $263.70 for nine pieces. A shortwave radio used as a prop fetched $92.11. The framed promotional photo offered for $9.99 didn't attract a single bid.

--Sold it, a nationwide franchise, is among a growing number of businesses that photograph and list goods for sale on eBay. They also collect from buyers, write checks to the sellers and ship the merchandise - all for a cut of the sales price.

--Sold it promotes itself as the nation's top seller on eBay, with more than 80 dropoff stores and hundreds more under contract. The first local iSold it opened in St. Petersburg on April 30, followed by one in Palm Harbor on Wednesday. Other locations are planned in Clearwater, South Tampa, Carrollwood in North Tampa and Crystal River.

[Last modified June 6, 2005, 01:34:12]